Royal Yatch Association welcomes the Shipping Minister

by Susie NationGrainger on 29 Aug 2013 On Tuesday 27 August, the RYA was delighted to welcome the Shipping Minister, Stephen Hammond MP to RYA House in Hamble. Mr Hammond met with Sarah Treseder RYA CEO, Gus Lewis Head of Legal and Government Affairs and a number of staff within the Association.

Gus Lewis commented 'We were very pleased that the Minister accepted our invitation to the visit the RYA. It was good to be able to talk informally with him on a range of issues including regulation, safety and RYA recreational boat training. It was also a great opportunity to take the Minister out on the water so that he could see the range of boating activities taking place and the different types of craft!'

After meetings at RYA House a short motor up the River Hamble saw the Minister take the helm of a Fairline 42 under the watchful eye of RYA Instructor Adam Wilson from Aquasafe Powerboat Training, a Lymington-based RYA training centre.

On arrival at Mercury Marina the Minister was given a tour by Barry Corke of the Rona Sailing Project’s 65ft ocean training vessel. The Project takes young people, many from troubled backgrounds, to sea in large ocean-going yachts.

He was able to meet a number of the volunteers from the project and the young crew, many of whom had never sailed previously, who had just returned from sailing the vessel round the Baltic.

The Minister then met with Rob Gaffney from the RYA-recognised Hamble School of Yachting, which operates from Mercury Marina, where he was shown their onshore training facilities, maintenance facilities and sail training boats.

At the end of the visit Mr Hammond commented 'It was great to be out on the water and see for myself the RYA training the next generation of sailing enthusiasts. The association plays an important role in keeping our rivers and coasts safe for recreational, competitive and professional boaters, as well as making sailing accessible to people from all walks of life'.

'Today gave us the opportunity to give the Minister a taste of recreational boating and RYA training which we hope will help to inform our future discussions' concludes Gus.

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