Hi Martyn
Sorry for not replying sooner.
Why do you say that?
I used the words Lip Service because, in my view, over the last 30-40yrs this was the best way I could describe my feelings about them as an association which should be whole heartedly throwing everything they have at helping motor boating in the UK. For me, the dictionary definition of Lip Service is "to say that you agree with something but do nothing to support it”. To be fair it’s not strictly true to the letter i.e. the word “nothing” in there, but “not do a lot to support it” or in fact even Govern it, pretty well sums it up.
Furthermore, to make matters worse, they call themselves the UK Governing Body of Boating or National Governing Body and again a definition is …. "the group of officials who draw up the rules that govern the actions and conduct of a body such as a school, university, or sport, and who ensure that these rules are followed” Yes, they have established rules for racing in both sailing and powerboating, but I have not seen any evidence that they have tried to establish licencing for boats in the UK or at least try to formalise boat ownership with some sort of compulsory training and / or insurance. I fully understand that a law would have to be passed in order for this to happen but they have had since 1953 to lobby Governments. A group of people who want to be a Governing Body, should try to achieve this as a minimum. I appreciate there will be some in the boating world who will not want to pay for a licence or have compulsory insurance but nearly everyone I know has had some sort of training and gets their boat insured. Rules of the road on the water are Governed by the MCA, so they can’t Govern this, therefore what do they actually Govern? And if we argue that the MCA should be establishing licences and compulsory boat insurance then the RYA cannot be the Governing Body of Boating
Arguably they have established a good set of training standards, but from what I have seen and heard from trainers over the years, they take their pound of flesh as a business but rarely give it back in other forms as well as other things dictatorial. In addition, a lot of the training idea’s come directly from the trainers themselves.
I can’t remember when Belgium put a ban on boats entering their waters with red diesel but I know they have fined people for it. The RYA did publish that boaters should be aware of this but it was the Cruising Association (I’m pretty certain I did read this in MBY magazine) who met with the Belgium Ambassador and who used their influence with their agents over there to get them to relax the rules and fines.
What is the alternative for motor boats?
Well yes, this is the problem, there are plenty of boating associations, like the CA I mentioned but none seem to want to take on the RYA.
Going back to why I said “the sooner they stop paying lip service to being the UK governing body to motor boats in general, the better.” is not to get rid of them but to somehow get them to step up to the mark and actually become what they say they are.
I hope this all makes sense, probably not and it is only an opinion.