RYA training
Sailia BIG Weekend 2026: 80 Sailors Train at Plas Menai
Published · Last checked October 2026
More than 80 sailors aged 13 to 75 spent 10–11 October 2026 at Plas Menai National Watersports Centre in North Wales for RYA Cymru Wales's annual Sailia BIG Weekend. Over two days, six people qualified as RYA Safety Boat drivers, 11 gained an RYA First Aid certificate and eight aspiring instructors took an instructor pre-assessment.
What the weekend is
The BIG Weekend is RYA Cymru Wales's yearly training event for club members, instructors and anyone curious to try something new, sponsored by the booking platform Sailia. Instructors from Swansea Watersports ran sessions alongside RYA staff, including Rachel Andrews, RYA Chief Instructor for Power. Saturday brought wind and rain (and the Northern Lights that night). Sunday was brighter and windier, and the full programme went ahead.
The results in numbers
| Activity | People |
|---|---|
| Qualified as RYA Safety Boat drivers | 6 |
| Gained an RYA First Aid certificate | 11 |
| Completed the RYA Dinghy Instructor Pre-Assessment | 6 |
| Passed the powerboat instructor Pre-Assessment | 2 |
| Completed a Keelboat Instructor endorsement | 4 |
| Tried or progressed in wing foiling | 14 |
| Tried dinghy foiling | 12 |
| Learned powerboat route planning, from chart table to tide | 6 |
| Race instructors and coaches completing CPD | 6 |
| Commercial skippers, instructors and principals at a talk on marine incidents and prosecutions | 24 |
Others cruised the Menai Strait, sailed keelboats, practised search and rescue, and tried sea rowing with the Royal Welsh Yacht Club.
Why it matters for skippers
Several of these courses are the first steps towards teaching. The RYA Dinghy Instructor Pre-Assessment checks your own sailing before you can join an instructor course, and RYA instructors must hold a valid first aid certificate. For commercial skippers, the talk on incidents and prosecutions was a reminder that the person in charge is responsible for safe operation, and that the law treats this seriously.
Cost was a theme. Sam Barnes, a Celtic longboat rower, called it "an inexpensive way to get a qualification that I would have otherwise, potentially, struggled to afford!" Organiser Hester Walker said: "It was rewarding to see so many people getting involved in so many different ways over one or both days."
What's next
The Sailia BIG Weekend returns to North Wales in autumn 2027, and RYA Cymru Wales runs BIG Days Out in South Wales in spring 2027.