RYA hosts most successful Racing Conference to date
by Myrrh Walker, RYA 18 Dec 2006 11:12 GMT
9 December 2006
The RYA’s Racing Conference took place on Saturday, 9 December at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, Knightsbridge, London, with over 40 representatives from clubs and classes present to hear from various committees and to give their thoughts to the RYA.
The annual Racing Conference brings together chairmen and secretaries of clubs and class associations, RYA Racing Division’s specialist groups and members, and is an opportunity for those involved in sail racing to impact the future direction of the RYA racing policy.
The conference is just one way that the racing side of the RYA keeps an open dialogue between clubs and classes to ensure that the RYA continues to work with and for the people involved in the sport. This dialogue enables the RYA to make competitive sailing enjoyable to everyone that takes part, whether expert racers or sailors new to competitive racing.
John Derbyshire, RYA Racing Manager recognised the success of the conference. "This was the biggest and most successful Racing Conference to date. Feedback indicates that the RYA really was listening to its "customers" and that positive and constructive comments from delegates enable the various racing specialist committees to accommodate the racers views and opinions.”
The conference got underway with a review by each of the racing specialist groups, who outlined their success in 2006. Success included increasing the number of girls taking part in Junior Racing, better educational information available to Race Officials, more training made available for Umpires and Judges and a rise in the number of sailors taking part in the RYA Match Racing circuits.
Following the positive review, discussions on the racing objectives for 2007, and plenary sessions on the strategic areas of racing activity were held. Those attending provided valuable feedback and constructive ideas on how to improve club and championship racing, on how to better support our volunteers and on how to continue to strengthen competitive sail racing in the UK.
The hot topic of the day was the issue of the ‘Club Pro’ and what implementing a club pro could bring to a sailing club – a debate that will be headlining at the Clubs Conference at the upcoming Dinghy Sailing Show (3-4 March 2007).
Derbyshire continued, “The wide-ranging nature of sailboat racing, from windsurfing, to catamarans to keelboats and all the various disciplines, involves a significant number of expert volunteers to make both policy and activity happen. Much of the feedback indicates that we are generally getting it right and several people came forward with ideas that may well see them getting more involved with the running of the sport in the future!"