RYA Scotland reaches record membership
by Claire Caffrey, RYA Scotland 8 Nov 2014 15:11 GMT
7 November 2014
"Never been a better time to be an RYA member"
The Royal Yachting Association Scotland (RYA Scotland) has on Friday 7 November 2014 revealed that its membership has grown to more than 6,000 for the first time in its history. The governing body for sailing in Scotland also confirmed that its membership grew in each month during 2014.
Improvements in the way RYA Scotland supports the development of sailing – including training and coaching, club development and attracting new and more people to the sport – are thought to be behind the rise in membership. A highlight of RYA Scotland activity in 2014 was the Commonwealth flotilla, which attracted almost 2,000 people to sail up the Clyde during the Commonwealth Games, and turned out tens of thousands of spectators.
Announcing the record membership Tony Gorzkowski, Chairman of RYA Scotland, said:
"We are delighted that more and more people are choosing to join the organisation that promotes and protects the interests of sailors in Scotland. A large and growing membership strengthens our voice with policymakers and enables us to provide more support to the sailing community.
"2014 has been an amazing year for Scottish sport and one of the highlights was undoubtedly the Commonwealth Flotilla. Despite sailing not being part of the Commonwealth Games programme RYA Scotland was behind the largest collection of boats ever assembled on the Clyde with almost 2,000 sailors, many of whom had not previously made this journey and may not tend to venture far from their normal sailing areas, taking part in this unique flotilla.
"Another highlight has been the performance of our youth sailors this year which has been nothing short of phenomenal with successes in British, European and World championships demonstrating that Scotland is punching well above its weight.
"But the month-on-month growth in our membership suggests that this growth in membership cannot be attributed to any single event and instead indicates that an across-the-board improvement in our activity, underpinned by our hard-working staff and volunteers, is being recognised by the sailing community.
"As the membership numbers prove, there has never been a better time to be an RYA member."
www.ryascotland.org.uk