2022 Season update
UKLA QUALIFIERS and SAILINGFAST YOUTH SERIES - SPRING 2022
It’s been a busy Spring, with 3 UKLA Qualifier events and In addition the RYA held their Youth Nationals and Eric Twiname Championships. The winds experienced provided a broad range of conditions for the sailors:
Qualifier #4 Stokes Bay a shifty 20kts
Qualifier #5WPNSA 20-25kts
Qualifier #6 WPNSA 10-15kts
RYA Youth Nationals 5-10kts
The UKLA racing scene is in a very strong place, with significant numbers turning up to the compete:
UKLA Qualifier Series ILCA 6/7: 183 competitors.
UKLA SailingFast Youth Series events for ILCA 4/6/7: 416 sailors (not all are youth!)
We have seen 112 girls racing at the SailingFast Youth Series events, which must be a UKLA record!
ILCA-7
Several new names have edged their way to the top of the UKLA Qualifiers. James Percival-Cooke, Arthur Farley, Jack Hopkins and Jake Farren-Price all making their mark. It’s great to see bigger entry numbers racing in the largest rig; 57 ILCA7s competed in the Qualifier Series and 90 sailors competing in the SailingFast Youth Series events.
The most consistent sailor in the Qualifier Series has been British Sailing Team’s Sam Whaley from Swanage SC, with Arthur Farley the top youth in 3rd overall.
ILCA7 SailingFast Youth Series rolling rankings are led by Finley Dickinson as first U21 and Arthur Farley first U19.
ILCA-6
Always our largest fleet, we saw 126 sailors compete in the ILCA6 Qualifier Series and approaching 200 sailing in the Sailingfast Youth Series events. The ILCA6 is also our most diverse fleet, it’s broad competitive weight range means it continues to be the most popular rig with sailors Under 17 competing with Masters over 60. A 1/3 of the fleet are women, the more experienced continue to compete with the male competitors at the front of the fleet.
The British Sailing Team girls were pushed hard by World Sailing’s Youth World Champion Seb Kempe BER. Seb has been an active member of the UKLA fleet having done all his ILCA sailing in the UK whilst at the Royal Hospital School in Suffolk. Sebastian is still U19 and able to try to retain his World title for a second year. The ILCA6 Qualifier Series was won by Hannah Snellgrove:
The ILCA6 SailingFast Youth Series rolling ranking.
In the Girls, Charlotte Videlo is the leading U21, with Carys Attwell 1st U19 and Emelia Tinch 1st U17.
In the Boys, Seb Kempe is 1st U19, while George Colquitt is leading the U17s.
ILCA-6 RYA Youth Nationals
84 ILCA6 sailors competed in Pwllheli, 38% of the fleet were girls. The ILCA7 fleet were cancelled due to low entries, unfortunately a calendar clash had sailors competing elsewhere at a busy time in the academic year.
The winds were relatively light for most of the event, especially the first two days which saw less than a handful of races sailed. This gave an opportunity for the sailors who were relatively new to the larger rig. Following his success in the Senior Qualifiers, Seb Kempe dominated the Open Championship for the Boys, but it was Thommie Grit, also from the Royal Hospital School, who won the RYA National Championship title.
The girls racing was also dominated by another Bermudian, Nicole Stovell, also a pupil at the Royal Hospital School. The battle for the Girls National Championship title was very tight, Honor Proctor coming out on top.
ILCA-4 SailingFast Youth Series
The ILCA-4’s had two SailingFast Youth Series events in the Spring at WPNSA. A number of them also competed in the RYA Youth Nationals for ILCA6. The ILCA4 is our Junior Class and the stepping stone for those with Youth and Senior aspirations in the ILCA. It is also a really great boat for older sailors not wanting the physicality of the larger rigs. We have seen 146 sailors compete in the last 7 SailingFast Youth Series events, of which 41% were girls - this is definitely a UKLA record!
Henry Redmond leads the Boys, with Freddie Sunderland the 1st U16.
Aimee Bray is 1st Girl and is U16.
ILCA World and Euilca Championships
UKLA Qualification for the 2022 Senior Championships is complete. The rolling ranking we take from the UKLA SailingFast Youth Series enables lots of our sailors to enter the various Youth events, including both World & European Championships for:
ILCA7 U21 (including U19)
ILCA6 U21 & U19.
ILCA4 U18 (including U16)
Entry for several of these events remains open via the websites:
UKLA Qualifiers Feedback
UKLA sent out a questionnaire following the Qualifiers, thank you to the many of you who responded with feedback, 92% of whom attend the Qualifiers.
The majority expect “Top Quality Championship-style race management & venue”.
WPNSA is the most preferred venue, with Hayling Island a strong 2nd. Abersoch and Highcliffe/Christchurch were 3rd & 4th.
Several commented on wanting to sail in Weymouth Bay, rather than Portland Harbour, when conditions allow.
Over 50% were either not willing to volunteer if it interrupts their sailing, or would be happy to pay higher entry fees for good venues.
Several are excited by the Super Grand Prix concept. Looking for quality racing at good venues and larger fleets - but not a Qualifier.
Paignton/Torbay, Hayling and WPNSA were the most popular venues for this sort of event.
There were recommendations of more media to promote the Grand Prix circuits. We need more volunteers to help with this, those able to assist, please reach out to us….
78% would like to see a UKLA Youth National Championship.
The Sailingfast Youth Series is very popular, but there were requests for more events.
