If any sport is going to remain in a healthy state, everyone knows that you need to keep youngsters involved. As part of the RYA’s remit is to promote participation, this is something that we value very highly. So, what is the RYA doing to get youngsters in to sailing in 2010?

From an outsider’s perspective, being a sailing or powerboating instructor can seem like a pretty ideal way of life: you get to play around in other people’s boats and, if you’re very lucky, you can end up in some pretty amazing locations getting paid for the privilege. And the basic fact is that instructing is a pretty amazing job – ...

One of the great things about any watersport is that you are constantly learning. Whether you’re heading out on to the water for the first time, or perfecting some tricky manoeuvre, it’s all about improving and refining your skills. And this is where the RYA training structure really comes to the fore: It doesn’t matter what kind of boating you ...

Everyone admires loyalty; the ability to stick with something through thick and thin is always an admirable quality and one that generally deserves to be rewarded. It was with this in mind that the RYA has decided to set up its Gold Membership scheme to recognise long-term members. Considering that the RYA has been a membership organisation since 1875, loyalty ...

If you are sailing back from Brittany, where I hope you will have tasted Ar-Men bottle-conditioned ale (All at Sea June) you may perhaps make landfall at Falmouth or Fowey for Falmouth Week 7-14 August. If you do, many local Cornish ales, which are also bottle-conditioned specialities, await you, seemingly indicating a revival of the genre over here. Plus real ...

Cornish ales are great and gaining a following outside the county, led by Sharp’s Doom Bar. At Cowes Week Doom Bar will be strutting its promotional stuff in popular yachtie pubs. T-shirts and a competition to win a ride in the Doom Bar hot-air balloon will be among the attractions. But, of course, the main attraction is the beer itself. ...

‘BRETAGNE’, the home for French sailors, has many close links to our ‘Grande Bretagne’s’ west coast from Devon and Cornwall to the Hebrides – culturally, with a similar sea-oriented lifestyle, through language and harvesting the fruits of the sea. And it is famous for doing clever things with apples, like Calvados, and amazing ciders, like St Malo’s Cidre Fermier ‘Brut’, ...

Get ready to cast your clouts this month and start thinking of summer wines. Crisp whites, tasty rosés and why not a bit of fizz for the same price as still wines? New this year to the UK from South Australia is Tim Adams Pinot Gris, setting a bit of a top-shelf standard at £10.40 (Tesco). The winery was established ...

The historic Torbay town of Brixham is still one of England’s busiest fishing ports and a popular stopping-off place on West Country cruises. The marina is on the site of the old Uphams shipyard where many trawlers and ocean-going yachts and a replica of the Mayflower were built, and requisitioned by the Admiralty in World War II. Now the marina ...

We last featured the Nelson Brewery at historic dockyard Chatham back in May ’05 for the excellent celebratory England Expects beer it brewed for the Battle of Trafalgar 200th anniversary. I am pleased to report that the brewery is still going strong. England Expects was an excellent bottle-conditioned ale but now most of its core products are draught beers. This ...