News

Tony Woods 5/18/21 Tony Woods 5/18/21

SUPER GRAND PRIX 2021 - Celebrating the Golden Anniversary!

This month features TWO Super Grand Prix events! In the North St Mary’s Loch Super Grand Prix is on the 29/30 May with Head Coach Lewis Smith and in the South the Queen Mary Super Grand Prix is on 22/23 May.

NB- The UKLA will be sponsoring the Super Grand Prix in 2021 so you’ll get top quality coaching and racing for a fraction of the usual cost!

Don’t forget you must be a member of the UKLA to take part in a Super Grand Prix.

SGP SOUTH

Entries opened last week for the Southern Super Grand Prix at Queen Mary SC event on 22/23 May. Within hours the coaching day was sold out and there are now 76 boats entered for the Sunday racing across all 3 fleets.

As well as the UKLA subsidising the coaching costs we are very excited to have 4 sponsors involved - Noble Marine, Ovington, Sailingfast and Southeast Sailboats. Thank you to all our sponsors.

If you wish to order food on the Saturday, it is limited to 30 due to Covid restrictions and bookable here:

https://www.queenmary.org.uk/sailing/club-fleets/laser-fleet/ Scroll down and you will see the Chicken Chasseur or Veggie option. Strictly bookable online and we are limiting numbers to 30. Plus LIVE music!

Following the success of our Super Grand Prix events in 2019 we are hoping to continue the experience in 2021 (Covid permitting!) For this special Golden Anniversary year the UKLA is planning to fund some of the coaching costs, including paying for a coach on the Sunday. The Sunday coaching would be for all racers- briefings/de briefings and on the water support. We want to give something back to our valued members, and it therefore goes without saying that to take part in a SGP you must be a UKLA member!

SGP NORTH

St Mary’s Loch Sailing Club lies in the heart of the Scottish Borders, 40 mins from J15 of the M74 and 45 minutes south of Edinburgh. The club sits within one of Scotland’s most picturesque settings but with five valleys surrounding the loch, the weather can generate some challenging sailing conditions.

In 2021, StMLSC is celebrating its 60th year. It is a family friendly club with a long history of racing and training, fantastic facilities and a much-improved launching beach. The club has large grounds and can offer camping for visitors to the regatta. So please come and join in our diamond anniversary, feel free to camp and enjoy perhaps the most rural setting of all the UK’s sailing clubs. And bring a bottle of something to toast what should be a fun, challenging but above all an enjoyable event.

The Super Grand Prix (SGP) is a fun weekend event consisting of top quality coaching, evening social and competitive racing. Developed to encourage club sailors to take the first steps to an open meeting, and provide a bigger, more sociable event for everyone.

Primarily aimed at club sailors, but not exclusively so, valuing diversity in the fleet, encouraging all ages, gender and rigs to come together to celebrate everything that is the ILCA, with the emphasis on fun. Helping to grow and sustain a healthy club base across the regions, building confidence to take an active part, create ambassadors, whilst helping sailors develop skills and ability to get the most out of ILCA sailing.

There are currently three broad regions - South, Midlands and North.

SUPER GRAND PRIX 2021

SOUTH:

22/23 May - Queen Mary SC
17/18 July - Pagham YC
7/8 August Castle Cove SC

MIDLANDS

16/17 October - Staunton Harold SC

North

3/4 July - Pennine SC

ILCA UK 5/18/21 ILCA UK 5/18/21

Membership news

The sailing season is finally OFFICIALLY open with many clubs across the country welcoming their members back.

We would also like to welcome all UKLA members to our events this year - it’s been a while!

You should have now received your virtual UKLA/EurILCA membership card and if you haven’t, you need to let me know. There were quite a lot of emails that bounced, which suggests that email address we have for you is no longer valid. You may need to show details of your membership at local or international events.

All UKLA events that can be booked through the new portal will take into account your membership status so you won’t need to show your card at these events. Please avoid creating multiple profiles or using the same email address for various members of the household as this may prevent you from registering at an event and potentially losing your score.

If you have not updated your profile or renewed your membership for this year yet, please do so now as booking and registering for events will be all done through the portal and your membership would have to be valid.

Stokes Bay event 50th Anniversary Open Regatta entries will open tomorrow! (19th May 2021). Book here

Ellie

ILCA UK 5/14/21 ILCA UK 5/14/21

UKLA Open & National Championships 2021 - WPNSA

We will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of our amazing boat all this year and are planning a special Golden National Championships, followed by the Under 21 Worlds (Apply here), at the Weymouth Olympic venue - Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy. The UKLA Open & National Championship will be held from Friday 13th to Wednesday 18th August 2021. We are hoping to encourage more club sailors to come along and join in the fun with an emphasis on Learning and an increase in social activities.

Entries are now open! So far we have about 200 boats entered! Click here - Nationals - to find out more about Off - Water Activities, Learning and of course Racing!

Gala Dinner

Some very exciting news just in: we are inviting past champions to the Gala Dinner and we’ve just heard that the Olympic Legend that is Iain Percy has accepted our invitation! Well known for his Olympic medals in Finn and Star (with crew Andrew Simpson) Iain actually learned his craft in the ILCA (Laser as it was then) and won our Nationals in 1995 (the year of the Olympic Trials) and in 1996. The UKLA’s Official Charity for 2021 is the Andrew Simpson Foundation, and our Gala Dinner will form part of our fund raising for the Charity, so it is extremely fitting that Iain can be there.

PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO COME TO THE GALA DINNER! We have to make a decision about whether we need to hire furniture etc. At the moment only 60 have expressed interest. If more than 200 express interest then we will need to hire furniture.

Similarly please review your food orders. NB the first night is a Welcome Evening, with an Italian meal FREE to competitors, provided by UKLA. You can purchase extra tickets for family/supporters, but you must claim your free ticket in the entry portal. This is now a clear process in the portal so please do it.

Please also book the other themed evenings ASAP - We need a minimum of 50 for the caterers to agree to do the themed meals. At the moment only a handful have signed up. Plan is to eat together (remember being able to do that?) about 6.00 pm, then do the Daily Prize Giving, with Q and A with winners, followed by the prize draw, followed by the Social Event of the eve (eg Golden Anniversary Quiz on Saturday.) So you don’t want to miss all that and have to cook for yourself too!

EVENING FOOD (Covid permitting):

We hope you will come along to the evening socials - Daily Prize Givings, Q & A with the winners, Prize Draws, 50th Anniversary Quiz, Sports Night, AGM, Jam Sessions etc etc. Before these activities we can all enjoy a meal together:

Friday. Special Welcome Evening with Italian Themed Meal FREE for all competitors, courtesy of the UKLA.

Extra tickets can be purchased in advance @ £10 each

Saturday: Moroccan Night. 2 Courses £10 Tickets to be ordered in advance

Sunday: BBQ. £16 Tickets to be ordered in advance.

Monday: Curry Night. 2 Courses £12 Tickets to be ordered in advance

Tuesday: GALA DINNER. Tickets to be ordered in advance.

We are hoping to bring back all the learning opportunities that we had in 2018/19 - so expect Race Clinics in the mornings, Question and Answer Sessions in the evenings and Mentor/Mentee pairings throughout the event.

We’ve also managed to negotiate a 10% Discount on all Courses/Water Activities with both the Andrew Simpson Foundation and OTC for family members connected to the competitors. This includes scheduled courses in windsurfing, wind-foiling, kitesurfing, SUPing and e-foiling. Passing trade during the event will not receive any discount - it has to be pre-booked at least a month prior to the event.

We will let you know when we get the special discount booking codes.

UKLA Team

Tony Woods 5/14/21 Tony Woods 5/14/21

50th Anniversary Events

FIFTY YEARS OF THE ILCA!

WPNSA hosted the first Golden Anniversary event May 9. See Ben Flower’s Report here

Stokes Bay SC, in conjunction with UKLA, are planning to hold a 50th Anniversary Celebration event on 19/20 June. The event will be open to ILCA 6 / 7 rigs over 2 days, with a meal on the Saturday night.

The warm friendly welcome from Stokes Bay ensures this will be a fantastic event, make sure you enter early to avoid disappointment. Watch the UKLA website for further details.

Our Golden National Championships are taking place 13-18 August at WPNSA where we plan to continue our 50th Anniversary celebrations, with socials, learning opportunities, and a Special Guest appearance by Olympic Legend Iain Percy at the Gala Dinner! Read more here

ILCA 4’s

For the ILCA 4s sailors we realise the Nationals clash with the last couple of days of the ILCA 4 Worlds in Ireland. To help and encourage as many ILCA 4 sailors to compete in both events we have shortened the ILCA 4 Nationals to 3 days starting on the Monday and finishing on Wednesday. For those sailors not attending the ILCA 4 Worlds we are going to organise a special two-day warm up 50th Anniversary event over the weekend (14 th & 15 th August) at WPNSA, which will run along side the ILCA 6 & 7 Nationals.

Our Super Grand Prix events will also be part of this year’s celebrations so don’t forget about them! Read more about them here

Tony Woods 5/14/21 Tony Woods 5/14/21

Extract from THE “LASER CAMPAIGN MANUAL” by Sir Ben Ainslie

RACING TO WIN

It is easy to make assumptions about winning but after much experience of racing Lasers the most successful are those who make the fewest mistakes, are able to pull something out of the bag when they need it and are the most consistent.

These days nearly all events are of twelve races or more, so this really puts the emphasis on consistency. Think of a series as a structure; you need some solid results in the early races to give you a good foundation to work from.

As soon as you become inconsistent you are in trouble; it is the uncertainty which ruins your confidence leading to erratic decision-making and probably just as erratic results.

Psychology

I remember when I was in the Youth Squad, every year Jim Saltonstall would have evening lectures, which were great, but every now and then there would be a lecture on psychology. At the age of seventeen once psychology was mentioned I was off in a dream world and anyway ‘I could just hike harder if I had a problem’.

I now know that psychology is the key to everything, in life and sport. What is going through your mind will affect how hard you train, how determined you are, your ability to deal with pressure, how you get on with your fellow competitors and your enjoyment of racing.

If you want to get to the top of the Laser fleet, then you have to be totally committed. The days of training at the weekend and summer holidays have gone. It has to be your job, hobby, life.

I can say with some conviction that the reason people like Robert Scheidt and myself have been successful is that we put in more effort than most sailors. I remember one very good example of this was just before the’96 Olympics in Savannah. There was a warm-up regatta at Hilton Head, which is about 25 miles further down the coast. Robert and I sailed down there while the rest of the fleet either got their boats towed or driven to Hilton Head. We were lucky that it was a downwind sail on the way and when I sailed back it was also downwind but this meant very valuable time sailing in the strange and confused waves off Savannah and it paid off.

When you get out on the water you need to leave behind anything in your mind which is not connected to winning the race or sailing well. Forget about problems with your girlfriend, bank manager or whoever – your mind needs to be totally focused on the job in hand. Try not to get too involved with the social side – again it depends how serious you want to be, but the more time spent chatting will drag your focus away from the racing.

You’ll notice that the really top sailors are normally the most modest, the reason being that they know they are good, so they don’t need to tell everyone about it. If you hear someone blowing their own trumpet about a great start or something, just ignore it and go through your own mental debrief of the race. This is really important as it enables you to pick out where you went wrong, areas you need to improve and the positives. You also don’t get put off by the guy telling you that the only reason you pulled off that great port tack start was because he had to bear away for you and by the way you owe him a few beers.

The more you go through the racing mentally the better prepared you will be for the next race. I really enjoy watching videos of sailing races, in any class of boat. Not only is it fun watching a good video but it is a form of mental rehearsal where you can also pick up tips from the racing.

At most regattas there are times when you will be held ashore due to a lack of or too much wind. All the hanging around can be really frustrating, boredom sets in and you lose all interest in going sailing or alternatively you get really wound up as you are dying to get out on the water and go racing.

Try to have a plan for these situations which will give you something to do while not totally distracting you from getting ready to race. A bit of a kick around can be good fun (but make sure it doesn’t get too aggressive) or try reading a book or playing a computer game.

When you hit the water, you want to be ready. The very nature of the Laser class means that the racing is very close and there are times when you will need to be very aggressive. You cannot afford to give an inch to anyone at any time. So be mentally prepared for some tough racing out there.

*If you want to get to the top you have to be totally committed*

THE RACE

Pre-Start

If you have a training partner, then use each other before the start. At some stage you should split tacks, going for five minutes and then tacking back. This may help you to figure out which side of the course is favoured but make sure that the wind is not just oscillating, in which case both sides may be favoured.

It is good to have a routine for the pre-start so that you are not sailing around wondering what to do next. Before the warning signal goes you need to have passed any extra clothes and food to a coach boat. You also need to have come up with a plan for the race.

The plan should be based on the weather forecast, what you have learnt by sailing up the course both on previous days and on your earlier training run and the sailors you are racing against and trying to beat.

If it is the last race of a regatta and there are only two of you in it, you may want to stick with the competition rather than risk separating from them too much.

Also, if the conditions are those in which you know you are weak then you may need to try to push the start harder and also be more confident in splitting from the rest of the fleet.

Once the warning signal has gone you should be ready on your watch. Most events run the system 5, 4, 1, start, so you should have no problem in getting the 4-minute signal.

You should now be trying to work out the line bias and there are a number of ways to do this. If you have a compass, then use it to get a bearing of the startline and also the wind direction. If the wind direction is more than 90° to the startline bearing then the starboard end of the line is favoured by however many degrees over 90 the difference is, and vice-versa.

For example: Wind 200°, Startline 100°. Square line = wind direction of 190°. So the line is biased 10° to the starboard end.

The easiest methods are either to sail head-to-wind on the startline and then judge which end of the line your bow is pointing towards, or sail close-hauled away from both the starboard and port ends of the line and judge which end feels and looks better.

*Go head-to-wind on the line to judge the bias*

Bear in mind that what looks the favoured end of the line may not be. If, for instance, the wind is oscillating, in a couple of minutes you may have 10-20° windshift, or a rough sea may make one tack much quicker than the other and this will also affect which end of the line is favoured.

Your plan for the first beat may require you to start at the unfavoured end of the line but if you are really confident the side you want will pay then go for it (but you will need to make these decisions very quickly).

Try not to make your plan look too obvious, for example, if you are planning to try to port tack the fleet don’t sit by the pin end boat on port as the rest of the fleet will catch on and try to stop you. Leave your approach as late as possible.

Starting

Fleet sizes are normally large and so the start line is crowded. Lasers are relatively quick to accelerate so most boats are normally close to the line jostling for position very early in the starting sequence, unlike many other classes which tend to line up further back from the line to have plenty of time to accelerate.

The rules allow you to move your tiller to steer the boat, but you are not allowed to constantly move your tiller from side to side to propel the boat forwards. Therefore, you need to work on a technique of using your tiller on one side of the boat’s centreline and then after a while use the tiller on the opposite side of the boat to turn back. This should help to hold you in position without breaking the rules.

*Waggle the tiller either side to stay head to wind*

You should try to have a good awareness for the positioning of the judge boats: if you know you are being watched then you may be doing something wrong, so be careful.

Being able to handle the boat well in pre-start manoeuvring will only come with practice but this is something which you can do on your own.

The key to starting well in any boat is to be that split second ahead of the boats around you so that you are the first boat up to full speed and pop out ahead after the starting signal has gone. If you try to start ahead of the other boats around you, then unless you are very sure of the where the line is, you are vulnerable to starting early.

Accelerating Off The Line

To accelerate quickly you need to have at least a boat length of space to leeward to bear off into and gain speed. Don’t go into a gap on the line too early and then start creating too much space to leeward as it will be too inviting for another boat to go in there and steal your spot.

As soon as you feel it is time to go or the boats around you sheet in then you have got to go for it. Try to give the boat enough time to build speed before you head up to close hauled; this is why you need plenty of space to leeward.

You really need to practise accelerating, and in particular, getting the mainsail in as quickly as possible. If it is windy then the vang tension is really crucial. If the vang is too tight you will find the boat very hard to manoeuvre and if too loose you will not have enough drive in the sail to help you accelerate.

The First 100 Metres

As you come off the line try to keep as much speed as possible without being affected by the other boats. If you have a good start then try to punish those around you as much as possible by either sailing higher and so lee bowing those to weather or easing for speed and rolling over the top of the guys to leeward. Doing this will give you more options to tack or hold your lane.

If you have a poor start, then look to clear your air but don’t be too hasty. Lasers are not as badly affected by sailing in dirty air as other boats. In fact, if you can sail on the boat ahead’s stern wake you can actually hold on to that boat. Wait for an opportune moment to tack away and then peel off. Don’t give up, you still have plenty of opportunities to catch up.

While it is important to work the boat really hard off the line be conscious of the jury. It is at the start that the jury are most observant, so be careful.

Which Way Up The First Beat?

If you can find some extra boatspeed off the start line and up the first beat, then it will make life a lot easier. The saying that ‘boatspeed makes you a tactical genius’ is not far off the mark.

As I said I have never used a compass as I find that using the angles of my competitors is just as good a guide to the wind and with the generally short courses which we now race on it is as much a percentage game as anything else. It is a case of getting in a good position and then trying to preserve that position by keeping between the majority of the fleet and the next mark.

There will always be people who hit the corners and come screaming in with a great lead but if you can always sneak ahead of the main pack then you will be able to get to the windward mark in consistently good shape. I’m not saying that if you really have a feeling that one side is going to pay you shouldn’t go for it.

If you feel you are losing ground on the boats around you then you are either not in phase with the windshifts or don’t have the right boat set-up and are going slowly. You need to be able to realise quickly why you are losing ground and rectify the problem.

Windward Mark

Most windward marks are hot spots for incidents and protests. There is also the prospect of gaining or losing a large number of places.

If you are in a good position at the front of the fleet then give yourself enough time to prepare for the bear away while not getting onto the starboard layline too early, because the further from the mark you are the harder it is to hit the layline smack on.

If you are struggling in mid-fleet then the approach to the windward mark is more interesting. If you are going to get on the starboard layline early then make sure you overstand slightly; if you don’t then boats in front will tack on your wind and you’ll find you have to keep tacking away for clear air. It can often pay to stay away from the starboard layline and all the bad air which comes from it and arrive at the mark on port.

Remember that if you tack within three lengths of the mark you are very vulnerable under the rules. Also, approaching the windward mark on the port layline will cause you to have to sail through all the boats that are on the first reach or run, which is slow and hazardous.

If you can try to predict what might happen as you approach the mark it will really help in your decision making, rather than screaming in and then suddenly realising you’ve got nowhere to go.

If you see most of the fleet stacking up on the starboard layline then there is definitely the opportunity of gaining by not getting stuck in all that bad air too early. There are often big pile-ups at the windward mark as there are at the leeward marks.

My advice is that, even if you are in the right, it normally saves you a lot of time if you steer clear of trouble. The last thing you want is another boat sailing through your mainsheet and capsizing you.

Again, it is a case of thinking ahead and predicting where there may be trouble.

Reaching

I always used to think there was little chance of gaining much ground on the reaches, but Mark Littlejohn taught me otherwise. If you have good speed, then there are always opportunities to make big gains.

When you begin the reach, you have to assess the situation immediately. If you see the boats in front of you sail high, then your likely gains will come from sailing low and vice-versa.

It also helps to know your competition’s strengths and weaknesses. If the sailor in front is the type who will never let you sail over the top of them, then you know you will have to try to draw them high of the rhumb line and then try to dive beneath them.

Not only do you need to be fast, but you need to be flexible in sailing large angles for a reaching leg. There will be times when you will have to sail far higher than the proper course to the next mark in order to get around a fleet of boats. It is the sailors who are able to sail fast at any angle and be aggressive enough to go for the overtaking manoeuvres who make the biggest gains.

There are a few definite rules for reaching. Firstly, on very tight reaches it hardly ever pays to sail low. The bad air of the surrounding boats is that much worse when sailing closer to the wind and you are also limited in your ability to accelerate as sailing any higher than the proper course will normally slow you down, especially in strong winds.

The biggest gains are normally made by making an initial loss to get higher than the rest of the fleet and then trying to blast down over the top of the boats ahead; it’s hard work but you can still make some good gains.

Also try not to get forced into sailing high by the boats behind you. If you are confident in your speed, then hold your course; unless the boats astern begin to affect your air you will end up gaining.

If it is a reach to the finish line, then you may have more options to sail low. Try to establish as early as possible which end of the finish line is favoured – the boats ahead may be a good reference for this. Too many sailors stop trying on this leg as they feel the race is already over, so here’s your chance.

Running

Again, even before you get to the windward mark, try to establish which way you want to go down the run. This may also be determined by which way the boats in front are going.

The most important factor is to be sailing in clear air. It is very hard to just sail through a group of boats, although it can be done. It is far easier to sail around the groups in clear air and clean waves.

*When running – Cunningham off, vang and outhaul loose*

If you have a good lead or have few boats around you then your options are open: sail the quickest course possible.

When a large group of boats is right behind snapping at your heels then you will have to take one side of the run or the other in order to keep clear air.

There are also times when you are mid-fleet that you come around the mark to find that the fleet has split to both sides of the run and in fact there is a clear lane straight down the middle. This can often be a great way to make huge gains.

Like reaching, those who make the biggest gains are often the most extreme, e.g. by sailing ridiculously large angles and extra distance in search of better wind and waves. The gains are often larger than those made on the upwind legs.

Gybe Marks & Leeward Gates

As you approach the gybe mark consider whether you want to go high or low on the next reach. If the next leg is a run, then decide if you want to go left, right or down the middle. You will then need to set yourself up so that immediately after the gybe mark you are able to sail the course you want. Don’t get caught out by other boats determining where you end up sailing.

The leeward gate is always quite an exciting part of the race. It is good to have a rough idea of which

mark you are going to as you approach. This will be based upon which mark is closest to you, which way you want to go up the next beat and also which mark has fewer boats rounding it. However, you still need to be open minded as you approach the gate, watching the boats in front of you. A gap may appear where a boat in front peeled off for the other mark at the last minute.

If you are mid-fleet the chances are that you will need to tack away after rounding to clear your air. In which case if you were wanting to head right up the beat then you may actually save two tacks by going around the right-hand gate (as you look downwind).

Consolidation

Every point gained or lost is vital and you must fight for every place as in the end it will make the difference.

At the Youth World Championships in 1994 Daniel Slater and I were very close on points throughout the regatta and the final race was desperately close. I won and Dan was 4th. The final result was that Dan won the championship. We had finished on equal points, but Dan’s discard was one place better than mine. Of course, I was devastated at the time but it taught me an invaluable lesson. However badly you are doing in a race and whatever might have happened, whether it was your fault or not, you must never give up, every race counts.

In the end all of those places gained by giving everything until you have crossed the finish line will be the difference between being a winner or not. And I want you to be a winner.

The Laser Campaign Manual is written by the world’s most successful Olympic sailor and is the book he wrote after winning his first gold medal. Sir Ben Ainslie’s Laser Campaign Manual was re-published in 2020 as a special 20th Anniversary edition of winning that gold in the Laser in Sydney.

To learn more from Ben Ainslie, Laser Campaign Manual can be bought here (https://fernhurstbooks.com/books/permalink/127/laser_campaign_manual). Get 25% off if you sign up to the Fernhurst Books’ mailing list.

Tony Woods 5/13/21 Tony Woods 5/13/21

Golden Anniversary Event at WPNSA, May 9th 2021

by Ben Flower

ILCA 7 race report WPNSA 9th May 2021

A smaller than usual fleet arrived at WPNSA expecting more wind than was actually on the water, the 12 ILCA 7 sailors launched in a shifty and gusty 6-12 knots. Starting next to a large cruise ship the race course was in the south eastern part of the harbour under Portland Bill which led to some difficult races to keep consistency.

In race 1 it was a battle for the committee boat end with Dan McGaughey coming out on top, 1 by 1 each sailor tacked onto port to hitch into the pressure on the right hand side. It wasn’t as simple as banging the right corner however and playing the shifts on the right hand side was vital with James Foster coming out on top and leading at the windward mark.

A difficult reach and downwind searching for the pressure saw the fleet spread out and on the 2nd beat big gains were made by several sailors including Kai Wolgram and Jack Hopkins who flipped their leeward mark rounding’s around to be in a couple comfortable positions at the 2nd windward. Their gains were helped by being on the right side of a big left hand shift. Foster was able to hold on for a comfortable win, rarely being challenged for the race lead. Kai Wolgram’s impressive 2nd beat saw him claim 3rd place in race 1.

Race 2 saw priorities change with a battle this time for the pin end. The first start was abandoned with 30 seconds to go due to a big left hand shift coming in at 4 minutes to go and not swinging back right. The ILCA 7 sailors were joking around practicing their port hand flyers!

Jack Hopkins won the pin end with Finley Dickinson above and possibly judging the layline slightly better. Jake Farren-Price was off to a great start also and himself and Hopkins were showing some speed on the upwind leading the way onto the reach. The wind was still veering left so a bad start was hard to come back from.

Jake made some slight gains on the 2nd beat giving himself slight breathing room over Hopkins with a chasing pack behind. On the final downwind there appeared to be more wind on the left hand side looking downwind, with 5 out the leading 6 heading that side. The one competitor to go to the right hand side was Jack Hopkins who made the gains as the others tripped over themselves by giving each other dirty wind.

At the leeward mark Hopkins had a reasonable gap over Angus Kemp with Finley Dickinson and Jake Farren-Price hot on Angus’ heals. However all 3 sailed the final reach a bit too high with Ben Flower able to scab his way past and take 2nd behind Hopkins who was first over the water.

Going into the final race of the day there was still a lot to play for as there was no discard for the event written in the Sailing Instruction so nothing was guaranteed. Even though it is now mid-May the sailors were getting cold waiting for the start and it was important to stay warm and make sure to keep an eye on the priorities for the next race.

Once again it was pin bias with Finley Dickinson winning the pin with Jake Farren-Price rolling over the top of Flower. Farren-Price showed his speed once again leading at the windward mark from Finley Dickinson, once again a bad start was hard to come back from with the left side of the course being the place to go and the leaders both came from the pin.

Once again it was a patchy and shifty downwind so looking back and spotting the pressure was key and not sailing too far away from the run line was also important as being stranded on a side would lead to the possibility of struggling to get back in. Farren-Price and Dickinson were fighting it out for the win with Foster, Kemp, Hopkins and Charlie South in hot pursuit. With most the fleet deciding to try and work the left hand side there was a lot of tactical warfare. However the big gains were made by the sailors going up the right hand side of the course, once again Kai Wolgram was one of these sailors flipping his leeward mark rounding into an impressive windward mark rounding.

With rain imminent again the final downwind had a dying breeze, Farren-Price extended his lead over Dickinson to have a comfortable lead heading into the final reach back to the committee boat to finish. However carnage was about to ensue as the ILCA 7 sailors reaching on port to the line the race committee were starting the ILCA 6 sailors there were a few shouts from the starboard ILCA 6 sailors but all sailors were able to avoid each other with results not being affected when all said and done.

Overall, it was great to be back racing with near 7 months off for most the competitors. Thanks to the UKLA and WPNSA for hosting the event and we all look forward to the next event.

Full results can be found here

Tony Woods 5/13/21 Tony Woods 5/13/21

New Podcasts!

The latest episode of Head’s Up is out with all the May News.

Also check out the latest installments of ‘An Hour with Flower’, featuring 2015 National Champion Martin Evans, and Master Sailor John Ling, .

LISTEN TO THE PODCASTS HERE

ILCA UK 5/13/21 ILCA UK 5/13/21

Join the Team

The UKLA is looking for enthusiastic people to join our ever growing team -

In particular at the moment we’re looking for people to help with:

Marketing Officer
The National Grand Prix Circuit
The Newsletter

Please email Ellie at the office if you can assist in any way - even one morning a month would be great!

Many thanks to Richard Mason for help with Grand Prix, Super Grand Prix and sponsorship

Alison Stevens 5/11/21 Alison Stevens 5/11/21

Masters Qualifiers Update

Unfortunately due to the ongoing COVID 19 situation, this years Masters Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club on 12 -13 June 2021 has been CANCELLED.

We would like to express our thanks to Parkstone Yacht Club for working so hard to try and make this event happen. We hope to be back soon.

As an alternative, we decided to move the masters qualifier to Stokes Bay SC and link it with the 50th Anniversary Regatta on 19 - 20th June 2021

Entries open 19/05/2021 - please book early!

You must be UKLA member to see and book tickets for this event. Book here

Ellie Ratusniak 4/28/21 Ellie Ratusniak 4/28/21

UKLA South Coast Anniversary Open Regatta - 8/9 May 2021 - WPNSA

Just over a week to go until our first UKLA run event this year at WPNSA. The forecast is currently looking good, if you haven’t entered yet then please don’t wait.

The ILCA 4s and ILCA 7s will race on the Saturday and the ILCA 6s on Sunday. First race each day starting at 11:30am. 3 races per fleet.

Please note the change to the NORs - Amendment One deleting section 4.9 (Competitors may only enter for one day with one Rig).

Event registration will be done online, it will be the sailor’s responsibility to keep their details up to date (including sail number changes etc) via our new event management system (Sailing Club Manager).

You should have used it to renew your membership and enter this event with.

Portal can be found here

Good luck from the UKLA team

Tony Woods 4/28/21 Tony Woods 4/28/21

Measurement News - Who is the best ILCA Builder?

So, who is the best ILCA builder?

Based on the top boats at the Vilamoura European Olympic Qualifier.....

Mens - 1st - Devoti, 2nd - PSA Australia, 3rd - PSA Australia, 4th -PS Japan

Womens - 1st -Devoti, 2nd - Devoti, 3rd - PS Japan

The results demonstrate that the new ILCA Builders have maintained the strict one-design ethos with no evidence of any advantage to be gained by sailors - GREAT NEWS and exactly as predicted.

Construction quality, service quality, accessibility and price will be (and should be) how the builders differentiate themselves. Anecdotally, one of the Olympic training groups has undertaken extensive measurement and testing across legal LP boats and new builder boats which wholly supports this outcome too.

Long live the ILCA as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Laser Class Association in 2021.

Tony Woods 4/27/21 Tony Woods 4/27/21

50th Anniversary Events

FIFTY YEARS OF THE ILCA!

WPNSA hosted the first Golden Anniversary event May 9. See Ben Flower’s Report here

The warm friendly welcome from Stokes Bay ensures this will be a fantastic event, make sure you enter early to avoid disappointment. Watch the UKLA website for further details.

ILCA 4’s

Our Super Grand Prix events will also be part of this year’s celebrations so don’t forget about them! Read more about them here

Tony Woods 4/27/21 Tony Woods 4/27/21

New Initiative at QMSC for 18-30's

It seems that a lot of good sailors drift away from the sport in their early 20’s- maybe it’s partly due to the success of the Youth Programme - many youth sailors see the Youth Nationals as the main event of the year- maybe the logistics of it all, or maybe just the cost once mum and dad are no longer funding it!

One idea at QMSC is to make Club Membership for 18-30 year olds super cheap. For this age group membership is now only a mere £8 per month! Obviously there is boat parking coasts on top, but still what an amazing deal and what a great initiative from Tony Bishop at QMSC! He says: “This is our fastest growing category…”

Maybe other clubs might consider this idea?

Tony Woods 4/27/21 Tony Woods 4/27/21

TRAINING NEWS

Regional Training

With the unlocking of the country, comes a full regional training programme from the UKLA.

New training venues around the UK are designed to ensure all members have the opportunity to access fantastic training by the UKLA coaching team. With so much time out of the boat, what better way to start the season, than with some helpful hints on getting maximum performance, regardless of your current experience.

Regional training in the South West, WPNSA. Speed work between the cruise ships.

New venues such as West Kirby, Derwent, Warsash all in the calendar.

With all venues running tight restrictions on numbers due to COVID, please book with plenty of time to avoid disappointment. As an association, safety on and off the water comes first, when the situation allows, all numbers will be increased.

Online training - Let’s use what we have learnt!

With the whole country now experts on online meetings, why not make the most of it by booking an online training evening for your club members?

An evening of online talking all things ILCA is a great way to pass some time. Free to all UKLA members (donations to RNLI welcomed).

Simply get in touch with dates and questions and one of the coaching team will be ready to offer the answers, making sure video and diagrams are ready to help everyone learn.

Hollowell Sailing Club having their first of two online evenings.

Here are the UKLA Open Training Dates:

We had to cancel one event, but manage to re-allocate sailors to other events.

Also don’t forget the Super Grand Prix have a Training Day on the Saturday, with racing on the Sunday.

SOUTH:

22/23 May - Queen Mary SC
17/18 July - Pagham YC
7/8 August Castle Cove SC

MIDLANDS

16/17 October - Staunton Harold SC

North

29/30 May - St Mary’s Loch
3/4 July - Pennine SC

Tony Woods 4/27/21 Tony Woods 4/27/21

GRAND PRIX REPORT- LAKELAND AND BORDER REGION SERIES – EVENT 1 OF 2021 SERIES

Killington Sailing Association April 24th 2021

At last we were able to host a sailing event again at Killington!! 21 competitors came from all over the North of England to compete in Round 1 of a 13 event series that will culminate at Ullswater in October. The highest placed local sailor was Mary Anne Beacock of Coniston Sailing club who was 1st lady, youth and radial rig sailor and 5th overall and just pipped her father who was 6th! Highest placed Killington sailor was John Whalley.

Very tricky fluky winds shifting and dropping away to (almost) nothing at some stages but nonetheless three races completed with the third race being by far the best from the point of view of wind. Race 1 started in reasonable breeze but as time went on it dropped away but most managed to complete 3 laps with only the small rigs being stopped early on two laps.

There appeared to be a wind shift to the West at the start of Race 2 but with only minutes to the start a massive right windshift caused the race committee to abandon that start and go back to the course used for Race 1 though in the end it became a reaching start which is not ideal.

During Race 2 it had become apparent that there was a permanent shift to the right (east) and the wind had picked up a bit so the course was changed again and despite a contentious possible early start at the pin end, Race 3 continued with a relatively brisk wind occasionally – we even had a couple of capsizes. Tim Keighley had to work hard to get back to the front from a poor start.

As ever cream floats to the top and the same familiar faces were placed at the top of the leaderboard. It was apparent also that people were quite rusty on the start line and there was quite a bit of argy bargy aka rule breaking but nobody actually took it to protest. It was great to see 21 boats on the start line from a wide range of clubs and a decent turn out of 8 boats from the home club as well.

Very pleased to congratulate Tim Keighley from West Riding on winning overall, to Stuart Belfield from Leigh and Lowton in 2nd and Greg Liggins from Derwent Reservoir in 3rd.

ILCA UK 4/27/21 ILCA UK 4/27/21

Join the Team

The UKLA is looking for enthusiastic people to join our ever growing team -

In particular at the moment we’re looking for people to help with:

Marketing Officer
The National Grand Prix Circuit
The Newsletter

Please email Ellie at the office if you can assist in any way - even one morning a month would be great!

Many thanks to Richard Mason for help with Grand Prix, Super Grand Prix and sponsorship

Tony Woods 4/26/21 Tony Woods 4/26/21

TACTICS TO WIN By Nick Craig

An extract from TACTICS TO WIN by Nick Craig

BOAT-ON-BOAT TACTICS (Pages 77-83)

Knowing your opposition is important. Some sailors are relatively passive and some more aggressive. You can be more confident of overtaking moves working against passive opponents so you should be more ready to try an overtaking move. With an aggressive opponent, you need to ensure that you have a clear overtaking opportunity before making a move or you are likely to end up wasting distance through a luffing match or similar. You should also leave a bit more space to avoid an unnecessary incident.

UPWIND

Attacking

If you are sailing in a pack or group of boats, you should aim to find shifts or pressure that move you into anti-phase with the pack around you so you are sailing in clearer pressure. Other boats’ sails generate a lot of dirty wind and wind likes to bend past obstacles. So you will advance even if the shifts / pressure you take are average because you will have clearer air than the other boats. On the sea, splitting will mean you sail in more consistent waves which are easier to steer in an effective rhythm.

*Try to get in a different phase to the boats around you*

If it is late in the race and you have a few boats to potentially attack with no risk of being overtaken, you should throw in lots of tacks or gybes in the hope of forcing an error from your opposition. Good boat handling helps. If you are very close to your opponent, but they are covering well, you can try a dummy tack to split with them whilst on a good windshift / pressure.

You should aim simultaneously to attack and defend by loose covering the boats behind whilst splitting with those in front, ideally on a decent shift or pressure.

You should seek to leverage starboard advantage. To overtake someone on port you need to be a boat length clear. To catch another boat up on starboard, you only need to be within a boat length. So planning your final approach on starboard can be almost a 2-boat-length gain in tactical advantage. In close situations, or late in a leg, you should aim to get on the right-hand side of your opponent so that you end up with the starboard tack advantage. As ever, picking a good shift or decent pressure is a more effective way to overtake than this.

When attacking, you can ‘put the hammer down’ in moderate or windy weather to find an extra burst of speed just when it is needed (e.g. a marginal leebow), trying to roll someone to force them to tack. You should hike and work the sails extra hard for perhaps a 10 second burst. This work rate will be harder than your opposition unless they are doing the same thing at the same time, which is rare. Of course, you should use this tool judiciously as you don’t want to end up drained for the rest of the race.

The leebow tack can be a very powerful tool when things get close. The real power of the move is forcing your opponent to tack onto the unfavoured tack. Being in phase with the shifts and pressure is vital for that so you know when it is right to go for a leebow tack and when it is better to take a duck.

As you approach an opponent what do you do? If you are expecting a lift, stay on port (the favoured tack), ducking if necessary, but if you are expecting a header, you should leebow on starboard (the favoured tack) and hopefully force your opponent… — As you approach an opponent what do you do? If you are expecting a lift, stay on port (the favoured tack), ducking if necessary, but if you are expecting a header, you should leebow on starboard (the favoured tack) and hopefully force your opponent off on port (the unfavoured tack)

How close you can legally tack to another boat’s leebow varies greatly by boat (e.g. an Enterprise tacks very quickly so you can tuck in close to an opponent). However, a leebow tack is very hard to pull off in a B14 which has wings, moves fast through the water and is slow to tack. Close-quarter 2-boat tuning is a great way to learn where the ‘point of death’ is with a leebow (i.e. the place where you can no longer live with being leebowed and you quickly slow up or slip sideways).

The leebow position varies significantly by class. The leebow position is when you kill the lane for the windward boat so they either slip to leeward into your wind shadow completely or can only stay to windward of you through excessive pinching, resulting in a loss of speed.

The leebow effect works via the wind exiting your sails at a tighter angle than they enter your sails as your sails work as an aerofoil. This angle change varies by boat so the effectiveness of a leebow tack varies by boat. Also, some boats can handle a leebow situation better than others depending on how well the rigs eat dirt and how well the foils work. So, for example: a Merlin Rocket is very hard to leebow; an OK relatively easy.

Consolidating

To consolidate your position, you should continue to sail for shifts and pressure but keep an eye on your opposition. So you may sail through a shift (i.e. not tack on what you think is a header), if that keeps you in touch with your opposition

*If yellow decides not to tack on a header you may also choose not to and stay with him*

If the wind is shifty and unstable, spending too much time looking at the opposition and following their track will cause you to lose phase with windshifts and pressure. In these conditions, your cover needs to be looser and you need to be less distracted by the fleet or your attempt to consolidate will result in place losses.

In steadier wind, you can afford to cover harder and watch the fleet more to ensure that you consolidate your position.

As this cover becomes more instinctive, the difference between your attack and consolidate mode can reduce which makes both modes more effective. So ideally, you can continue to attack shifts and pressure effectively whilst also keeping half an eye on where the fleet is.

Defending

How hard you defend a position depends on how far advanced the race is, how the fleet is distributed and where you are versus your outcome objectives.

Progression of race: Early in a race, defending hard would be a gamble except in extreme circumstances (e.g. you just need to stop one opponent to win a championship). Defending hard early in a race could result in place losses that you are unable to make up. At this stage the fleet is much more tightly compacted so any distance loss from being involved with other boats can result in a lot of places lost. Therefore, you should usually focus on your own race early in the race and avoid boat-on-boat tactical battles.

Fleet distribution: If there is a big gap in front of you and a big gap after the boat you are defending against, a hard defence may make sense as you aren’t potentially foregoing place gains or risking place losses. This works the other way – hard attack can be appropriate if there is a big gap behind you and lots of opportunity for gain ahead.

Status vs. outcome objective: If you are ahead of your objectives and this place is key you may choose to defend hard. If you are behind your objectives, you should probably be attacking the race rather than defending.

Defending hard upwind means staying between your opposition and the windward mark and sitting on their wind to ensure that they receive dirty wind so slowing them up.

However, it can be appropriate to increase the gap on the boat behind (e.g. you are about to head onto a downwind leg to the finish where an increased gap greatly reduces your vulnerability to attack). In this case you need to stop defending and start attacking.

If your opponent is getting very close to you and may slip by, things may get too close to keep defending hard and, again, attack may be your best option.

At the 1989 Bloody Mary (yes, it appears that I am old!), we were lying 3rd up the final beat in a Cadet with Rob Larke very close behind us. There was no scope for place gains. So we covered Rob hard. Rob overtook us because he stayed in phase with the shifts whilst we tried to cover. It did not work as we were always out of phase with the shifts and got sucked backwards. An early lesson on when to stop defending hard!

In these circumstances, you should aim to move back into attack mode, working the shifts and pressure to stay ahead and, if possible, protect the right-hand side. If things are close, the starboard boat has right of way. However, you should be fluid on this. If left is paying heavily, you should protect left.

REACHES

Attacking

On the reach, attacking to windward is typically the fastest way to gain places.

The exceptions to this are on a very broad leg or late on the first reach, when it can often pay to attack an opponent to leeward as you approach the gybe mark. To overtake your opponent to leeward, you just need an overlap whereas to overtake to windward you need to break clear ahead. So overtaking to leeward is a boat length easier than overtaking to windward as you approach the mark rounding.

However, gaining and holding an overlap is much harder on a tighter angle as you will be trying to hold that overlap in dirty air. So, on a tight reach, you should usually aim to overtake to windward.

Nevertheless, late in the leg, it can pay to seek an inside overlap rather than trying to pass to windward. With good timing you can establish an overlap to leeward fairly late and aim to just hold it for the few boat lengths into the mark.

If there is no issue with losing some distance (e.g. big gap on the boat behind and you don’t need to catch the boats in front to achieve your outcome objectives) and you don’t think you will manage a windward pass, you should aim to overlap to leeward early and take your opponent as high as is legitimate.

As leeward boat, you are entitled to sail your proper course. A high route can be justified if there is more wind or better waves to windward. An expected upcoming windshift may also justify sailing high. By sailing yourself and your opponent high, the final approach to the gybe mark will be broader which increases your chances of gaining water.

If you can’t overtake to windward, but there is a reason to sail high (e.g. better waves), establish an overlap to leeward and sail your proper course to the waves, forcing yellow high. Then you will have to run down to the mark, and it is much easi… — *If you can’t overtake to windward, but there is a reason to sail high (e.g. better waves), establish an overlap to leeward and sail your proper course to the waves, forcing yellow high.*
*Then you will have to run down to the mark, and it is much easier to attack and get room at the mark*

Consolidating

To consolidate your position, you should protect your windward side, so you aren’t rolled, but dive low towards the rhumb line when there aren’t boats attacking you to windward.

How hard you protect to windward depends on how tight the reach is and how much boats to windward slow you in your particular class. They always do, but how much varies (e.g. in a Merlin Rocket losing your lane to windward on anything but a very broad reach is death; in a single-hander in waves, the cost is low if you still have just enough space to keep working the waves effectively).

Defending

The best defence is usually to hold a high lane. Whilst this is effective in stopping boats overtaking, it can result in distance losses to those ahead and add to the first reach ‘banana’. So ideally, you will defend your lane while going high by as little as you can get away with.

To defend against someone trying to establish a late, leeward inside overlap (see above), you should push as low as possible late in the leg.

RUNS

Attacking

To attack one boat, you should aim to blanket their wind. This makes playing the spinnaker for your opponent hard as the wind is disturbed. The wind for your opponent is also slowed so you will quickly close up. This is an aggressive tactic so should be deployed judiciously.

To escape your dirty wind, your opponent has to sail more distance than you, so you gain every time they try to escape your dirt. Your opponent may try to gybe. You should look for the signs of that (e.g. crew getting ready to release poles, tiller extension going behind the helm etc.). That will enable you to anticipate their move and stick on their wind.

If you time your gybes and steering back on to your opponent’s dirty wind with windshifts and greater pressure you can make further gains.

If you are covering your opposition, they will look for ways to get clear wind If they gybe, gybe with them and ensure you are still blanketing them — *If you are covering your opposition, they will look for ways to get clear wind*
*If they gybe, gybe with them and ensure you are still blanketing them*

In a tight boat-on-boat situation, a double gybe is a punchy move but a great way to gain luffing rights. If you double gybe, you are on a new gybe, so you regain luffing rights until the windward boat has managed to break clear ahead again. A double gybe can be pulled off very quickly with a small turn and a flick of the boom across your head.

Consolidating

This is a hard leg to consolidate on. Similarly, to any other run, you are looking to sail fast in the right direction whilst keeping clear air and managing risk. These goals are often incompatible. It is usually better to keep clear air via a little separation from the fleet so taking some can reduce risk rather than sit in dirty air in the pack.

Defence

To defend against a boat attacking you directly, you should seek to keep sailing fast in pressure and favourable shifts. If you find a shift or pressure to escape the cover whilst not sailing too much extra distance, then take these opportunities. The best defence is not being in your opponent’s dirty air so slightly forward or back from that depending on which side of the course is critical to defend.

*To defend against attack, try to position yourself slightly away from their wind shadow*

If someone is really intent on sitting on your wind, they will gain and catch you eventually. However, defending against someone really keen on overtaking you is possible. With appropriate defence, you should become very hard to overtake but you will lose distance in your defence. So you need to balance up how important this one place is to you versus managing the fleet. This depends on your position versus your outcome goals, how your opponent affects your goals and how advanced the race is.

To defend early / mid-way down the run, protect the favoured side of the course. So it is important to have a good idea which side is favoured. Later in the run, protect your inside overlap.

In race 6 of the 2017 Merlin Rocket Nationals, we led at the last windward mark by a few boat lengths from Andy ‘Taxi’ Davis & Alex Warren with just a run to the finish. We put ourselves between Taxi & Alex and the leeward mark and they gradually closed us in by smothering our wind (and sailing the waves well!). In hindsight, we should have put on a loose cover, positioning ourselves slightly more out to sea than a tight cover to take advantage of the nicer waves out there. Our tight cover allowed Taxi & Alex to close level with us going into the finish. We aimed to sail them past the starboard layline in order to give them dirty wind and stay ahead even if they got their noses out. On the last wave before performing our winning move they caught a lovely (for them) wave, gained a length and gybed round the front of us. A tight cover on a run should only be performed late in the race with a decent lead, not from the start of the run with a few lengths’ lead.

Multi-champion Nick Craig is author of the amazing book Tactics to Win which gives you some understanding of why he’s won so many championships.

To get more of Nick Craig’s top tips, Tactics to Win can be bought here (https://fernhurstbooks.com/books/permalink/10/tactics_to_win). If you sign up to Fernhurst Books’ newsletter you can get 25% off.

ILCA UK 4/26/21 ILCA UK 4/26/21

UKLA Open & National Championships 2021 - WPNSA

We are hoping to encourage more club sailors to come along and join in the fun with an emphasis on Learning and an increase in social activities.

The Nationals Pages are now enabled on the website. Click here - Nationals - to find out more about Off - Water Activities, Learning and of course Racing!

Entries through the new portal will be open shortly.

EVENING FOOD (Covid permitting):

Friday. Special Welcome Evening with Italian Themed Meal FREE for all competitors, courtesy of the UKLA.

Extra tickets can be purchased in advance @ £10 each

Saturday: Moroccan Night. 2 Courses £10 Tickets to be ordered in advance

Sunday: BBQ. £16 Tickets to be ordered in advance.

Monday: Curry Night. 2 Courses £12 Tickets to be ordered in advance

Tuesday: GALA DINNER. Tickets to be ordered in advance.

We will let you know when we get the special discount booking codes.

UKLA Team

Tony Woods 4/26/21 Tony Woods 4/26/21

New Podcasts!

The next episode of Head’s Up is out with all the April News.

Also check out the latest installments of ‘An Hour with Flower’, featuring our Olympic Representative in the ILCA 7 Elliot Hanson, top sailor and now coach Jack Wetherell, and top Master Sailor, family man and Barrister Orlando Gledhill, .

LISTEN TO THE PODCASTS HERE

Tony Woods 4/26/21 Tony Woods 4/26/21

SUPER GRAND PRIX 2021 - Celebrating the Golden Anniversary!

Next month features TWO Super Grand Prix events. In the North there is the St Mary’s Loch SGP on 29/30 May, with a coaching team headed by top sailor Lewis Smith. In the South there is the Queen Mary SGP on 22/23 May - we’re expecting a huge local turnout so it could be an epic event!

Entries will be available shortly through the new portal.

NB- The UKLA will be sponsoring the Super Grand Prix in 2021 so you’ll get top quality coaching and racing for a fraction of the usual cost!