Can the RYA truly claim to represent yachtsmen?

[AndrewB]

Why does Mr Carr think that so many of us believe the RYA is out of touch with the majority of cruising yachtsmen, and is failing in its mission of “representing [members] interests and those of the wide yachting public”?

Could it be because the RYA appears not to be acting as if its principal interest is that of its members or of yachtsmen generally, but rather that it is seeking to pursue its own agenda.

For example, a major objective, mentioned repeatedly in its mission statement, is to promote participation in sailing. This was defended in the August 2002 (p34) edition of the RYA magazine that “participation in sailing and windsurfing is actually declining in the UK … there is a great danger that sailing could become a minority interest … Lobbying power would fall significantly, and it might not be possible to defend the RYA’s ‘education not legislation’ philosophy”.

Clearly, the scale of yachting in the UK and the additional demand for training by newcomers serves to aggrandise the RYA, and furthers commercial interests, but does little for existing yachtsmen. Yachting is widely believed by existing participants to be overcrowded, and there is no special need to promote it further. Moreover it is the very fact of large numbers of inexperienced newcomers being encouraged to enter the sport that is creating the pressure for regulation and legislation.

Another example where the RYA appears to be pursuing its own agenda rather than that of yachtsmen is with its concern with forming “partnerships across the industry” with other organisations like BMIF (same issue, p35). Of course, there will be occasions when there is a common interest. But the proper role of a representative organisation, most yachtsmen would believe, would be to identify itself unambiguously as representing and defending customer interests in relation to these provider organisations, not in getting into bed with them.