Help shape the future of sailing in England
Sport England, which provides valuable funding to the RYA to increase participation in sailing, has commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct a study to establish what is important to people when they take part in sailing and how satisfied they are with their experience. Last year 44,000 people told Ipsos MORI about their experiences and they are repeating the study to ensure we keep up to date with your views.
It is not a sales exercise, purely a research study and will help drive and shape sailing in England in the years to come as we work to deliver a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games.
The questionnaire takes around 5 minutes to complete. Questionnaire.
News in the region
Ben Ainslie presents inspirational Rutland sailors with prestigious award
Sailing Club starlets Alice Kent and Lucy Childs were presented with the prestigious RYA East Midlands Young Sailor of the Year Award 2009 at the Tullett Prebon London International Boat Show on Saturday (9 January).
The awards were presented by Skandia Team GBR star and three-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie, a previous winner himself, and recognise the outstanding achievements of youth sailors across the country.
The girls, who both attend Oakham School, were voted RYA East Midlands Regional Young Sailors of the Year last autumn having enjoyed a sensational 2009 during which they were crowned Ladies’ RS Feva European Champions at Lake Garda, Italy in July while also taking the silver medal for finishing second overall.
Their Europeans success followed their podium performance at the 2008 World Championships in Sweden where the pair claimed Ladies’ bronze.
Alice and Lucy were amongst 13 RYA Regional Young Sailor of the Year winners who are voted for by RYA affiliated sailing clubs. These young sailors have made a significant impact on youth sailing, ranging from gold medal winning achievements and overcoming adversity, to the huge amount of hard work and effort they give back to their clubs. Alice and Lucy and their families were treated to an action packed VIP day at the show, thanks to Pantaenius Yacht Insurance. Alice and Lucy are now involved in training for selection for the RYA Volvo 29er Transition Squad, the 29er being a two-person Youth class dinghy. As members of the RYA’s National Junior and Youth programmes, the girls have access to the RYA’s highly-subsidized World Class National Training Programme designed to help Britain’s top young sailors achieve future international success.
Regional Young Sailor of the Year
Alice Kent & Lucy
Childs each arrived at Oakham having already sailed before, Alice in Fevas
and Lucy in Optimists. Prompted by their coach and recognising the potential
in each other, they paired up and soon won a place in the 2007 Feva National
Squad. Training throughout the winter and racing on the summer circuit with
the rest of the Oakham sailing team, they finished 10th overall and 3rd Ladies
at the 2008 World Championships in Sweden, winning the UK Inland Championships
later that year. More National Squad training that winter set them up for
2nd overall and 1st Ladies at the 2009 European Championships in Italy this
summer. Alice & Lucy have just been selected as RYA East Midlands Region
Young Sailors of the Year. The awards ceremony is on Saturday 9th January
at the London International Boat Show.
Quite a few sailors have been beaten by a ‘Kent’. Alice’s older sister Cathy was Captain of Sailing and younger sister Sarah has just been selected for the 2009 National Squad alongside other Oakhamians Emily Nagel, Cathy Lear and Francine Counsell. The Oakham sailing team will be travelling en masse to France next summer for the World Championships at Carnac in Brittany.
Derbyshire Dales Sports Awards
“Club of the Year”
Some weeks ago Carsington Sailing Club was nominated for a “Club of the Year” award as part of Derbyshire Dales Sports Awards. The awards celebrate and reward people who are making a significant contribution to sport, whether as a performer, coach or administrator.
There are fourteen categories which include individual, club, team and disabled awards, as well as a special category for school sport. The awards are made to say well done and thank you to those people who are making an outstanding effort to improve their sports performance, or somebody else’s performance, especially as a volunteer.
At the awards ceremony held in October Carsington Sailing Club was awarded the 'Derbyshire Dales Club of the Year 2009' trophy. This award was bestowed upon the club particularly in recognition of the links the Club has made with schools, giving their pupils access to sailing and the opportunities offered by the Club for youngsters to develop their sailing. Winners from the Derbyshire Dales Sports awards are entered in the County Awards which also link to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
Regional Communicator joins East Midlands Team
Karenza Morton has joined the RYA East Midlands team as the new Regional Communicator. Karenza used to work as the RYA’s Racing Communications Officer in Southampton but recently relocated further north and is now focussing her RYA communications efforts exclusively on the East Midlands.
To help her leverage as much good publicity as possible for all the great work that goes on at our clubs and our success stories, please tell her what you want to shout about.
Has your Club secured funding for a new club project to drive participation? Has one of your members landed a major Championship title or award? Have you introduced a new club initiative aimed at encouraging a particular group of people to get out on the water?
Please let Karenza know whatever you think may be of interest to the media. The earlier you are able to tell her what might be on the horizon, the more chance we potentially have of being able to factor that news into the monthly media schedule.
A crib sheet on how to put together a good press release can now also be downloaded from the RYA East Midlands website (link here real soon!) to help you try to maximise publicity for your club activity in your local area.
Please email your news to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
New development officer for OnBoard
Harriet Baldock joins as Onboard Development Officer for Nottingham and South Derbyshire.
New recruit Harriet Baldock has been tasked with providing more opportunities for kids to get into sailing in the Nottingham and South Derbyshire region by the sport’s national governing body, the RYA.
Through its highly successful and widely supported grass roots programme, OnBoard, the RYA seeks to make sailing and windsurfing accessible to as many young people as possible.
Harriet joins the RYA’s task force of over 25 OnBoard Development Officers nationwide who all focus on providing greater access to sailing activities in their areas of the country. Harriet commented; “I’ve only been in my new role for a week and already I can see how much scope there is for getting more young people out on the water enjoying Sailing and Windsurfing in the region.”
The job
Harriet will be meeting with local schools, youth clubs, sailing clubs and centres to help increase the number of sailing and windsurfing sessions available for kids and young people. As well as setting up more sessions she will also be working with a number of clubs and centres in the area to help more children make the transition between their first go and taking the sport up as a hobby.
Harriet's take on it
She continued: “It’s a great challenge. Sailing is a brilliant sport as it offers youngsters the chance to learn a huge amount about themselves and have a lot of fun doing so. It’s not difficult to get people inspired and working more closely together when everyone is so passionate about the sport. It’s all about opening up the opportunities for young people to get involved especially for those who’ve never given it a second thought.” Harriet concluded; “If any clubs or schools reading this want to get involved in OnBoard then they can get in This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with me.
