Yachting and Boating World forums: RYA money money money

You do like an argument, dont you? But then I suppose I'm guilty of that too.

In an earlier post to me you put the link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5256506.stm as justification of "When there were 2.7 million cars on the road killing 7,000 people as opposed to 27million now killing 3,000. As you (sic) would not be an adult until your 21st birthday in those days, you would not start earning full pay until then therefore it as older people who had the money to be able to afford a vehicle."

Well I've just got round to reading the report and it does nothing of the sort. The only specific accident mentioned is the death of a middle aged woman caused by a youth of 20 allegedly speeding. If that doesnt lend some (limited) support to my comment "Its well established that the risk of accident in any activity is greater for a/ beginner b/ newly qualified c/ young males because they are more risk inclined." then I dont know what does. Insofar, of course, that any media report adds any useful information.

You go on to say "BUT there are more accidents among the OLDER more experienced drivers than there are with the young newly arrived" which is simply incorrect. For example ROSPOA say " Younger drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents because they are young, but once they have had one or two years driving experience the effects of age on their accident risk seems to disappear." They go on to say "Lack of driving experience is a major reason for the higher accident risk of novice drivers, especially in their first three years of driving. As new drivers gain more driving experience, their accident rate begins to fall. However, the effects of increasing age and increasing driving experience combine, and together they produce even higher reductions in accident risk. Overall, the accident risk of 17 year old novice drivers reduces by 43% after their first year of driving experience. For 18 year old drivers, the reduction is 40%, for 19 year olds it is 38%. The accident risk of 25 year old novice drivers reduces by about one quarter after the first year of driving." And of course the insurance industry knows this well which is why premiums for young drivers are very high - higher for males than females.

None of which is really relevant to your argument about the cost and level of qualification required to teach kids shorebased courses up to day skipper. I am a shorebased teacher - been doing it for 8 years now, but gradually winding down. And before you jump to any conclusions about financial interests, apart from the rare private courses I do it all foc for my clubs. Either way, I reckon I'm in a position to comment on your points.

I half agree with you about the YM practical - its nice to have but not really necessary in a practical sense to teach DS shorebased. In fact the RYA rules as explained to me require for the Principal to have that qualification but allow him / her to use teachers for various subjects who know the subject but arent YMs. So your wife could teach nav under the aegis of a recognised school provided she knew her stuff. Thats possibly a way forward for your project and its an approach I've taken in my classes many times.. Incidentally, the rules are different for practical courses - those she couldnt teach without qualification at a higher level than YM.

You went on to say "It is pompous and naive of you to make the smug statement 'because they don't have a boat to use it in'. " and you're wrong. Whats more likely to cause disaffection than getting a taste of something you cant have? Because thats the reality. At one of our local clubs, they made an effort to get youth involved - or at least a couple of members did. But only a couple would consider taking the kids out in their boats and that was before all the rules about CRO checks. Personally, I wouldnt consider taking kids out in my boat without both parents present and I'd be doubtful even then. But then you dont need a boat to do the DS theory anyway.

" It boils down to inclusion in life and not feeling disaffected, excluded, not wanted. " Nice theory but the problem is that a lot of these feral disaffected kids arent wanted, by their mothers, their absentee fathers or the rest of us in society. And thats a problem that well intentioned do-goodery isnt going to solve. Having said that, your intentions are admirable and I wish you the best of luck with your project.

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