RYA Training Conference 2012 

The National Training Conference is never short of a few spanners being chucked in the works, this year’s winners had to be ‘computer says no’, to the booking process, arrival of snow and the guest speaker cancelling! This didn’t deter delegates, or the enjoyment of a fully packed weekend!

Saturday: Sarah Treseder, RYA CEO, kindly jumped to our assistance and took the place of our guest speaker providing a very educational presentation on the RYA and the vast areas we have involvement with. An inspirational presentation, getting people to look at the whole mechanism, highlighting how very easy it is to become blinkered to our own world, oblivious to the work being carried out by others to ensure we can continue operating as we do.

After a well needed coffee break, RYA Staff and external speakers provided informative presentations on an array of subjects, from Rough Water Handling by the RNLI, Social Media by Sport England, to PW Partnership representative and Effective Classroom delivery by Race Coach Karen Falcon. A brief description of each presentation is below with the corresponding presentation were possible and if appropriate:

• Boating across the curriculum presented by Jane Campbell-Morrison Helping our Recognised Training Centres on how sailing, windsurfing and Powerboating can be used within the school’s curriculum.
• Social media, presented by John Duffy and Fiona Harold from  Sport England  Using the power of Social Media to get more people boating,
• Effective classroom delivery, presented by Karen Falcon, RYA Race Coach Will provided a range of interactive techniques for sessions on and off the water.  Using some of these techniques will mean less talking, people on courses being more active, everyone contributing to discussions and the ability to check their understanding. 
• Sail for Gold, presented by RYA Olympic Activation Coordinator, Celia Edgington The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games provides a unique opportunity to really promote our sport nationally and your club or training centre locally and for us all to have some fun! People will naturally be much more sport oriented as we move closer to the Games and so it’s a great chance to really inspire them to have a go at sailing and hopefully engage them on an on-going basis, perhaps as a member of your club, or learning to sail at your training centre. Celia Edgington, RYA 2012 Co-ordinator, spoke about the Sail for Gold programme and how centres who haven’t yet signed up can get involved, including key dates and resources available.
• Incidents & lessons learned, presented by RYA Chief Instructor, Power and Motor Cruising, Rachel Andrews Past and recent incidents and what we can learn from these, including reporting an incident and emergency action planning.
• Personal watercraft , presented by Candice Abbott from the Personal Watercraft Partnership PW riding and development doesn't have to stop after our students have completed the RYA PWC course. Presentation by Candice Abbott, RYA Trainer and director of Personal Watercraft Partnership, on what we can do to inspire and motivate them into regular participation?
• Overseas Inspector update, Presented by RYA Chief Instructor, Dinghy and Windsurfing, Amanda Van Santen – An update for all Overseas Inspectors, only available for existing RYA overseas inspectors.
• Rough water handling, presented by RNLI representative Howard Ramm Rough water handling at Intermediate and Advanced Powerboat level, including deciding on operating areas, reading waves, safety and injury prevention

Saturday afternoon saw discussions on a number of different topics, many of which are current hot topics in the RYA Training Department, were feedback from coaches, trainers and principals are imperative to the process and decision making:

• Boating across the curriculum
• SMART action plans
• Effective classroom delivery
• Powerboat Level 2 Inland versus Coastal
• NSS Clinic
• Social Media
• Encouraging CPD
• Powerboat Advanced Instructor Training
• Senior Instructor Workbook

Sunday, was an RYA update day, with a general training and organisational update by RYA Training Manager, Richard Falk, followed by scheme specific presentations by Rachel Andrews, RYA Chief Instructor, Motor Cruising and Power and Amanda Van Santen, RYA Chief Instructor, Dinghy and Windsurfing……….then the battle through the snow for home!!  

Presentations available:

• Dinghy and windsurfing update
• Power update

Special thanks to the recently named ‘Gallagher Heath’ insurance for once again supporting our conference, without their support the conference would be very different, the industries exhibitors showing their dedication and all the delegates that braved the weather to be with us!!