Today, our communications team of Marc and Philippa take a deep dive into Sustainable Sailing Ltd – an innovative start up tackling some tricky environmental challenges. With insight from co-founder Joe Penhaul-Smith, we find out how he launched Sustainable Sailing along with his brother Sam. The first on the scene in terms of true sail recycling technology, Sustainable Sailing benefits from wealth of experience offered by its founding directors in science, and the inner workings of the marine industry – combined with a true passion for change. The company’s innovative technology can recycle 9 ..read more

While many of us are still to get out on the water for the first time this year, it’s a different story for our student sailors, who are in the depths of running their a full on event calendar. With planning and delivering two semesters of sailing amongst full-time studies is no easy feat, we’re taking a deep dive into how our student sailors pull it off year in, year out. Made up of several distinct sailing styles, the SSS year is packed with events and training led by devoted sailors and volunteers. Relying on representatives from the Scottish Student Sailing (SSS) community, university sail ..read more

'Off the Water' is back for a deep dive into cruising, and a look at some of the different voluntary opportunities' on offer across RYA Scotland. Joining our communications team of Marc and Philippa in todays discussion is Charles Bird, Chair of RYA Scotland's Cruising & General Purposes Committee. Covering a wide range of topics, the committee is devoted to protecting the interests of boaters here in Scotland, be that by increasing the visibility of hazards, promoting environmentally sustainable practises, or by endorsing the use of older watercraft as appose to buying new. Tune in t ..read more

Off the Water is back ahead of the 2023 season with some updates from the team at RYA Scotland alongside a short interview with our new CEO Finlo Cottier.  Originally from the Isle of Man, sailing brought Finlo to Scotland’s West Coast where he began work as an Artic scientist, eventually becoming a Professor at the Scottish Association of Marine Sciences (SAMS) in Oban. During this time Finlo was an active volunteer as Commodore at Oban SC and a as a deputy coxswain for the RNLI, so has kept close to the water throughout his roles. The full article on Finlo is available at https://www.ry ..read more

Why is lack of volunteers one of the biggest barriers to the growth of sailing clubs today? What needs to change? In this episode of Off The Water we return to the topic of volunteers and volunteering. As we emerge from the lack of formal activities brought about by the pandemic, alongside many other aspects of social change, finding, retaining and supporting volunteers has been brought into sharp focus. The recent launch of RYA Scotland’s Volunteer Development Framework also provides a perfect opportunity to reflect on the overall impact people who volunteer have on the boating community. Our ..read more

The Off The Water podcast aims to provide some insights from people involved at all levels of recreational boating in Scotland. In this episode Marc Turner catches up with new Regional Development officer for the West of Scotland, Laura Cowan.  We discuss her experiences of RYA Sailability in her previous role with Prestwick Sailing Club, before hearing from Rory McKinna on his para sports journey in sailing so far. Rory has enjoyed sailing a Hansa 303 at various locations around Scotland, the UK and Europe, enabled by his family, alongside volunteers from class associations, clubs and ce ..read more

Marc Turner met up with Lorraine Dodge and a group of visually impaired sailors at the end of a week’s sailing on the Clyde last year and thought it a great idea to share the story of their trip and the organisation. To find out more about this charity, ran by visually impaired sailors, we caught up with Lorraine Dodge, a trustee with VISA-GB, who, alongside volunteer skipper Steve Benn and sailors Liza Marsden from Ayr and Robert Smith from Ayr, joined us in our latest podcast. Before we recorded the podcast Lorraine briefly told us a little about the group.  “It was Visa-GB second saili ..read more

Off the water is back on the airwaves as most of the team were back on the real waves over the summer. However as the longer nights set in we are excited to be able to share some of the inspiring stories from 2021.   Robyn Phillips joins Marc Turner as the host of this episode, as Robyn has probably done the most sailing this summer, from cruising, instruction, coaching and racing, both keelboats and dinghies, however she caught wind of an adventure that some of the young people at Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yacht Club (ASYC) undertook in dinghy cruising and went to find out more ..read more

The RYA Scotland podcast catches up with sail based charity the Ellen Macarthur Cancer Trust who have a base in Scotland. We find out a little more about how they use sailing to help rebuild the confidence of young people in recovery from cancer along with the plans for restarting activities this summer. Since starting activities at Largs in 2013, Ellen Macarthur Cancer Trust has welcomed hundreds of young people to Largs with support from the Peoples Postcode Lottery. The impact of the trust has been immense not just for the young people, but also for the volunteer, medics and skippers.  ..read more

It is widely acknowledged that many people get involved in sailing through family participation, and this episode explores this with a quiet, unassuming family from the Isle of Arran as the Off The Water podcast catches with the Hunter family. They are an inspiration on so many levels as they all have made a profession out of sailing, through their passion for all the activities on offer, from racing to cruising and the limitless sense of adventure it allows. Ian and Sally have shared many nautical miles in ocean crossings and deliveries, although Sally’s involvement in the first all-female en ..read more