The good, if not slightly over trusting folk at the RYA have asked me to take over as a columnist for 'Up to Speed', their one and only e-newsletter dedicated to people who like a bit of power on the transom, rather than that flappy sail business.

Now going to be released every couple of months, I'll be using the column to bring write reviews of boats, gadgets and other nautical related stuff. In order to get the newsletter you have to be an RYA member and opt into the letter on the website.

Aside from my waffle, the e-newsletter contains other articles and columns written by journalists and RYA chappies and comes together as neat little nugget of digestible boating brilliance. Oh, and it's also been slapped with yet another copy of the glazed over, slightly smug looking visage that is my editorial picture. Who could say no? (rhetorical, the list would be endless)

The next instalment of the e-newsletter is about to be unleashed by the RYA. Not being biased at all, I not only highly recommend that you sign up to it, but utterly insist that you show it to all your non-RYA member friends so they know what they're missing and sign up as well. Remember that Sports Boat and RIB and the RYA will soon be the overlords of the powered nautical world, and those who sign up early will not be forgotten...

www.rya.org.uk