Today, the RYA called me.......

Represent rather than govern ?
It's right there on their home page ...
9Xu4ft3.png
 
It's right there on their home page ...
9Xu4ft3.png

A phrase taken from World Sailing :
The Member National Authorities (MNAs) are the principle members of World Sailing and are responsible for the decision making process that governs the sailing world. They are the national governing bodies for the sport of sailing around the world.
 
Each year over 250,000 people take an RYA training course through our network of over 2,500 RYA Recognised Training Centres in 58 countries.

Helping large numbers of new people into the sport doesn't help cruising sailors at all.

Nobody ever says "I wish there were more boats in my favourite anchorage" or "I wish it was a bit busier here".

I don't think you can fault the RYA for their work WRT racing or their committment to the commercial training industry, but that's nothing to do with crusing (or pottering about.)

And frankly, if someone raced, would they need to be a member? Racing implies club, club will likely be RYA affiliated, I'm not seeing the benefit of personal membership.
 
A phrase taken from World Sailing :
The Member National Authorities (MNAs) are the principle members of World Sailing and are responsible for the decision making process that governs the sailing world. They are the national governing bodies for the sport of sailing around the world.
World Sailing (formerly ISAF) governs competitive sailing. It does not govern other recreational sailing or cruising; nor does it claim to do so.
 
Helping large numbers of new people into the sport doesn't help cruising sailors at all. ... I'm not seeing the benefit of personal membership.

As a coastal cruising sailor, I would like a healthy market place in sailing services, irrespective of whether that be moorings, marinas, rigging, sailmaking or boat sales etc. In that context, helping large numbers into the sport does benefit me as a sailor, otherwise it would die a death as current users die off or leave the sport.

I think if you can't see the benefit then that is failure of the RYA to appeal to the likes of yourself, but they may not be targeting your interest area of sailing or what floats your boat, so to say.
 
Helping large numbers of new people into the sport doesn't help cruising sailors at all.

Nobody ever says "I wish there were more boats in my favourite anchorage" or "I wish it was a bit busier here".

I don't think you can fault the RYA for their work WRT racing or their committment to the commercial training industry, but that's nothing to do with crusing (or pottering about.)

And frankly, if someone raced, would they need to be a member? Racing implies club, club will likely be RYA affiliated, I'm not seeing the benefit of personal membership.
Do you ever look at their website to see what they are doing on behalf of cruising sailors or contact them with your concerns?
 
Like other I no longer have personal membership as I dont consider the RYA give me great benefit. I have club membership which is sufficient. I have contacted them on some issues and never received a response, but only an acknowledgement of receipt.

It is much the same situation as with the British Mountaineering Council, that promote indoor artificial climbing as an Olympic type sport but generally ignore the needs of hill goers and climbers like myself. To promote compettive sport they of course have to chase the money. They say they introduce youngsters to the sport but these youngsters look worried if they see a real cliff.

I suppose getting young folk dinghy sailing at least they will be on real water, but their other focus on big racing machines the like of which none of us can afford, leaves a desire gap where the humble mid sized cruiser sits
 
Would this description better suit the worriers?

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom national body for dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and Sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inland waterways cruising.[1] It is the national governing body for Olympic sailing in the UK[2]

Perhaps someone who has serious concerns here could point them out to the Cruising guy? Perhaps his response would be an acceptable post on a public forum?
 
It's right there on their home page ...
9Xu4ft3.png

Yes and their muscling in on inland waterways didn't (and I assume behind closed doors still doesn't) go down too well with the active members of the body founded some twenty plus years *before* the RYA to represent the interests of inland waterways users!

It may seem like sour grapes but it wasn't. Another voice at meetings, conferences etc claiming long and loud to be the preeminent representative body for anything which floats had a significant element of "divide and conquer" about it (whether by accident or design - my view was that it was an unintended consequence of RYA empire building, others believed the RYA were put up to it because the IWA were too effective at opposing government attempts to cut funding for British Waterways)

I am still very firmly of the opinion that the RYA should pull its nose out of inland waterways affairs

That aside, I don't think the RYA does a bad job of representing cruising sailors (it doesn't though do a great job of publicising what it does and building support from that user group!). I do think it could probably do more and do better and suspect the voices of the racing and training fraternities tend to drown out the cruising brigade within the organisation (I may be wrong but that's the impression i get)
 
Would this description better suit the worriers?

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom national body for dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and Sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inland waterways cruising.[1] It is the national governing body for Olympic sailing in the UK[2]
Something like that would be better, but it would need a bit of tweaking. For a start, there are four nations involved, so "national" is probably not the right word, and I think "body" needs a bit of fleshing out. "UK representative body", maybe?
 
The clue is in the name...

'Royal' - by way of Royal warrant or decree.
'Yachting' - a vessel used primarily for pleasure.
'Association' - A grouping together of like-minded people for common purpose (no legal basis such as 'Company' or 'Partnership' etc.).

The RYA is therefore no more than a grouping together of like-minded people using boats primarily for pleasure - it would be acting outside of its Royal remit to do otherwise.
Individual definitions may vary slightly, but not by enough to change the overall permitted remit.
 
The clue is in the name...

'Royal' - by way of Royal warrant or decree.
'Yachting' - a vessel used primarily for pleasure.
'Association' - A grouping together of like-minded people for common purpose (no legal basis such as 'Company' or 'Partnership' etc.).

The RYA is therefore no more than a grouping together of like-minded people using boats primarily for pleasure - it would be acting outside of its Royal remit to do otherwise.
Individual definitions may vary slightly, but not by enough to change the overall permitted remit.
Interesting theory. How well does it apply to the RAC?
 
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