Winter workshops - a message from Robbie Bell

Following the success of our initial round of winter workshops back in November we are pleased to offer 3 more rounds of interactive sessions designed to help your club in its development aims for 2012 and beyond. Please note that new for this round is the funding workshop. Aimed at clubs wishing to apply for Sport England ‘Small Grants’ for boats/equipment and the new, exciting funding pot, ‘Inspired Facilities’ which opens again in early February. The Small Grant is where we have been most successful with 100% success rate for clubs whose applications we have been involved with in the East. The Inspired facilities grant is hotly contested, but we will help you to understand what makes a good bid having had applications succeed in gaining Nearly £200,000 in the first round alone. We will talk through the key elements of a successful grant and make you aware of funding streams available to your club. For details of all workshops, dates and venues please see the attached POSTER and BOOKING FORMooking form. Please send me your booking form ASAP to secure your place on a workshop. Places will be allocated on a first come-first serve basis.

Getting withdrawal symptoms, can’t wait for summer?

Now's the time to gen up on some of your sailing knowledge and clear some of the New Year fug. Regional Development Officer Robbie Bell has laid on a series of courses over the winter period, aimed at improving our sailing techniques; they range from first aid to power boat and dinghy instructor courses. And they're not expensive. For full details of when, where and how much click here

RACE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCES

Eastern Region Race Officials Regional Conference – Royal Harwich YC – 11th February 2012.

This event takes place every two years and the 2012 edition is being held at Royal Harwich YC on Saturday 11th February. The content will include updates on race management, rules and judging and umpiring and should provide a good refresher in preparation for the 2012 season. The conference is open to all race officials and those interested in learning more about race management with a view to becoming qualified. The fee is only £5 and the event starts at 1000 hrs and finishes at 1600 hrs.

Booking details are available at  link under “East”

Regional Race Management Seminar – Grafham Water Sailing Club – 28th/29th January 2012.

If you have experience of race management at club level (including some open meetings) and want to develop your skills then this seminar is for you! The seminar, previously known as the Regional Race Officer (RRO) Course or the OMRO Course is organised by Regional Race Management Coordinator Peter Saxton and run by RYA Race Management Committee approved Instructors – Peter Saxton and Tim Hancock.

Preparation for the seminar includes being familiar with the RYA Race Management Guide (available on the RYA Race Management website). At the end of the Seminar, a 50 question multi-choice exam is set with a 70 per cent pass mark. A pass in this exam gives the candidate, as long as they are an RYA member, an automatic Club Race Officer Plus (CRO+) qualification and certificate. This exam pass is one of the requirements for the Regional Race Officer (“RRO”) qualification.

Booking details are available at  link under “East” - the fee for the course is £75.

Refresh your club race management skills

Clubs that want to do their own refresher on club race management skills, including Club Race Officer, GPS courses and mark laying, then full details are available on the RYA website under the “Training Courses & Seminars” heading in the Race Officials section at link

The Club Race Officer course is delivered by instructors qualified to Regional Race Officer level or above, and RRMC Peter Saxton is available to deliver the course if needed. He’s already scheduled to do one course at Brightlingsea SC on March 24th.To contact East Region Race Management Coordinator Peter Saxton call him on mobile 07860 959 666 or at home on 01462 742 491. Or by e-mail at peter.saxton@virgin.net .
 

Instructor conference opens for bookings

Book your place now on the RYA Raymarine Yachtmaster Instructor Conference 2012, to be held at the Bournemouth Marriott Highcliff Hotel, 28-29 January 2012. The conference is open to RYA Yachtmaster and Cruising Instructors, Examiners and Principals. Keynote speaker is Captain Andrew Moll, Deputy Chief Inspector, Marine Accident Investigation Branch. There will be a series of workshops and discussion groups and a chance to have your say as well.

Raymarine is offering a number of subsidised delegate places to new instructors who have not attended the conference before. If you would like to apply for one of these places, please contact Bethan Jenkins on 02380604183. As part of the conference there are also a number of visiting exhibitors who will be providing special offers for attendees including a 35 per cent discount on all Imray charts and significant discounts on RYA Publications and DVDs.

To book your place, contact Bethan Jenkins on 02380604183, no later than Friday 13th January 2012. Last year the conference was a sell out so book sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.

Team racing cheat sheet

Chris Hussey ODO for Suffolk and Essex has produced a cheat sheet for anyone wanting to organise team-racing training. He can be contacted on Tel: 01473 326966 Mobile: 07919 271328 e-mail .
 

Don’t Spread Non Native Species, Check, Clean, Dry…and play safe!

Hirers of RYA East training boats and fleets are requested to ensure they wash down the boats or boards thoroughly on arrival and again before they leave the club site to return to our base at Otley. The wash down on site and before returning to us is vital to ensure no nasties, such as Dikerogammarus villosus, the dreaded Killer Shrimp, are moved around the region on our boats and trailers. Anyone failing to do this simple hygiene process is not only endangering other clean waters, but is in danger of being refused

 

New on-line booking system now in place go to the Fleets page for full details

Introduction

The Eastern Region has an enviable reputation for its commitment to training. Encouraging more young people into the sport and supporting clubs and individuals in achieving their goals lies at the heart of the Region’s work.

To this end a number of years ago the Committee set up the Regional Training Panel. It’s remit is to operate and maintain the fleets of training dinghies, and to advise and assist coaches and instructors.

The Region is the biggest in the country, stretching from the Wash to the Thames and from the coast as far West as Buckinghamshire. There are 175 affiliated clubs, some 95 training centres — both commercial and integrated into clubs — and over 14,000 personal members. Over the years the success of its training support can be seen by the growth of youth sailing, the growing number of clubs selected for Volvo Championship Club (VCC) status, by the increasing number of clubs signing up for the RYA OnBoard youth scheme, and by the number of world champions and Olympians who started in, or have close connections with this region.

Several of the disabled sailing centres in the region have pioneered methods and techniques now used universally. One of the five Sailability Centres of Excellence is also in our region. With the support of the Training Panel windsurfing is set to grow, a new fleet of windsurf boards and rigs was delivered in 2009. The youth windsurf racing scheme Team 15 is strongly supported by the Panel.

Fleets

With three fleets of Optimists, two of Toppers (all have six boats a  fleet and are mounted on custom trailers) and fleet of Fevas (three boats) and two windsurf fleets (one of four Bic Techno boards with  three changes of rig each; and one fleet of six Naish boards on a custom trailer), the region is well placed to help clubs with  equipment to stage training weekends, OnBoard starter events, youth training weeks and regattas; as well as getting youngsters into  windsurfing and Team 15.

The Region's training fleets undergo a comprehensive maintenance schedule each winter, including replacing sails, mainsheets, dagger boards, tillers and small hull repairs as required.

Event Support

The region has an outstanding record in the Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship, having won the national three times and brought home five boats. In 2011 a new co-ordinator takes over the running of the programme, Nigel Mower. Once again the region is organising a round of area heats for competitors at held at Paxton Lakes, near St Neots, Subbers Activity Centre, Essex and Fishers Green, Herts. The Eastern Region final will be held at Fishers Green SC on July 30th, 2011. Any clubs that wish to hold an area heat should e-mail , or phone Nigel on 01473 780397 (home) or 0780 303 8672 (mobile).

Team 15 is the youth racing windsurf club competition and the Training Panel actively encourages more windsurf clubs to take part. Two years ago the Panel purchased two fleets of windsurfers. Fleet No 1 consists of six Naish boards with rigs and Fleet No 2 consists of four Bic Techno boards with three rig changes each; both fleets on custom-built trailers. All can be hired by clubs for training events.

Training Panel Minutes can be down loaded through this link Latest Minutes