Sustainability

Environmental sustainability and the protection of marine habitats are key personal values for many who enjoy boating, and lie at the heart of our ethos.

In our strategy, we make these undertakings to manage and improve our own environmental performance as an organisation, and encourage our members and affiliates to do the same.

What we said in our strategy. And what we did this year.

Engage fully in the RYA Carbon Pathway to Zero by 2050. Control our own impacts and lead by example.

Committing to sustainable boating in Scotland

The RYA is committed to a sustainable future for recreational boating in the UK. Its Carbon Pathway to Zero, published in July 2021, outlines its vision for a zero-carbon recreational boating sector by 2050.

Here at RYA Scotland, we are working to support that vision. For example, our response to the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy consultation addressed the decarbonising of recreational boating and the need for alternative non-fossil fuel for diesel engines.

Tackling our own carbon emissions

RYA Scotland’s own Sustainability Action Plan, launched in May 2021, was revised and adopted in this reporting year. The 25-point plan sets out a number of operational actions, including reducing plastic at events and cutting carbon emissions associated with travel.

Controlling the environmental impact of our organisation by changing our behaviours and reducing our carbon footprint is a long-term undertaking. We are conscious of being at the early stages of that journey – it is a work in progress.

The measurement of any reduction needs to begin with robust baseline data. This reporting year, we have established a baseline for our carbon emissions from staff travel by car.

Like many organisations, we have found that the Covid pandemic led to a natural move toward greater remote working and meeting, thereby helping to reduce carbon emissions. The volunteers on our board and committees now meet mainly online, in effect saving a total of 26,400 miles of road travel to regular meetings in Edinburgh.

Our baseline

38,000 annual road miles by staff

11 tonnes of CO2 generated annually

Mileage reduction through hybrid meetings

26,400 miles of volunteers’ travel saved

Promoting The Green Blue’s new Boating Pledge

The Green Blue is a joint environmental initiative launched by the RYA and British Marine in 2005 to encourage a sustainable leisure marine sector in the UK. We at RYA Scotland take every opportunity to promote the initiative to our members and affiliates.

September 2022 saw the launch of The Green Blue Boating Pledge, which hopes to nurture a more environmentally aware boating community.

Anyone can take the pledge online to respect, protect and enjoy the UK’s inland and marine habitats and wildlife.

Since its launch, we have been raising awareness of the pledge at events, regattas and gatherings, and promoting the associated resources offering a wealth of information and practical advice on boating sustainably.

In addition, we are delighted that two Scottish universities achieved Bronze in The Green Blue’s University Sailing Sustainability Challenge (USSC) in 2022-2023. The challenge involves university sailing clubs undertaking as many sustainable actions as they can during the academic year to reach Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Award levels. Aberdeen University Sailing Club and University of Strathclyde Sailing Club both achieved a Bronze Award this year.

Showcasing sustainable boating products at events

Along with promoting The Green Blue Boating Pledge at events around Scotland, we are using our sponsorship of prizes as an opportunity to highlight the range of eco-friendly products available to boating enthusiasts.

For example, as prize sponsor at the Kip Regatta in May 2022, we provided sustainable products from the Ecoworks Marine cleaning range as prizes for all the class winners. This range of eco-friendly cleaning products includes interior and exterior cleaners, engine room degreasers, and multipurpose products.

People

People – their wellbeing needs, personal development, aspirations and sense of enjoyment –are the very core of all forms of boating in Scotland.

Our strategy sets out our ambition to ensure that all our people – whether participants, members, staff or volunteers – feel successful, supported, included and valued, no matter where they are in the country.

Through our revitalised regional planning function, we are transforming the way we meet the needs and aspirations of diverse groups of people, as close to home as possible.

How we said we’d make it happen.

And what we did this year.

Expanding and localising development opportunities

Our coaching team works hard to support the development of instructors and coaches who deliver boating activities at centres and clubs around the country.

This year, we have begun taking an even more local and practical approach to instructor training and Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

Regional Training Days (RTDs) in March provided a valuable opportunity for preseason inspiration and personal learning – something we want more of our people to experience, closer to where they are. Whereas we ran one session in each region (North, East and West) in 2021-2022, this reporting year saw five sessions, with a wider geographical spread.

Practical CPD sessions and instructor training courses have focused on Senior Instructors’ (SI) support in the preparation for RYA Dinghy and Windsurf Instructors making the move up. We have also supported instructor endorsements regionally.

The focus has responded to a need within the SI provision across clubs and centres, however being out and about has also allowed us to hear the needs of the instructor workforce and the support structures in place.

This year, we have been working to make instructor support practical and delivered regionally to try and make it more accessible wherever there is a local demand from a group of affiliates… We are very fortunate to have a strong team of RYA Trainers (those who instruct the Instructors) across dinghy, powerboat and windsurfing to deliver and grow our instructor development.

Phillips

What motivates RYA Instructors and Coaches?

“Teaching people and helping them explore a skill they haven’t learnt before – that’s very rewarding.”

“Sailing has given me a lot of joy. It’s great to share that with others.”

“My favourite thing about instructing is seeing the progression in people when they come on the course. They might not have sailed before, but hopefully by the end of the course they’re a little more confident on the water. That’s satisfying.”

Class Academies go local

The RYA Scotland Class Academy programme offers accessible coaching for aspiring youth and junior sailors of all ages looking to start their journey on the Performance Pathways in dinghy and windsurfing racing.

The programme provides opportunities to discover and develop racing skills in a training environment that offers challenge, fun and friendship. It runs over the winter months at different venues around the country.

This year, we introduced Regional Academies: one-day, bitesize coaching sessions that aim to make initial access to the programme easier. These were hosted at a total of 13 different venues across the three regions, based on where activity is clustered.

This regional model encourages new and current sailors to train at a local club and experience the Academy environment close to home. It is key to keeping our engagement local and tuned in to the aspirations of young sailors in a particular locality.

13 venues around the country hosted an Academy

38 Academy sessions delivered

360 attendances across all sessions

7 pathway classes catered for

Introduce a Volunteer Development Framework to bring more people into our communities and better support those already involved.

Volunteer Development Framework goes live

The energy and enthusiasm of volunteers are the life-blood of boating activity up and down the country. In June 2022, we launched a significant resource for clubs and other volunteer-led boating organisations.

The new Volunteer Development Framework (VDF) provides a useful tool for groups and organisations to review and strengthen their volunteering ethos and practices, and so nurture a sustainable culture of volunteering into the future.

Compiled by our Regional Development Officers and drawing on experience and input from the RYA, sportscotland and the wider voluntary sector, the VDF is gradually being rolled out and introduced to clubs via a series of workshops.

The Framework has enabled us to think about who our volunteers are, what tasks are needed, and how to encourage new volunteering. We’ve found that welcoming new members personally and informing them about how the club is run has the potential to unlock new volunteers. Then, keeping the membership informed about opportunities and progress made by others is helping to build momentum. We’re still at an early stage but will revisit the framework as we progress.

Sandra Hogg, Commodore, Chanonry Sailing Club

Valued volunteers at the Oppie Nationals 2022

The 2022 IOCA Optimist British Open National Championships, hosted at Largs Sailing Club in early August 2022, could not have happened without the time, commitment and dedication of over 90 volunteers – many of them Oppie parents. Working alongside the parents were sailing club volunteers – from youngsters manning tuck shops to older helpers on committee boats, organising parking and helping boats ashore.

Extensive revamp for RYA Scotland Impact Awards

This year, we have completely reformed how our annual Impact Awards are delivered. Recognising and rewarding those who have made an exceptional contribution to boating in their community, the awards are now also a way of gathering the human stories of our impact.

We have moved away from traditional-style, competitive awards towards a communitybased and people-focused format. There is no closing date and no finite number of recipients.

Instead, awards are presented in person on a rolling basis throughout the season, and the stories of these inspirational people are captured on video, so that their impact and achievements may be shared and celebrated by all.

To kickstart, we look back over the 2022-23 season and highlight some of the fantastic people changing lives afloat.

Hugh McLean, Senior Instructor and Bosun, Clyde Cruising Club

Over the years, Hugh has worn many hats at Clyde Cruising Club, based at Bardowie Loch. He is a senior instructor and a powerboat instructor, running courses for various groups who come to Bardowie, including schools and universities. He also gives his time as bosun of the Dinghy Section and has brought together the Monday Club – a group of retired volunteers who gather on Monday mornings to maintain the club’s 85 dinghies, while benefiting from companionship and a sense of purpose.

“Some people look at sailing as being a quite an elitist sport. But get involved in it, and you’ll find it’s not. We take kids from all sorts of backgrounds. My ambition for the club is for it to continue to grow, to continue to make an impact in the lives of whoever comes to sail.”

Hugh McLean

“Hugh is the linchpin of the Monday Club. He’s the axle of the whole thing, it revolves around him. Every club needs a Hugh.”

Jeff Crowley, Commodore, CCC

Monday Club member