YouthSailing, the RYA and Catamarans

Originally posted by RYA Statement   As a consequence of the attention that these two proposals have received from the Cat community in the UK and overseas, the RYA Council will debate the issues and review its decision at their next meeting which is scheduled for Wednesday 3 October. Council members will be provided with a selection of representative emails, letters and web forum addresses as well as this paper.

At least they are listening and are reviewing the situation!

Chris, This is all very interesting, but it seems the RYA wants to hothouse youngsters in monohulls to the exclusion of everything else. This is what so infuriates the multihull community. And the lack of dialogue.

As far as the RYA is concerned, multihulls go against the grain. They have NEVER liked us. We are all rebels! Most youngsters will rebel at some stage. Except the introverts the RYA is producing.

 

 

 

Originally posted by SoggyDoggie Chris, This is all very interesting, but it seems the RYA wants to hothouse youngsters in monohulls to the exclusion of everything else.

The RYA claim they are reacting to that being what the youngsters are already doing. Perhaps the Cat sailors here could report on the number of all under 18 crews across all Catamaran class National Championships... Real numbers that is, not wishful thinking...

The only truly entry level catamaran would seem to be the Laser fun boat, and from what I've seen Cat sailors will rubbish it at every opportunity. Well guys, looks as if you've got what you wished for, but it isn't what you wanted... If every club with Cats bought a fleet of Laser funboats and the cat Sailors put the time in helping with training then maybe there'd be a bit more youth Cat sailing. Put up or shut up guys... This Canoe/Skiff sailor puts in time helping out with Toppers.






Edited by JimC

Originally posted by JimC The only truly entry level catamaran would seem to be the Laser fun boat, and from what I've seen Cat sailors will rubbish it at every opportunity. Well guys, looks as if you've got what you wished for, but it isn't what you wanted... If every club with Cats bought a fleet of Laser funboats and the cat Sailors put the time in helping with training then maybe there'd be a bit more youth Cat sailing. Put up or shut up guys... This Canoe/Skiff sailor puts in time helping out with Toppers.

Not sure where you have got your information from, but this is a very short sighted comment.

The youth catamaran scheme has been doing a lot of work over the years to get youths into catamarans but it has struggled with a lack of support.

Over the last 7 years or so, parents of youth cat sailors and the BHCCA (Hobie association) have been organising intro days for catamarans.  They have used the RYA's fleet of 6 dart 16's which have been around since 1998 ish and are very tired now (this is a point of credit to the dart 16 that they are still going!!).

The people who have shown most promise have been offered entry into the BHCCA charter programme where they have charted boats directly from the UK dealer for a year or so (where, may I add, I believe the dealer has made a loss).

All this has been done off the back of the sailors parents with limited funds and as such are only able to successfully introduce 6 teams in a year.  With better funding and help with advertising and getting kids to have a go the system would be fantastic.  This is what we need, support and advertising at this level.

Regarding an intro level cat.  The best into level cats are the Dart 16 and the Dragoon.  However, as with any skiff, you need a certain level of ability first and so it is necessary for them to have some skill first, whether this comes from monohull experience or cat crewing experience with parents.

Originally posted by LORD CHADDER The RYA seems to be like the current Government , it never listens to the Views of its own Members. With over 800 Votes in 2 days the RYA had better take note of its members views Chadder

How many of those are actually paid up members of the RYA though - very few I'd expect ...