Off The Water’s Podcast offthewater

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 90% of the different sail cloths in general circulation – offering a potential solution for a huge quantity of annual waste, primarily stemming from the boating and leisure marine industry.
With momentum not slowing anytime soon, Joe and Sam remain dedicated to paving the way for a more sustainable future for the marine industry.
Check out Sustainable Sailing on their website:
https://www.sustainablesailing.co.uk/
You can find out more about The Green Blue Pledge here: https://thegreenblue.org.uk/boating-pledge/ 
 
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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 a full on event calendar.
With planning and delivering two semesters of sailing amongst full-time studies 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 Scottish Student Sailing (SSS) year is packed with events and training led by devoted sailors and volunteers.
Relying on representatives from the SSS community, university sailing alumni, and independent race officials, there’s plenty hard work and dedication that goes into the packed calendar of events – and plenty thanks to be paid to those who make it happen.
Listen to the episode now for a closer look at what’s on offer, and the logistics behind it all.
Sound effect copyright @ BBC

’Off the Water’ is back for a deep dive into cruising, and a look at some voluntary opportunities’ you could get involved with to help protect boating in Scotland.

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.rya.org.uk/news/new-ceo-announced-for-rya-scotland
We are continuing to strengthen our team with a number of roles available at: https://www.rya.org.uk/gbni/scotland/about-us/job-vacancies
 
 
 

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 guest this episode include the Head of Volunteering for Marie Curie UK, Helen Keenan; Robyn Francis of Scottish Student Sailing and a volunteer as part of the Pioneer Project; and Liza Linton RYA Scotland’s Development Manager.
Bringing a depth of knowledge to the conversation around the motivations of volunteers, rewards and the massive impact they make all form part of the discussion that aims to help you, or your organisation reflect on your volunteering practices and ethos.
Here are some of the Links discussed below:
Volunteer Development Framework
Marie Curie UK Volunteering
sportscotland Volunteer info
Pioneer Project
Scottish Student Sailing
Finally you can stay in touch with all the latest news from RYA Scotland via our website, http://www.rya.org.uk/scotland and of course, across our social media channels @ryascotland

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 centres, that have all aided his passion and success within competitive sailing. He has taken on many responsibilities in raising funds and finding solutions along the way and is a keen advocate for getting sailing reinstated in the Para-Olympics, as part of the #SailToLA campaign. 
Further links below:
RYA Para-Sport Hub Launch 
World Sailing #SailtoLA
RYA Sailability
Prestwick Sailing Club
The Hansa Class 
Scottish Disability Sport