Over the last six months the RYA has been conducting an in-depth review of its governance of Powerboat Racing in the UK led by an independent consultant on behalf of the association and a number of conclusions and outcomes have been made.
Throughout the process all members of the Powerboat Racing community have had the opportunity to contribute to the review, with all views being considered and evaluated alongside the vast amount of written materials, minutes and reports.
“The objective of the review was to provide the best framework for the continued future development of Powerboat Racing in the UK, whilst limiting the RYA’s exposure to unacceptable levels of financial and reputational risk”, commented RYA Powerboat Racing Manager, Jeni Jelf.
“The recent Ridd settlement brought to light the risk to the RYA as a whole due to its extensive involvement in the operation and delivery of Powerboat Racing events. Conducting the review has enabled us to position the RYA Powerboat Racing function in a way that does not subject the RYA to unacceptable risk that could affect all our members in the future, but focus our efforts on safety, training and standards of performance.”
The review examined aspects of liability, risk, safety and training and the RYA itself and makes recommendation for their improvement. As a result of this it has been decided that the RYA will remain the National Governing Body for Powerboat Racing in the UK but a number of substantial changes relating to subjects such as insurance and offshore race approvals will be made that will impact on officials, competitors, clubs and event organisers. More specific details on this have been directly communicated to those affected.
There are further changes that will be implemented during the 2016 season as a result of the review in relation to the committee governance structure and the training of officials & competitors. This information will also be communicated directly to those affected.
Peter Cardy, who undertook the review on behalf of the RYA commented: “My warmest thanks to the dozens of competitors, officials, supporters, critics and promoters of power boat racing, who gave me their time and thoughts unstintingly during many hours of interviews and meetings. I am especially grateful to the RYA staff for their patient explanations and their speedy and factual responses to my enquiries. The pre-review survey they carried out was a valuable barometer of opinion among clubs, competitors and supporters.”
Jeni Jelf concluded: “We understand there are likely to be questions and concerns regarding these changes and myself and the RYA Powerboat Racing team will be more than happy to help address your concerns and answer your questions in this transitional period.”
View the full Powerboat Racing Review report and all the correspondence at www.rya.org.uk/programmes/powerboatracing/Pages/rya-powerboat-racing-review.aspx
For more information about RYA Powerboat Racing visit www.rya.org.uk/go/powerboatracing