RYA question timeHere is the result of a Q and A session with the RYA's chief executive Rod Carr on 1600-1800 GMT Tuesday 14 January. This is a moderated forum and any posts made here will not appear at the time of posting.
Would the RYA accept that they have a major PR problem in relation to Cruising Boat Owners.
Whilst the RYA manages appears keen to ally itself to the cosy positive issues surrounding Dinghy Racing, Yacht Racing & the Olympics. The Cruising Boater, who by his nature is a loner, has no natural path to demonstrate his views to the organisation that claims to represent his views to Government & increasingly feels deserted by that body.
The Cruising Boater must represent the major part of the RYA’s individual membership & the information & offerings, in terms of their website & publications are woefully inadequate, bordering on condescending. Indeed it is often difficult to believe that the author, of much of the ramblings in the RYA publications, sails with the same kind of budgetary constraints that most of us have to contend with.
The issues of User Licensing, Boat Taxation & Light Dues, all serious cruising issues, are major threats to the long term future of leisure boating in the UK & the RYA seem deafeningly quiet on these matters. Why?
Martin
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by kimhollamby on 14/01/2003 17:07 (server time).</FONT></P>
We recognise that cruisers are a major part of our membership and they are very important to us and certainly RYA Cruising staff understand the average boaters budgetary constraints because they all do their boating operating within the same boundaries.
It is a fact that if the cruising boater is able to cruise freely in a largely unregulated environment, the RYA is being successful in its job of protecting the sport of cruising. Much of how we do this remains unseen and we agree that we should do a better job of promoting exactly how we do this. We aim to do this better in the future.
The RYA has a cruising department that is solely devoted to people who go cruising under sail or power. RYA Cruising staff (one manager, two officers and one and a half admin staff) spend their time answering queries, producing publications and copy for other RYA publications, dealing with journalists, attending meetings with government agencies and other maritime organisations and organising and running events for RYA members and other boaters.
RYA Cruising organises a national series of cruising seminars which tour the country each winter. We publish 4 books - one general safety handbook (revised and updated September 2002), two foreign cruising guides (updated alternately bi-annually with the CA) and a book on flag etiquette. We run a motorcruise and are piloting a sail cruise in summer 2003 to encourage those new to boating to extend their cruising boundaries and to increase their confidence. We also run the Honda RYA Youth Rib Challenge to introduce young people to motorboating. Our information services include the day-to-day handling of the myriad of questions from members, non-members, those new to boating and the media by phone, e-mail and letter. Plus we also provide a free presentation service to all affiliated clubs and associations and two members of the Cruising team are at the international boatshows to provide information and advice in person.
Direct consultation with the cruising boater is a challenge. We use the opportunities at clubs, seminars, the boatshows and other events to speak directly to members about issues that concern them. We also receive a lot of contact by phone and e-mail and so we certainly get to hear member's views. RYA members are generally well informed and are not shy about sharing their opinions - and we take advantage of that.
Consultation is challenging because of the time taken to get the message out, gather responses and evaluate them, but we do now utilise our website for official consultations (eg from Trinity House ref changes to aids to navigation) so that we can push out the information quickly. We acknowledge that there is more to learn and develop in this area, but we are making changes all the time and are certainly striving to improve the situation.
The allegation that the RYA does nothing about light dues, boat tax and user licensing is wrong. For example, the RYA picked up on the light dues review very early and was wholly responsible for informing other organisations such as the CA, RIN, BMF, the yachting press and all the affiliated clubs. We advertised it in the magazine, Cruising News and on the website - with a live link - and urged clubs, associations and private individuals to make the effort to respond so that Government was left in no doubt about the strength of the boating enthusiast's feelings. Since a great number of individuals and organisations sent us copies of their responses, we can wholeheartedly say that PR for light dues was a success. The RYA, of course, also submitted its own response. We are now waiting for some reaction from the Government, which has not yet responded officially in any way.
We also took pains to directly investigate the boat tax allegation when the freelance journalist who first uncovered the story approached us. We also took the opportunity to give our opinion on such a proposal to the MCA, but it turned out to be a non-story and we broadcast that fact.
The bottom line is that the RYA is committed to education not legislation and government agencies and other organisations that we deal with are left in no doubt about our stance.
Yes. Very exhaustive on what you do. However the PERCEPTION is that you have a MAJOR IMAGE problem. You dismissed that as :-
'we should do a better job of promoting exactly how we do this. We aim to do this better in the future.'
My experience is that it is unrewrading to do any job whiher yourself-image / respectisn't there. How do your staff feel? Loved? Heroes? Valued?
May be it would be a double - whammy if you spent some resource on your image/understanding??
<font color=blue>I am WHAT I say I am</font color=blue>
I think I have made my point. The average Cruising boat owner often feels deserted by theose posh blokes at the RYA. He may not have been but the RYA are not performing in their duty to keep him informed.
You should create a more amenable association with the general yachting press who will then promote your personalities & works with a much more down to earth ambiance. How about it Kim you should be the first link.
You make a good point that the perception is often very different to the actual...it certainly is with mags too as you often see on the forums.
I'm not sure the people I am looking at right now in Eastleigh would fall into my definition of posh and they are certainly not coming across as aloof and yet when, as a personal member I had very little to do with the association I formed my own opinions that perhaps weren';t always terribly accurate.
The idea of trying to translate across what is happening is vital. In the past some mags have tried to do this by offering the RYA its own column but the reality is it falls to us and perhaps it is believed better that way - we can co-operate better but still be very objective about that and have a punch-up if and when necessary.
This forum is a start and there will be discussions to see where it goes from here, I'm sure.
I would submit as a past canoeist, dingy sailor and now a sports boat enthusiast both on river and sea, that there is a lot the RYA can do to bridge this gap. Information on all issues effecting leisure boat use, whether Motor or Sail, is inadequate - learning from experience only means learning from mistakes aswell as success. A motor cruiser learns from the sea as much as a sailor does - why not then the RYA.
The RYA has a job to do in terms of PR 'between its members' to share issues and experiences, to prevent some of the mistakes and reduce subsequent sail and motor rivalry - between its own members.
The original question, which I've personally heard several times before, shows the RYA seem not to be evenly providing to both camps. RYA publications, magazine and representation need to promote BOTH Sail and Motor issues and advances in sea-use, owner attitudes, safety, environmental advances, or social etiquettes. We're all members of the same group - boating.
We have started to try to bridge the gap - particularly where animosity has given rise to unsafe practices - with the RYA Sea Sense campaign. The byeline of this campaign is 'We're all in the same boat', and it's something that we very much believe.
In terms of services to motorboaters, we have recently appointed a Chief Power and Motor Boat Instructor - Jon Mendez - to help us in this field. Since he started work for us, Jon has been reviewing our power and motor boating training scheme and publications. He's also making efforts to connect with people who have recently come into power or motor boating and may not have heard about the RYA or our training schemes.
Much of the work that the RYA does is for ALL small boat users. For example, marine radio, MCA negotiation, international certificates of competence, aids to navigation etc. Our negotiators do not wear the badge of a sailor, windsurfer or motorboater.
Good answer, I'll set 'em up, you volley them...............
Wish John and the others every success, especially that nice Andrew bloke.
It's also fairly obvious to me from todays comments and in the bars after the boat show days, that the sailors and motorboaters both say the same thing - the other lot gets a better deal from the RYA. And all say the government doesn't understand any of us - seems strange since both RYA and Government have healthy boat ownership penetration from both types of craft. This should help all feel less paranoid.
Does the RYA accept it has a PR problem?
Hybrid Mode
