New RYA youh awareness campaign

Royal Yachting Association launches nationwide youth awareness campaign at RYA Dinghy Sailing Show

To secure the future success of the UK’s most successful Olympic sport, this weekend's RYA Dinghy Sailing Show (4 - 5 March, Alexandra Palace, London) will be the setting for the RYA’s new and exciting campaign to attract a new generation of children into boating, leading up to and beyond the 2012 Olympic Games.

Encouraging children of all ages to take to the water through a series of initiatives, the RYA is hoping to increase general youth participation and look for stars of the future in competitive sail and powerboat racing.

Supported by sailing stars such as Olympic Medallists Sarah Ayton and Nick Dempsey, the campaign brings together all the RYA Youth initiatives for the first time. Led by the initiative that provides schools with a tailor made package ‘OnBoard’, helps teachers integrate sailing and windsurfing easily into their PE curriculum. Children under 15 can also learn to windsurf through ‘Team15’, while children which are fans of engine power rather than sail can take part in the ‘The Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship’. Activities for all the family include Motor and Sail Cruises, providing the ideal learning environment for children, these cruises are organised through out the year.

To encourage younger children into all aspects of sailing, the RYA has developed a new series of books that are beautifully illustrated and which are easy for children to understand. ‘Go Sailing’ contains all the information children need for safe sailing along with top tips and advice. The accompanying ‘Go Sailing Activity Book’ is full of fun activities including colouring in, stickers and puzzles. Author Claudia Wyatt will be opening the show each day with an interactive presentation on the live stage, following with face painting and various children’s activities.

2005 Raymarine Young Sailors of the Year, Craig Paul, Sam Coombs and James Hopson will also be at the show. The boys will be accompanied by Nell Hardie, whose life the boys saved after she became tangled in ropes after the dinghy she was sailing with Craig capsized.

The Hill family, famous for taking their first ever sailing holiday on ITV’s Holiday Showdown will be visiting the show. Although a disastrous holiday, something positive has come out of the show as the Hills enjoyed their sailing experience, especially son Nathan who surprised everyone when he took an interest in how the yacht worked and got stuck in with helping to sail it.

Olympic Silver Medallist, Joe Glanfield, will be at the show giving youngsters racing tips and providing advice from his new book Crew to Win.

The show will also see the National launch of the new RYA Voucher Scheme. This new innovative concept allows families and individuals to use the vouchers (available in a range of values) in exchange for sailing lessons at any one of over 250 participating RYA Training Centres.

This flexible currency will soon be extending to products including chandlery merchandise, marina stays and can also be used towards purchasing a book from RYA Publications - the most successful marine publisher in the world.