ILCA UK Chair Blog #139

2025 ILCA7 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club

2025 ILCA6 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club

ILCA Midland Grand Prix at Attenborough Sailing Club

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

Finally have you seen the tracking? Here are the links - ILCA UK National Open 1 ILCA UK National Open 2 James Foster did a nice debriefing of the racing using the tracking data, see here. ILCA7 briefing. ILCA4 briefing.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 5/19/25 Mark Lyttle 5/19/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #138

They saw a game….

ILCA sailing is much like other sports when it comes to analysing races – it is all in the eye of the beholder. Everyone looks at it from their own perspective like “I was in prime position on the right until the wind shifted left” versus “those on the right were always buried”. Well, it is not surprising. There is a well-known case study (at least to sports performance analysts) published in 1952 about an American football game “They saw a game”*. Quick summary - different people experience different incidents from a total matrix of incidents in a game that they could have experienced, based on the reactivation of previous experiences i.e. what they brought into the game. The games exist for each person and they only exist based on certain events that have significance for them. They select for themselves.

Obviously, this is written from a fan perspective but I guess it also applies to participants and it’s what makes self-coaching so difficult – separating out what really happened as opposed to your perspective based on prior experience. Over the next number of years, we may see this change. The use of trackers show the route you really took, not the one you thought you took but to be really effective we need data about wind speed and direction from across the course. With all that data, an AI algorithm will tell us what really happened but until then, the beauty is that we can talk endlessly in the club afterwards about what we thought we saw.

*Hastorf, A. H., & Cantril, H. (1954). They saw a game; a case study. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 49(1), 129.

Well done to British Sailing Team in China, loads of content and results on Event website.

Snippets

ILCA UK Events

Entries to Masters Nationals

Entries to UK Nationals open tonight

2025 Women’s Regatta at Rutland will open for entries this Friday! (9th May)

Keep an eye on the ILCA Calendar for details as these sessions sell out quickly.

You will see our calendar starting to fill up.

Other news

Ollie Wilson (15) is doing a sponsored sail this weekend in his ilca from Portland to Starcross. Support him here

QM ILCA initiative has gone from zero to international in six months

2025 ILCA7 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club

2025 ILCA6 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club

ILCA Midland Grand Prix at Attenborough Sailing Club

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 5/12/25 Mark Lyttle 5/12/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #137

BST ….

British Sailing Team are in action at the World Championships in China, which started today. Follow the racing including live tracking and results on Event website. Good luck to sailors taking part.

Update on Women’s Training from Jonathan Stirling

The ILCA Women’s Coaching Programme is going great guns. Last week our sponsor Wildwind ran their first ever Women’s ILCA Clinic coached by NED International Maartje van Dam. They’ll be a write up in Y&Y but ‘best week ever’ was the verdict of one experienced ILCA sailor.

Next weekend Ellie Cumpsty is delivering the Programme at King George SC with complementary club racing on the Sunday.

Booking is now live for the ILCA Women’s Programme at WPNSA on 31st May hosted by the Andrew Simpson Performance Academy and coached by.George Povall, Molly Sacker and Coco Barrett. This is a fantastic opportunity for our women sailors to brush up their sea sailing ahead of the summer’s events. We will be running another event at Stokes Bay on 26th July - details to follow - and we are planning to extend to at least two other venues over the season to cover more of the country.

And booking is now open for the fantastic ILCA Women’s Regatta at Rutland Water SC over the weekend of 28th/29th June.

Snippets

Keep an eye on the ILCA Calendar for details as these sessions sell out quickly.

2025 Women’s Regatta at Rutland will open for entries this Friday! (9th May)

You will see our calendar starting to fill up.

Finally I was asked about the entry list for the British Nationals at Parkstone in 1982 - well here you go

PS Are you interested in Team Racing - Eurilca has a European Championship and are inviting entries from ILCA UK? See here

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

2025 ILCA7 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club

ILCA UK Events

Entries to Masters Nationals

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

ILCA UK have two National Opens at WPNSA on 11/12 Oct and 18/19 Oct - the latter clashes with the U21s Europeans so discretionary points may apply for the qualification ladder but not for the first weekend (we moved from 25/26 Oct to 11/12 Oct to avoid a double clash). Masters Inlands date is confimred for 25/26 Oct.

Other news

2025 ILCA6 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club

ILCA Midland Grand Prix at Attenborough Sailing Club

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 5/6/25 Mark Lyttle 5/6/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #136

masters at parkstone

We had the Master Series at Parkstone at the weekend and here are 10 things you should know. I also asked Orlando Gledhill (ILCA7 with most race wins) and Ross Harvey (ILCA6 overall winner) to give their insights, which I share below.

We had 84 entries which is the biggest fleet for some years outside the Masters Nationals
We sailed in Poole Bay in a large ILCA regatta for the first time in decades
We successfully negotiated the Chain Ferry at Sandbanks (well almost!)
We had four Legends sailing – that’s 75 and over
The Race Officer was Stuart Childerley, a Laser star in the ‘80s – welcome back Stuart
It was very shifty - my favourite was the last race – beating at a heading of 30 degrees on starboard and then 30 degrees on port
We had a prize draw at Saturday night dinner with father of the fleet Ian Rawet – thanks to sponsors Tideway Wealth, Ovington and Rooster
Parkstone put on a great show from a super club house – well done
Masters sailors are tough and did brilliantly to race four races on Sunday
It can still be cold in May

Entries for Masters Nationals are open and it is not too late to enter to Masters Europeans.

Orlando provides some insights into getting your own best performance from yourself as a Masters sailor

1. If you are fast/skilled relative to the fleet in the conditions, it is usually better to focus on starting a little more conservatively, with a good “lane”.

The idea is to avoid messing up a good opportunity to perform well in conditions which suit you by putting yourself behind in the critical first seconds or minutes of the race. Starting conservatively does not mean not being in the front row. But be in the front row in a less crowded area of the start line. I had a poor start right at the pin in the first race on Sunday. Luckily for me, it was a general recall. From then on, I realised that in conditions that suited me (medium to strong winds, medium waves, obvious shifts), my focus should be on getting off the line safely, with scope to work what I hoped might be an upwind speed advantage.

2. Events are very often decided by consistency. More precisely, in a 1-discard series, by how bad your second-worst race is. In the ILCA 7s at Parkstone, the top 7 places overall were decided essentially by who had the least bad second-worst race.

I wonder how many of us will approach the performance in that second-worst race as a key focus for improving next time. It is so much more enjoyable to think about (and talk about!) the races that went well. And easier to pretend that the less good results were just down to luck.

Working on weaknesses is a much more efficient way to improve results than working on strengths. Working on strengths will not usually improve consistency and may even make it worse, unless of course the event is sailed in the conditions of strength. This is rather obvious, but how many non-professional sailors actually consciously aim to identify, analyse and work on their weaknesses? It is rare to see an amateur sportsperson improve a known weakness in their game.

My resolution: improve lighter-wind starting and upwind decision-making.

3. In ILCA sailing there is a huge amount of readily-available information about how the boat should be sailed and raced in any given conditions. The issue is not usually access to information, it is taking advantage of the information and putting knowledge gained into practice.

For ILCA 7 Masters interested in improving medium to strong wind performance on the sea, the secret is that there are no real secrets: it boils down to: (1) being about 85kgs or so (Masters tend to sail heavier than the Open fleet, because they are not as fit); (2) good (amateur) fitness levels (legs, core, arms, aerobic); (3) not “pinching”—pinching is very slow in waves; (4) and trying to minimise slamming into waves upwind.

Everything else is (relative) detail that can be developed once the above is in place. The technique mistakes often have as their root cause lack of fitness e.g., (pinching, not sailing flat, not sheeting in/out enough) There are obviously big gains to be made downwind as well, but most of the time at Masters level the major determinant of results in these conditions will be upwind speed.

Ross gives some insights to the tactical decisions needed over the weekend:

The ILCA 6 Masters event at Parkstone Yacht Club over the weekend of 3rd and 4th May 2025 featured six closely contested races, with varying conditions that tested the fleet’s tactical awareness and finesse. One of the key insights came from Race 2, where a significant right-hand wind shift before the start required sailors to hold their lane in anticipation of the predicted left shift. Ross Harvey capitalized on this, managing the upwind phase with precision and choosing the correct side of the course to secure the win. Roberta Hartley sailed an excellent first run, finding stronger breeze on the right-hand side, but Ian Gregory’s consistent speed saw him edge into second place by the finish.

Race 5 highlighted how quickly positions could change downwind. Hywel Roberts had an excellent start, leading from the left and rounding the first mark in front. However, Ross Harvey showed superior downwind speed, passing Roberts on the first run. The lead changed again on the second upwind leg, where Jon Emmett’s decision-making and clean lanes allowed him to pass both Harvey and Roberts. In the final stretch, Harvey managed to recover just enough to edge back into the lead and take the win, showing not just speed but also resilience and sharp situational awareness under pressure.

In the final race of the event, strategy around the shifting breeze became critical. At the start of a left-hand shift, Ross Harvey and Steve Cockerill tacked below the port layline early. While Jon Emmett and Hywel Roberts opted to dig deeper into the left, the wind shifted back to the right just before the mark, benefiting Harvey and Cockerill. Their positioning allowed them to sail one more lift into the windward mark while Emmett and Roberts, already committed to the layline, had to sail a header and lost ground.

Snippets

RYA are looking for volunteers to join the RYA's Youth Racing Committee - interested? Apply online here.

The next ILCA Women’s Coaching session, led by Ellie Cumpsty, is at King George SC on 17th May. Further dates at Parkstone YC, Stokes Bay SC and Draycote Water are being finalised. Keep an eye on the ILCA Calendar for details as these sessions sell out quickly.

2025 Women’s Regatta at Rutland will open for entries this Friday! (9th May)

You will see our calendar starting to fill up.

Finally I was asked about the entry list for the British Nationals at Parkstone in 1982 - well here you go

PS Are you interested in Team Racing - Eurilca has a European Championship and are inviting entries from ILCA UK? See here

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to Masters Nationals

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

Other news

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 4/28/25 Mark Lyttle 4/28/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #135

Reaching…..

We are almost up to 70 for the masters at Parkstone – entries open until end of Wednesday – forecast is warm weather and moderate wind, with sailing in the Bay. Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone. See you there.

We had a couple of close reaches at Queen Mary recently which made me think. In many ways the art of reaching has died to a great extent compared my early days of Laser sailing. In my formative years I had many great battles with Bill O’Hara, a double Olympian in the Finn class, and these were often defined by the reaching legs. On those days, the course was usually triangle, triangle, sausage (remember that?) and the reaches were quite broad and much more important than the running leg. Bill was much faster than me upwind and was invariably ahead at the first windward mark and my target was the pass him on the next two reaching legs and establish a lead that I could defend. Being lighter I could surf the waves longer and lower so would always aim to sail higher and then over the top of him. This was hard to defend so Bill adopted a strategy of sailing rhumb lines rather than sailing high to defend his position. It became a game of cat and mouse but more importantly, speed on the reaches was critical.

I can still remember (a little) of racing the Worlds in Gulfport in 1983 and one of the memories that sticks was the reaching. On the first reach of the first race, I sailed very high and the question was how much I would lose coming back down to the mark. As it happens the gybe mark was close to the shore and the waves got bigger as we approached so I was able to surf down over the top of others. It was a strategy that worked well all week.

By the time, the Laser came to the Olympics in 1996, the game had changed. The reaches were much tighter with less scope for making big improvements. I distinctly remember approaching the windward mark in Race 3 in second just ahead of a bunch led by the Greek sailor – my over-riding thought was to round ahead of him as he as slow on the reach and would act as a block – we were only talking 2 or 3 boat lengths on the leg, but enough to create a gap to the following group and so it was… funny the things you remember.

That change to shorter courses and more running (and S turns) started in the lead-up to 1996 and it certainly de-emphasised the reaching. However, some aspects still remain. When the top sailors are faster, they get into a “passing lane” to windward of the line of reaching boats and just sail over the top, going faster. I have seen this many times in recent years with the British Sailing Team sailors at our Qualifiers / National Opens. I think their speed advantage is down to keeping the boat very stable and anticipating a drop in speed by going higher. My own strategy is usually “don’t lose ground on the leaders” or “extend on the bunch” behind if in the leading group, often involving sailing a straight line, while keeping clear air.

With tighter reaches going low is much harder to execute and the risk needs to be assessed. It sometime works if the reach is a bit broader or the wind is decreasing or backing. Of course, lake sailing is a different game. Clearly going up and down in the lulls and gusts works but I think a lot depends on how quickly a gust moves down the course.

So while the options for catching up on the reach are reduced, they are still there, and it is certainly possible to lose a lot of places.

Snippets

RYA are looking for volunteers to join the RYA's Youth Racing Committee - interested? Apply online here.

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th (SOLD OUT)

You will see our calendar starting to fill up.

Finally I was asked about the entry list for the British Nationals at Parkstone in 1982 - well here you go

PS Are you interested in Team Racing - Eurilca has a European Championship and are inviting entries from ILCA UK? See here

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone and Masters Nationals

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

Other news

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 4/22/25 Mark Lyttle 4/22/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #134

Masters at Parkstone - what’s your excuse?

Truncated blog this morning with Easter. If you are a master, why not come to Parkstone on 3/4th May? Dust down your ILCA next weekend and do a club race and then head to Parkstone - it is not the Olympics or an ex-squad zone - all are welcome. Sailing in the Bay with some exercise and socialising! Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone

Snippets

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th.

You will see our calendar starting to fill up.

Finally I was asked about the entry list for the British Nationals at Parkstone in 1982 - well here you go

PS Are you interested in Team Racing - Euricla has a European Championship and are inviting entries from ILCA UK? See here

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone and Masters Nationals

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Other news

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 4/14/25 Mark Lyttle 4/14/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #133

Sporting moments …and trackers

There are many reasons why we compete in ILCA races or indeed in any sporting competition but fundamentally there is something purist about competition. It is the jeopardy of not knowing how performances or results will work out, not knowing who will win or produce the standout performance. It is knowing that at one level it is a deeply personal experience for those competing given their context and preparation. It is also the fact that the game is played based on a defined and agreed set of rules. Yes sometimes, competitors break those rules or someone else judges they have been broken, but this just adds to jeopardy.

Two outstanding sporting moments brought this to life for me this week. On Tuesday, I was at Arsenal in North London for the quarter-final of the Champions League with perennial winners Real Madrid. My expectations were not high, but the atmosphere heading into the ground was amazing and after a first half of chances for both sides, the game came alight with two world-class free kicks for Arsenal. The stadium went wild and the joyous mood continued on the walk home. I couldn’t help thinking how depressing the news had been at the start of week – major wars and chaos in the global economy where complexity reigns – juxtapositioned with the simple task of putting a ball in the net but not knowing in advance whose net. There was nothing complicated – the stakes were high but there was a winner and a loser, and we didn’t know who it was going to be. Then Rory McIlroy produced a final round at the Masters in Augusta that was filled with ups and downs. I don’t how many times it looked as if he had let it slip by, only to recover with a world class shot. The resilience and human endeavour involved was so compelling and nerve-wracking. The jeopardy was obvious.

Well I am not really suggesting tht ILCA racing at club level is comparable but it many ways it is! We don’t know who is going to win in advance and throughout the fleet there are individual performances where some go home delighted, happy or content while others are disappointed. Last weekend Marcus Bird won the first race at Queen Mary, sailing superbly and while he wins regularly, he knew it was not going to be a foregone conclusion – he had a chance if he sailed well. It was Matt Fletcher who wrote the report as first around the first mark, winning that particular battle. He deserved it because he sailed well and I am sure he was pleased as it doesn’t happen every week. Of course many will say it is only sport, whether ILCA racing, the golf Masters or Champion’s League, but that’s surely the point. We compete based on a set of rules, we perform and the winner emerges. It’s that simple. And the jeopardy produces moments of elation / satisfaction or the opposite.

As some of you will know we used Trackers at the two National Opens in March and Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet in February. These were trials to allow us to assess the impact and feedback. I wrote about digitisation in ILCA sailing in Blog # 114 and stated that use of trackers divided opinion. Well, I think it is fair to say that the overall feedback has been very positive. You can see the races here on the TracTrac site (search ILCA UK). At each event there is about 90 trackers (ILCA4s/ILCA7s at NO1 and ILCA6s at NO2) and during each weekend, the website was getting around 1,000 unique visitors, which seems to me a very decent number.

A feature of our use of this is the feedback sessions after the event, kindly done by James Foster – see links below. ILCA6s, ILCA4s

Post-event feedback through survey has been positive with 100% recommendation for use at future ILCA UK events and the good news is that we will be using trackers at the Masters Nationals. The challenge though is the cost. So far this season, this is being funded mostly through class reserves (about £500 per event) as we don’t want to increase entry fees to cover. Going forward we will need to find the right balance between funding through entry fees, the class and sponsors. Finally thanks to Brett Lewis for his support around this initiative.

Finally I was asked about the entry list for the British Nationals at Parkstone in 1982 - well here you go

PS Are you interested in Team Racing - Euricla has a European Championship and are inviting entries from ILCA UK? See here

Snippets

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th.

You will see our calendar starting to fill up.

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone and Masters Nationals

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Other news

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 4/7/25 Mark Lyttle 4/7/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #132

Palma and masters …..

I hope many of you were able to enjoy the spring weather over the weekend with some good club racing. We had two races at Queen Mary on Sunday in lovely conditions, although the water is still quite cold. It was great to see some sailors start to emerge from “winter hibernation”, with the highest turnout of the year so far. I am sure it was the same in other clubs – why not let me know?

As you know this is a blog for only promoting individual performances exceptionally, but I think the results from the British Sailing Team at Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta in Palma merit that. Micky Beckett and Elliot Hanson were first and second and Daisy Collingridge also on the podium in third with three BST women qualified for the Medal Race. It is a great start to the LA cycle for the BST (with some other super performances as well) and they head to China for the Seniors Worlds in May. It is worth reflecting that all these sailors were competing in the National Opens in March – how lucky for us to have the opportunity to compete alongside these professional sailors – one of the unique aspects of our sport. Check ilca-uk and ilca_sailing on Instagram.

As mentioned last week, the masters season is starting to hot up. The first ILCA Masters Series of the year is at Parkstone Yacht Club on 3-4 May 2025. We were at Parkstone a couple of years ago but this year will be a little special as we are going to race in Bournemouth Bay! Come and join – you are all welcome (if you are over 30).

For Masters sailors, the 2025 SUZUKI ILCA MASTER EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS at Hayling Island in June is now open. This is a great chance for GBR sailors to sail a European Championship on home waters. If you are a competent club sailor, why not come along? Or maybe you have been out of sailing for a while, well its not too late to come to this! We have the ILCA UK Masters Nationals the weekend before (Entries will open on Monday 7th April 2025 at 2000hrs BST). We have just agreed to have tracking for the first time at a Masters event in the UK!

Snippets

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th.

You will see our calendar starting to fill up.

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Entries for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships are now open

Other news

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 3/31/25 Mark Lyttle 3/31/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #131

Parkstone ….

Just a short blog this week. The first ILCA Masters Series of the year is at Parkstone Yacht Club on 3-4 May 2025. We were at Parkstone a couple of years ago but this year will be a little special as we are going to race in Bournemouth Bay! I am assured the tides will work in our favour so fingers crossed for some decent wind. It made we think of the last time I raced there in a Laser (not an ILCA) and it was July 1982 and reading the list of entries I see quite a few of you were racing too. Let me remind you:

238 entries split into two fleets (well four flights)
One race per day, 2.5 hours long
Gate starts
3 triangles followed by a final beat – no sign of a run.

I think it is safe to we have moved on from that format.

Come and join – you are all welcome (if you are over 30).

Snippets

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th.

You will see our calendar starting to fill up. For Masters sailors, the 2025 SUZUKI ILCA MASTER EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS at Hayling Island in June is now open. This is a great chance for GBR sailors to sail a European Championship on home waters. If you are a competent club sailor, why not come along? Or maybe you have been out of sailing for a while, well its not too late to come to this! We have the ILCA UK Masters Nationals the weekend before and a Masters event in Parkstone in early May

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

Video of National Open 2

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

National Open 1 video Here it is.

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Entries for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships are now open

Other news

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 3/24/25 Mark Lyttle 3/24/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #130

NO2….

Another great weekend at the second National Open at WPNSA and thankfully a bit warmer than the first one. We had three fine races in the Bay on Saturday and still managed to be ashore around 3pm and the race team wisely decided to stay in the Harbour on Sunday (who wants a 1-hour beat before 10 o’clock and any racing). Overall, there was a super feeling at the event – well done to all the sailors, volunteers and helpers.

I thought Jon Emmet’s video of National Open 1 summed up ILCA UK is all about. Here it is.

Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report

2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report

Finally have you seen the tracking? Here are the links - ILCA UK National Open 1 ILCA UK National Open 2

On Thursday, James Foster did a nice debriefing of the racing using the tracking data, see here. ILCA7 briefing. ILCA4 briefing.

We will have race reports next week but in meantime here is a video of National Open 2.

Sometimes it is a challenge to determine what to write in these blogs on a Monday. One of the ILCA4 parents asked about that as we were packing up and the reality is that themes often emerge from conversations like that. In that case we started talking about the culture of our class. That culture started to be redefined when Rob Cage took over as class Chair and as a committee, we have worked really hard to build on that. Having the committee aligned really helps re-enforce that culture at multiple points at events like we have had over the last two weekends. It defines how sailors interact with each other and how the irregular poor behaviour is handled. It defines how parents and volunteers interact with each other and race officials and jurors communicate. We are not perfect, but a strong culture keeps us on the right track.

If you’ve been following our weekly blog over the past couple of years, you probably understand that culture. It’s about the strength of our community, our passion for ILCA sailing and the class and about working together. We’re a mix of youth sailors just starting out, seasoned masters with decades of stories, and everything in between. From British Saling Team members to club sailors. But what unites us is a shared love of ILCA sailing, top competition and great racing — and a belief that everyone should feel welcome on the start line. The culture is one of helping out, whether it’s a parent helping on the beach, experienced sailors offering tips after a race, volunteers that are the heartbeat of ILCA UK. So if you ask me what the culture of ILCA UK is, I’d say: it’s friendly, it’s open, it’s about improving and making the most of the opportunity, no matter your expectations on the race course.

Snippets

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th.

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Entries for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships are now open

Other news

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

Mark Lyttle 3/17/25 Mark Lyttle 3/17/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #129

NO1 …..

Happy St Patricks Day ! Wow what a great weekend at WPNSA for the first National Open of the year ! 190 entries, so much so that we had to flight the ILCA6s and highest entry for a weekend event for many years. Full range of experience from almost a full complement of British Sailing Team members to club sailors, masters and first-timers. Yes there was a (very) cold chill but the race team got through the races efficiently. There was a good crowd for food and rugby after sailing.

The tracking is super – see here and adds a great new dimension to our events. I couldn’t quite get to grips with the strategy for the weekend and having replayed a couple of the races after the weekend, I was able to confirm where I was going wrong! I sailed two good first beats in Race 1 and 6 which was based on multiple shifts that required mostly taking the lift. For the other races, I assumed the strategy was similar, but it wasn’t. Quite a few of the races had long slow shifts – you can see this clearly in Race 5 of ILCA7s, where the lift on starboard off the line is followed by a very short-lived shift to the left before another dramatic shift to the right for the rest of the beat (basically a long, slow shift to the right). Other races had a persistent shift on the first beat. Of course, identifying all of this before rather than after the race is the difficult part. And those with better boat speed are able to hedge their bets somewhat. If you want to see how some of the best sailors in the world do it, you can follow their tracks. Next weekend trackers will be on ILCA6s – we are trialling tracking at these two events and looking for feedback as there is a cost to providing for the sailors (entrants should see a survey).

These events don’t happen without a load of work – below is a list of helpers who have made this happen. Sorry if anyone has been missed as it is fairly dynamic. Thank you.

While these volunteers are usually quite visible, there is a lot of work going on “below decks”. Roger Hakes as Chair of the Youth sub-committee has been working hard to get our RYA Class Recognition completed. Also Lorna Phipps is acting as our Treasurer and working on the Finance sub-committee with Fiona Grayton and Sarah Harding. These are the sort of activities that keep to class going. Thanks to them and everyone who works on the main committee or a sub-committee.

Entries for National Open 2 at WPNSA this weekend close of Tuesday.

Snippets

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th. You can see and buy photos from this event through Lotte Johnson’s page.

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to National Open 2

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone - open TONIGHT

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Entries for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships are now open

Other news

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

NI Sailing Team dominate Celtic Cup with clean sweep victory

Call to action: Abandoned Boats Changing Lives for Youth Sailors in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Mark Lyttle 3/10/25 Mark Lyttle 3/10/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog #128

Race Strategy……

I had a lovely two races at Queen Mary on Sunday – sun out, 16 degrees and 8 to 10 knots, attracting around 30 boats. I hope many of you also had to chance to get out. We were talking about race strategy afterwards and I don’t think I have discussed that in this blog. The great thing about our sport is the number of factors you need to address for a good performance – avoiding major mistakes, boat handling and boat speed and starting are all key, but race strategy is also critical. After all, your tactics around the racecourse are subservient to race strategy.

Components of race strategy are well-told. What geographic features affect the wind direction and strength? Is there a current or tide that is not consistent? Is the weather a factor (e.g. big clouds)? We often resort to “is the wind stronger on one side of the course than the other?” and we test for shifts by sailing upwind for a few minutes before the start.

But for many of us racing on inland venues this doesn’t really suffice as what is really needed is a clear assessment of what “type” of wind it is. The wind rarely oscillates in a classical sense (i.e. swing back and forth in a regular rhythm) but is instead a random “pattern” of shifts and gusts. This means a left shift is not necessarily followed by a right shift in a certain timescale – it could be followed by a further shift to the left or a very delayed shift to the right. But while the gust and shifts may be somewhat random, they can have patterns.

At Queen Mary on Sunday, the shifts, of usually 10 to 20 degrees, were occurring may be six times per weather leg. But sometimes they were bigger and longer and overlaying this was inconsistent pressure or gusts over racecourse. The race strategy is to stay in the pressure and take the lifts in the middle of the course. If the wind assessment is correct, this strategy works over the long run, but not every time, given the random nature of the wind.

On many other days at Queen Mary, the shifts occur much less frequently, maybe once or twice per beat and in this case, the race strategy is to stay on the lift until it shifts back (don’t take the little shifts), even if that brings you right into the corner. This is very tricky as time often runs out. It is even worse, when boats head to opposite corners on a median heading as the next shift can go either way (remember it is more random than oscillating). Of course, it is possible to hedge your bets (literally) by avoiding the corners or covering the fleet. But the first beat can be very difficult if the race starts on a median heading as it is hard to predict which way the first big shift is going to go.

Of course, sailing on the sea is often very different to this but understanding what the wind is doing remains key. I remember a masters race at Hayling a couple of years ago where the first beat in 20knots required tacking ten times on multiple shifts but the second beat required two tacks for two big shifts – sometimes the race strategy changes mid-race!

Snippets

ILCA UK celebrated International Women’s Day with the latest Women’s Coaching Programme at Queen Mary SC attended by women sailors of all ages. George Povall and Ellie Cumpsty chose to focus on speed and control in champagne sailing conditions. Inspiration and confidence are essential to all sailors: for the afternoon session the group were joined by Coté Poncell who represented Chile in the 2024 Olympics and inspired whoops and holas with her demonstrations and Q&A session. Half a dozen of the sailors joined QM Club racing on Sunday and discovered what a friendly bunch they are.

Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th. You can see and buy photos from this event through Lotte Johnson’s page.

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to National Open 1 (closes TONIGHT) 1 and National Open 2

Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone - open TONIGHT

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Entries for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships are now open

Other news

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

NI Sailing Team dominate Celtic Cup with clean sweep victory

Call to action: Abandoned Boats Changing Lives for Youth Sailors in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Mark Lyttle 3/3/25 Mark Lyttle 3/3/25

ILCA UK Chair blog #127

Calling masters …..

Last week I mentioned Our first two National Opens (formerly Qualifiers) are at WPNSA on 15/16 March and 22/23 March and these are now open for entry. These events are open meetings, run to a high-level, with sailors from competent club sailors to British Sailing Team members. They are a great opportunity to sail against the best and to learn and improve your skills. And they are open to volunteers (15/16) too and here (22/23)

I talked about motivations and aspirations for racing in Blog 122 and this seemed to resonate with some of you. That blog was also about dreams and targets and removing obstacles to those is important to achieving those. Then I mentioned ILCA equipment in Blog #125 – ILCA UK have an excellent video to help you rig your boat to a high level.

Finally two further ILCA UK videos to get your season going :

ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air

Getting your tactics right

Snippets

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report

ILCA UK Events

Entries to National Open 1 (formerly qualifier) 1 and National Open 2

You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW

See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.

ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here

Entries for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships are now open

Other news

ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca

NI Sailing Team dominate Celtic Cup with clean sweep victory

Call to action: Abandoned Boats Changing Lives for Youth Sailors in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Mark Lyttle 2/24/25 Mark Lyttle 2/24/25

ILCA UK Chair Blog # 126

Volunteering ……

ILCA Stand at RYA Dinghy Show - hiking challange

Let me start with thanks to those that helped on the ILCA UK stand at the RYA Dinghy Show. There was a great buzz around our stand consistent with the buzz around the class! It was great to see so many visitors – new and old. Led by Ellie, helped by amongst others Leo, Brett, Andrew, Andy, Deborah, Mille, Jasmine, Toby, Fiona, Guy, Keith, Sarah, Max, Mike, Stick, Andrew, Anna, Nathan, Jonathan, Keith, Mille & Archie. Shout-out to Ellie, Andy, Max, Jonathan and Stick for setting up and Ellie, Andy, Leo, Brett, Max and Jonathan for taking down.

Posters from the show are available for download in the snippets.

Of course, volunteering is central to our class and indeed our sport. Stop to think for a second – who ran your club racing at the weekend? It is not just at club level but ILCA UK has many volunteer committee and sub-committee members as well as all the great volunteers at our events. But volunteering is also about people helping themselves! To quote Sport England there are many benefits for the individual too. Volunteering can be a hugely rewarding experience and gives back in many other ways. Volunteers are happier: People who volunteer in sport often feel a sense of pride and say that their life has a sense of purpose. They meet new people: Volunteering in sport is a great way to make new friends and connections. Volunteers at a sports club often work as part of a team of volunteers. A shared love of sport often leads to new friendships. It’s a great way to develop new skills: Volunteering can help to improve current skills or develop new ones. Different roles will offer different opportunities. Some clubs might also offer you training to develop new skills that will help the volunteer in their role.

ILCA UK want to be an inclusive class, and we welcome all volunteers – in fact we want a diverse volunteer base because the best teams comes from diverse teams. That means we have roles for you whether you are an experienced sailor or not, whether you are old or young and whatever you background. The RYA have produced some excellent videos (see link below) on the role of volunteers – they are especially great as they were filmed at our ILCA UK National Championship at Hayling Island in 2023. Enjoy!

Volunteer vacancy - Y&Y Editor. Our race reports for National events are written by sailors based with guidelines provided to support them. This role is to check those reports and edit if needed and publish on Y&Y platform. It is a couple of hours work the week after an event, around 10 times per year. It may suit a volunteer interested in “work experience” to support a career in communications but is of course open to everyone.

Our first two National Opens (formerly Qualifiers) are at WPNSA on 15/16 March and 22/23 March and these are now open for entry. These events are open meetings, run to a high-level, with sailors from competent club sailors to British Sailing Team members. They are a great opportunity to sail against the best and to learn and improve your skills. And they are open to volunteers too.

Snippets

2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.