Initial findings from the Royal Yachting Association’s annual Parent, Guardian and Carer Survey show that parents with children taking part in boating or sailing believe them to benefit from increased levels of confidence, team building and leadership skills thanks to their time on the water.

Each year the RYA asks parents of children taking part in boating or sailing to have their say on a range of topics in the RYA Parent, Guardian and Carer Survey. By completing the short survey, participants provided the RYA with valuable insight into how we can provide further help and support to both parents and children, ensuring safe and fun experiences for all.

The governing body for sailing and boating in the United Kingdom says it received over 270 completed surveys in the latest round, capturing informative data which will influence the RYA’s ongoing organisational delivery of the safeguarding agenda.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 85% of respondents were ‘Very Confident’ that their club or class association would know how to respond to safeguarding concerns.
• 68% of respondents were aware of who their Welfare Officer was and how to contact them.
• 61% of respondents felt that their child would know who to talk to besides themselves if they were worried.
• 62.5% said that their child had never had any negative experiences in the sport.
• 29% of respondents stated that they had witnessed parents, guardians or carers behaving in a way which in their opinion had had a negative impact on the child’s enjoyment of the sport.
• When asked for three words to describe the benefits that the respondents felt children received from sailing and boating, the most frequently mentioned benefits included: confidence, team building, knowledge, leadership, well-being, community and new skills.

The RYA says it will be producing a full report on the data obtained, containing the actions that it will take to implement the findings into the safeguarding support on offer. Once finalised, the report will then be made available on request.

For more, visit the RYA Safeguarding hub. The local safeguarding lead for RYA Northern Ireland is Gayle Logan at [email protected].