RYA Sailability National Conference
Keswick November 10th 2007-11-11

REPORT.

First of all let me say that my overall impression of the meeting was one of admiration for the amount of work that must have gone into staging this event. This included some 12 workshops covering six topics. RYA Training centres – Special Olympics – Finding Funds – Appeal to Volunteers – Competitive Sailing – Promoting Your Group. I attended the RYA Training centres and the Promoting Your Group as I though that they would be of more use to us after learning that the Funding one was full (naturally) There were also ten boats on display of which more later.

The meeting started with Debbie Blatchford outlining what was happening all over the country with regard to the disabled sailing scene and introducing key members who gave their take on matters under their jurisdiction. These included Pat Moss the new chair of trustees and the lady who is running ‘Sail London’. Sail London is concentrating efforts on developing sailing for people with disabilities in a number of sailing clubs and organisations in and around London. From the chart it appeared that some dozen ‘clubs’ were already operating another ten were in the process, a further ten were thinking about it and a similar number were not interested. All in all a very worthwhile project giving rise to the though that there does appear to be a lot more effort being put into the capital. The ‘Multi-class’ regatta held at Rutland was a resounding success with 73 sailors taking part 

One of the main issues is finance and some £100k had been distributed to various groups and causes, this was through the good offices of The Sports Development Agency and the Fawcett Trust helping out to a great degree. ( one will have to wait until the RYAS accounts are available to make any judgements on this issue) There are now some 284 sailing centres for people with disabilities, some of which are foundation sites and there are 14 centres of Excellence ( I am not aware of the parameters to obtain this nomenclature). There are several new regional Organisers and this is now a paid position. The only area which does not have a RO is East Mids -our area. One or two centres were pointed out including the Wolverstone Project. Much work was being done with schools with the OnBoard initiative and this would appear to be bringing a lot of youngsters into the sport. Also a great deal was being done with Blind and VI organisations such as RNIB. All these projects involved young people.

Much was also being done to relate the continuation of training through Grass Roots – Participation –  Sub-Elite -Transition – to Para Sport. Training was an essential part of development and this included club courses and tutor courses. Marketing was being done by MindWorks including new posters and a new DVD available next year, Research and targeting, this to include press releases and exhibitions. Leaflets and DVD will be made available for clubs to adapt for use for their own promotion. This will be targeted to the right audience with human interest stories etc.

Information availability will be increased with the development of RYAS’ dedicated web site. This will include a directory of goods and services, a ‘Best Practice Manual’ Where to Sail, a calendar of events for clubs to add their events on and the site will also carry regional pages for clubs to promote their own activities.

There will also be an initiative for improving communications including National and regional forums. There will be regional pages on the main RYA web site.’Foghorn’. ‘Briefing’ and ‘Wavelength’ will also be available on line and can have interpretive specialists to make it available to all. During 2008 it is planned, will see a great deal of development including club visits.

Workshops

The workshops I attended were very informative and will be the subject of discussion at a later date. As far as the promotion of our group is concerned there is a lot to be done. I brought away with me a copy of the slide presentation which can be gone through more thoroughly at a later stage Training is also an issue for concern in that we do not contravene any guidelines or best practice. I believe what we are doing currently satisfies these needs but will have to be kept under revision with the club training executive and management. With this in mind I did bring away a copy of guideline notes.
Boats.
There were ten boats on display some of which we already use but there were also new generation craft which are going to replace those currently in use.

Access 2.3.
This boat was as we use but with some development in that it was fitted with electrics to the mainsheet and tiller so that it could be used via ‘suck and blow’ operation. It was also fitted with a rigid seat which overcomes the problem of a beneficiary wearing callipers.

Access 303.
This was as we use but had a rigid seat on one side. Both access boats are now moulded in the far east due to Sawford marine not being able to cope with demand there is also some difference in interior hull configuration but which does not take it out of class.

Skud
This is the new Paralympic boat and is highly technical. It follows the new trend of being a tandem arrangement for seating with the after position being helm and with a tilting seat. Being extremely wide it has come in for some criticism due to the fact that visibility to windward is restricted when well heeled (not monetarily).

Martin 16.
This is the type of boat we have had at carsington for trial purposes. Again tandem seating with fore and aft rig and a large asymmetric. Not sure where this will fit into the scheme of things but it is becoming very popular.

Gos 16.
Designed and built in Spain and marketed by Steve Sawford. Again tandem arrangement for the crew but with a very deep keel and bulb underwater profile. Very narrow beam . We would have trouble launching this boat due to the draught and would also contribute to giving no end of trouble with weed.

Waverider
A fore and aft rigged multi-hull again which we would have difficulty using due to size and in any case would only be duplicated by a similar cat used at the club.

Challenger  
This single seat trimaran is perhaps the most popular with disabled sailors and is sited at a great many clubs. We did have one initially at Carsington but the dangers associated with use by beginners lead us to go down the fore and aft rigged monohull route. This is the craft that Geoff Holt recently sailed round England, Wales and part of Scotland and is bound to give it a great deal of publicity.

International 2.4mR .
Single seat one fifth 12 meter yacht. The same hull shape and rig as the Norlin III we have at the club but with refined additions to rig adjustments. Very popular central and southern England and is widely used on the continent. Current paralympic boat.

Laser Stratos
Laser family boat with the capacity to carry two adults and two children. I would imagine that although this boat is fairly stable it would need a fair amount of agility for it to be used by people with disabilities.

Laser SBClub
This adaptation of this laser most impressed me as a three man day boat with performance possibly to replace the Sonar in a crew boat situation. The craft on show had a swivelling seat with lines and blocks to enable a severely disabled the helm to get up to windward easily. This entire configuration can be removed when not needed. With retracting pole and asymmetric it would be an exciting boat to sail. There is no kicker or gas strut but a strut from the mast to a point on the top of the boom keeps sail shape without crowding the cockpit. This is rigged to sit on one side of the mainsail but apparently causes not distortion of the sail. It has a lifting keel. This version will be available in early 2008 and will cost in the region of £17.000 complete with trailer/trolley.

Overall impressions.
I was very impressed with all I saw at this event and was left feeling somewhat deflated in what we are managing to do at Carsington with our limited physical and financial resources. There are so many groups and clubs which put a great deal of effort to provide sailing for people with disabilities which makes our efforts, even taking into account the great work load by the few volunteers and helpers we have, seem quite irrelevant by comparison. The numbers of beneficiaries and volunteers left me gasping. Rutland Sailability for instance has over 200 members and some 70 volunteers (each paying £45 for the privilege). There is a nationwide tie up with various Rotary International clubs to provide onshore help and this is continually being expanded. Rotary even a national coordinator for this effort. I am sure that we could improve the numbers using our boats with a suitable ‘marketing strategy’ but that would only put more strain on our very limited current physical resources and unless we dramatically increase the help available for this increase we cannot hope to achieve the same results as many other clubs and groups with poorer facilities I did mention to Debbie after the meeting that we have never ever seen a trustee (that is after Mike Parkin one of our members resigned from the board) and we have not seen a regional RO for years and that we do feel somewhat isolated as far as RYAS in concerned. Whether this is due to my involvement with DSF which may be regarded at Hamble as some kind of pressure group, I do not know.

Derek Lee 2007