RYA Northern Ireland is calling for women across Northern Ireland to give feedback on its Women on Water programme.
The governing body hopes to find out what boaters want through a development survey, which will help to shape future programmes.
The Women on Water initiative began in 2016, allowing over 500 female participants to get on the water and 12 clubs supporting the programme.
RYA Northern Ireland’s active clubs co-ordinator Lisa McCaffrey said: “To expand the Women on Water programme we want to find out about our boaters aspirations.
“We are calling on as many female boaters as possible to complete the 10-minute survey so that we can find out exactly what will work best.
“The programme has been extremely successful over the last three years and we are now working on progressing Women on Water with the aim of developing our female workforce. We hope to provide a programme that helps support the development of RYA coaches/officials and instructors.
“This is an exciting opportunity to assist our boating community with increasing their skills and qualifications.”
Over the last three years, participants of the Women on Water programme have had many achievements, including:
- A Women on Water Leader Group who organise and run a Women on Water Festival and help to support the development of the programme at clubs across Northern Ireland.
- At Strangford Lough Yacht Club, six women completed the Women on Water programme in June 2018 and went on to win the regatta series at their club in the same year.
- Two Women on Water graduates were due to take part in their first GP14 class World Championship in 2020.
- One participant is going on to become an Advanced Powerboat Instructor.
- Many of the graduates regularly volunteer at their clubs on committees, as well as being race officials and providing event support.
McCaffrey added: “RYA Northern Ireland is asking for any female that is involved in boating in Northern Ireland to take part in the survey, whether you have been a lifelong boater, completed a Women on Water programme since 2016 or a sailing course, we want to hear from you.”
