The 2021 Nationals was an epic event! Lots of the things we hoped would happen did actually happen!

The 271 entrants were treated to 5 days of amazing racing, mostly in the bay, thanks to our wonderful Race Officers and many many volunteers! - see the official reports below.

Here are some of my memories as one of the organisers:

The Welcome Evening was a success- Mentors and Mentees did meet up, good food was eaten, Tim Hulse gave a great race briefing.

Tim also sailed the 50 year old boat in the Grand Parade of Sail that opened the event on the Saturday- we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day without too much wind- good job as the old boat only just held together! For the next 4 days though the wind was relentless resulting in many tired legs!

Loads of fun in the evenings: The Moroccan Evening featured LIVE Belly Dancing, followed by a mad Pub Quiz- led by Stick Daring (aka Neil Peters). The serious questions about the ILCA kindly provided by Alan Davis were given a completely bizarre twist by Stick’s special “challenges”: juggling, Gravity Challenge etc etc…

Sports Night was a real hit- people loved the Old Grey Kicker Test even though we broke the boom of the poor old boat!

The Gala Dinner was very special- from the Grand Entrance of past Nationals Champions, including Olympic legend Iain Percy and our current Olympian Elliot Hanson, to the charity auction in which we raised £10,000 for ASF.

The Finale of the event was the Prize Giving- there was a lovely atmosphere - lots of people stayed for it including most of the prize winners - a fitting end to a great event!

The food all week was excellent- from the themed evenings - Italian, Moroccan, BBQ, Indian, to the Gala Dinner the WPNSA chef did us proud!

Thanks are also due to the top sailors who gave us the Race Clinics- Micky Beckett, Sam Whaley, Norman Struthers, Jake Farren Price, Daisy Colingridge and Jon Emmett!

Tony Woods

2021 ILCA National Championships - ILCA7 Fleet

By Sam Whaley

The much anticipated 2021 UKLA Nationals took place from the 13th-18th August at the 2012 Olympic sailing venue, WPNSA. A record (for the past few years anyway) of 51 ILCA 7s gathered in Weymouth, bringing total numbers across all rigs to 270 boats - a pretty impressive feat considering.

The week started with a bang (literally) with a tech talk by British Sailing Team sailor Micky Beckett, who successfully demonstrated how to pull so much down haul on your ropes explode.

Jake Farren- Price has covered the first 3 days in his write-up, so I’ll start with day 4.

Tuesday - Day 4 brought sunnier and gustier, conditions. Micky Beckett had a great first run to lead, followed by Norman Struthers. Sam Whaley managed to pull himself back into contention up the second beat and stole 2nd place off Norman, who was again having a blinder of a race.

In the second race of the day the wind increased significantly and there were many tired bodies in the fleet. Sam Whaley led around every mark apart from, crucially, the final one - after being overhauled by Micky Beckett on the final run. Jake Farren Price sailed a stellar race to take 3rd with Norman Struthers 4th and James Juhasz 5th.

Tuesday evening brought and incredible Gala Dinner with special guest Ian Percy. The dinner was held to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Laser/ILCA and to raise money for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. With huge prizes and a great performance by Tim Hulse (MC) the group managed to raise over £10,000. To cap it all Sir Ben Ainslie sent the sailors a message of thanks via WhatsApp.

The fifth and final day brought lighter (but still fully hiking) winds. With the windward mark set just off the famous Nothe course, the winds were incredibly flukey, with the jammy sailors of the fleet licking their lips in anticipation.

Micky Beckett had a good start to lead around the windward mark, whilst Sam Whaley and Norman Struthers were both flagged by a mysterious jury boat without a jury flag - something not allowed according to the sailing instructions. Both did turns anyway and went away bewildered at the experience.

Jake Farren Price sailed an awesome race to challenge Micky and take 2nd place, whilst James Juhasz was consistently fast to seal 3rd.

Coming into the final race of the championship and Norman Struthers and masters sailor Nick Harrison had a brilliant first beat to be first and second to the windward mark. Micky Beckett’s speed was soon apparent as he took the lead down the run, with Sam Whaley moving into 3rd place. These positions stayed the same all the way to the finish, with Jake Farren Price stealing 4th place from Ben Flower and Nick Harrison.

Overall Micky Beckett easily took the title, winning nine out of ten races, with Sam Whaley taking second and Jake Farren Price third. First master was Mark Lyttle in 8th and first U21 was Gordon Cogan Sivarajan in 10th.

Many thanks to the UKLA for organising and WPNSA for hosting such a brilliant event and we hope to see everyone at next years event!

The 100 strong force of volunteers helped make this happen but our class secretary has to be one of the most able, resilient and long suffering in the business. Thank You Ellie Ratusniak - without all your work we'd be running around like headless chickens.

Of course the sponsors provided the oil that made the wheels go round...

Sponsors

Sailingfast - Duncan brings his battle bus down from Scotland for most the big events, which is so ridiculously well equipped, you could replace everything on your boat. Although based in Scotland they will get anything to you super fast. He also supplied many of the prizes for the draw on Saturday evening.

SouthEast Sailboats - Max brings bespoke quality at affordable prices to the class. His passion for detail has made his products a must have for anyone who wants quality. He also supplied many great prizes for the event.

Ovington Boats - Chris Turner lives dinghies and has been a significance presence in the boat building world for decades. OB are now the official UK builders of ILCAs. A very smart new Ovington ILCA Dinghy was on display at the Masters event.

Vaikobi - a brand born on the waters of Sydney Harbour, out of a passion for all ocean sports. Across the team, we paddle, Surfski, SUP, Wing Foil and Sail. Sailing has been a passion within the business right from the start. The senior management team at Vaikobi comprise more than fifty years of marine industry and sailing experience between them.

Noble Marine - Ian MacManus (the man behind the name) has crafted a very competitive and excellent insurance product for all Laser/ILCA sailors. A very personal service and a extremely useful website help make this the 'go to' company.

Fernhurst Books - Jeremy Atkins has put together an incredible list of the most useful dinghy racing books. If you have books on racing you've probably got at least one Fernhurst book.

Full Results

https://www.sailwave.com/results/UKLA/Nationals/2021_ILCA_7_Nationals_WPNSA.htm

2021 ILCA7 National Champion

Michael Beckett

Sam Whaley 2nd

Jake Farren-Price 3rd

Mark Lyttle 1st Master

ILCA6 National Championships - WPNSA

By Molly Sacker

The final two days of the Nationals brought some super tight racing into the ILCA 6’s, with only a few points separating the top four leading into the final day of championship racing. Sailing the bigger winds of the forecast, Day 4 and 5 reminded the sailors of the fun of hiking hard all week!

TUESDAY - DAY 4

A slightly earlier start to Day 4 brought another day of strong shifty winds to what can only be described as chaotic moments across the fleet but this did nothing to deter the continued domination by the top group with Daisy Collingridge, Ben Elvin, Jon Emmett and Sebastian Kempe all scoring exclusively top 3 scores for the day. This kept their positions safe from the strong race winning attacks of Sam Dickinson and Alastair Brown in a very well sailed race 8 to complete qualification, perfectly demonstrating how to link the big pressure differences that bounced down from the NorthWest. Racing under the Nothe ensured that fast thinking and calculated decisions were crucial in formatting race decisions, if not then a painful viewing of the front of the 60 boat fleet was a possibility from a fair distance behind!

Closing qualification that evening, Daisy Collingridge continued her leadership of the fleet but had Ben Elvin only 2 points behind and arguably, had already used her discard with a cheeky UFD earlier in the week meaning it was very much all still to play for.

Tuesday evening brought and incredible Gala Dinner with special guest Ian Percy. The dinner was held to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Laser/ILCA and to raise money for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. With huge prizes and a great performance by Tim Hulse (MC) the group managed to raise over £10,000. To cap it all Sir Ben Ainslie sent the sailors a message of thanks via WhatsApp.

WEDNESDAY - DAY 5

11 - 15knts welcomed championship day for the ILCA 6’s at a (gladly) delayed 10.25 first start and the competition reminded extremely tense at the top of the Gold fleet with Jon Emmett securing the first win, followed by Ben Elvin and Chloe Elvin in 2nd and 3rd respectively, adding pressure to Daisy’s quest for the title. In a swinging shift range of almost 30 degrees, decision timing was everything and in a fleet where everyone was clued in to the conditions nothing could be taken for granted.

Meanwhile in the Silver Fleet, Niall Peelo comfortably won the day with a 1, 2 whilst with consistently top results, Rory Ferrier of Scotland took top spot in Silver Fleet from Adam Russ and John Russel in 2nd and 3rd.

Finishing the bid for the ILCA 6 National Champion Daisy Collingridge scored 2nd whilst Jon Emmett came 3rd and Ben Elvin used a discard in 19th after getting caught up in the mid fleet bunch, the scores were finally settled. Massive congratulations to British Sailing Team member Daisy Collingridge for her first national title, and to Jon (2nd) and Ben (3rd) for a great week of highly competitive elite sailing.

Everyone I’ve spoken to has had the same feeling of this week, the (long) days have been 100% worth it for the fun, intense and exciting racing experienced in the ILCA 6 National Championships!

The 100 strong force of volunteers helped make this happen but our class secretary has to be one of the most able, resilient and long suffering in the business. Thank You Ellie Ratusniak without all your work we’d be running around like headless chickens.

Top Positions

Overall National Champion

Daisy Collingridge GBR 1st

Jon Emmett GBR 2nd

Ben Elvin GBR 3rd

Top 3 Females (Open)

Daisy Collingridge GBR 1st Female

Molly Sacker GBR 2nd Female

Chloe Elvin GBR 3rd Female

Top 3 Males (Open)

Jon Emmett GBR. 1st

Ben Elvin GBR 2nd

Sebastian Kempe BER 3rd

Silver Fleet First

Rory Ferrier - winner of the SouthEastsailboats Prize.

ILCA 4 Nationals 2021 - WPNSA

By GF UKLA

Being the UKLA’s 50th anniversary and immediately adjacent to the ILCA-4 World Championships which were held in Ireland, the event was larger than recent years and with a number of overseas sailors participating. With a total of 88 sailors, 2 flights, red and yellow, were made with 44 boats in each. Launching to music, the sailors sailed out to the harbour in high spirits - many wearing newly acquired @Vaikobi kit, many more with control lines by @Southeast sailboats, even more with everything else from @Sailingfast… and, for the lucky ones, new @Ovington boats.

Day 1 brought strong winds, testing the sailors immediately. In the red flight, Antonio Pascali (ITA) battled with Max Steele (GBR), with Antonio winning the first two races and Max the third. In the yellow fleet, Audrey Foley (USA) battled with Belgium’s Boris de Wilde, with Audrey winning the first race, and Boris the next two. What about the rest of the fleet? We saw some great racing with hard hiking and even splits at the gate. They returned back to the committee boat with huge grins and enthusiasm for the next.

The evening saw the creation of the new ILCA-4 buddies whatsapp group, which provides a forum for the more experienced sailors to help and advise newer sailors to the fleet.

Day 2 also brought strong winds averaging 16 - 20 knots rising to 24 knots as the final racers finished. As the sun shone it was described as "champagne sailing but maybe at the upper end”! In the red fleet, Antonio continued his good form from the previous day taking 3 bullets in the 3 races of the day, with Audrey 2nd in all three races. In the yellow fleet, Max battled with Boris - with Boris taking 2 wins. The breeze picked up notably at the end, with some tired sailors capsizing on the way home, some even in the marina. Back on shore smiles returned and once changed the sailors were soon back on the table tennis table and having much fun in the boat park ahead of the 50th Anniversary gala dinner that evening.

The winds were forecast to drop to a more comfortable 12-15knots for Day 3, which would have been a welcome relief for many sailors, however for the ILCA-4’s, sailing started early and the drop in winds was later than expected. The final day flights were separated into gold and silver based on previous results which brought the final chance for some sailors to test their metal against others. Starts were done under the U flag and were clean. Antonio was first to the finish in Race 1, with Boris winning the final race in the regatta.

Final results:

OPEN Boys:

Antonio Pascali ITA

Boris de Wilde BEL

Max Steele GBR

OPEN Girls:

Audrey Foley USA

Charlotte Webster CAY

Arwen Fflur GBR

GBR NATIONALS Boys:

Max Steele

Henry Redmond

Archie Burton

GBR NATIONALS Girls:

Arwen Fflur

Mogen Palmer

Megan Thompson

Antonio and Boris also take first and second place in the boys U16 Open category, with Hong Kong’s Wai Check Sui in third place. Archie Burton, Noah Evans and Edwin Cross placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd amongst the GBR nationals.

USA’s Audrey Foley also won the girls U16 Open category, with GBR’s Arwen Fflur second in the U16 girls Open category (first GBR), and Imogen Palmer third overall (2nd GBR). Megan Thomson was third placed GBR U16 female.

Henry Smith took 1st place in the Silver Fleet.

Congratulations go to Antonio Pascali for winning the overall event, to Max Steele as the new UK ILCA4 National Champion, and to Archie Burton as the U16 GBR boys national champion. Congratulations also to Audrey Foley who wins the female category, and to Arwen Flur as the new UK ILCA4 Girls National Champion.

Full Results:

https://www.sailwave.com/results/ukla/Nationals/2021_ILCA_4_Nationals_WPNSA.htm

Huge thanks must go to the Race and Safety Teams lead by Paul Kimmel the Race Officer. There were clean starts, even gates and races finishing within the calculated times. One race finished within 7 seconds of the 50 minute target time. This highlighted the professional manner in which the races were organised. This was a huge undertaking with a Regatta bigger than the sailing at the Olympics and could only have happened with the help of all the volunteers.

For many sailors, this was their first experience of a ILCA Nationals. Blessed with great wind, optimal race conditions and an action packed schedule in the evenings, with quizzes, prize draws, hiking competitions, table tennis, a new buddy system and to top it off the 50th anniversary Gala dinner with sailing legends including Iain Percy and our current Olympian Elliot Hanson, this was a Nationals they won’t forget in a hurry. My bet is that they will be back again next year. Until then they will be full of tales and may have sore legs for a while.

UK ILCA Open & National Championships 2021 - WPNSA

Transition week

REPORTS - Hastings GP