The decision to have a German firm produce clothing carrying the RYA 'brand' did not prove at all popular with industry, although few RYA members probably know anything about the furore, and I'm sure that the RYA would rather keep it that way too.

But there is a general 'undercurrent' in marine industry that perhaps the RYA is becoming a bit too 'Corporate' - a bit too much like the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), which, rightly or wrongly, is perceived to have changed out of all recognition and become too 'Corporate'.

What is more, as the income from its commercial activities grows, questions have been asked about why income from such activities isn't shown as a separate item in the RYA's accounts. Just how much is the RYA making from these activities, and what is it being used for?

Addressing the issue of income from its insurance schemes, the RYA's Marketing Manager, John Bagnall, told Boating Business that "it would be extraordinarily wasteful in paper, production costs and postage to record every line of income and expenditure in our annual repor t and accounts".

Admittedly, there is also the question of commercial confidentiality, in that the RYA needs to respect the interests and confidentiality of suppliers and service providers. "In practice, we include individual items of income and expenditure under a number of general headings, and the accounts overall are checked and verified by independent auditors", Bagnall explained. "Every RYA member receives the accounts and every member is welcome to question any item contained in them. They can contact us directly, or raise the issue at our annual general meeting in October".

Asked what level of income was generated from insurance and how much from all other commercial activities in the last financial year, Bagnall said there were issues of commercial confidentiality involved in giving detailed figures, but the income from all the RYA insurance schemes represents just under 20 per cent of the income attributed in the accounts to sales and services to members.

"Sometimes, it's not properly understood that the RYA isn't a public body. Rather, it's a membership association which is a 'company limited by guarantee'. How we run our commercial activities is entirely up to us, and we are accountable to our members alone for how we fulfill that responsibility", said Bagnall.

Asked what was the RYA's policy on 'transparency' in its commercial operations, Bagnall said that the RYA tried to conduct its commercial activities in a professional, responsible and businesslike manner. "In doing so, we are accountable to our membership, and our activities are subject to scrutiny by them through a number of management and democratic processes. By definition, a few par ts of the marine industry are bound to see us as competing with their own interests, and it's only to be expected that some will take a negative view" he said.

"It's only by adding value to RYA membership and developing income streams to promote boating more effectively that we shall achieve our goal of attracting more people into boating, then keeping them there. In the long run, that has to work to everybody's benefit".

Asked what the cost of Compass Point, the RYA's proposed new headquar ters might be, Bagnall's response was terse. "At present, that's our business", said Bagnall.

"Members will see the figures when the annual repor t and accounts for 2002-2003 are published".