Mark Lyttle 11/11/24 Mark Lyttle 11/11/24

ILCA UK Chair blog #112

ILCA UK events….

As the season winds down and we start to look forward to winter club racing and training, I wanted to reflect on the ILCA UK events and also how the class can support you in your club efforts.

Some facts on our events - we ran 13 events – the Nationals, Master Nationals, six “qualifiers” and the Inlands (nine in total) and two Masters events ,one in July at WPNSA and the Master Inlands in October. In addition, we ran the Welsh Championships and a Youth Event at Queen Mary. Looking at the first nine events, we had 1,336 entries which is an amazing number. It was marginally lower than 2023 despite the Master Nationals being in Sept (with lower numbers) and one qualifier being in Pwllheli, where we would expect lower numbers (still over 100 entries). The average entry across nine events is about 150. It was 9% lower than the 2022 total, which was the first full year after Covid and a spike in competition numbers in general. The ILCA4 average entry across eight events was close to 50, on a par with 2023 but with numbers looking a bit higher in the second half of the year. With an average entry over 70, the ILCA6 remains our biggest and arguable most competitive class with continued robust numbers. After a slower start to 2024, ILCA7 numbers are at their best for many years with an average of close to 45 in last six events. I think it indicates that the class is in robust health.

This autumn the weather has been particularly difficult with both very strong and very light winds and this appears to be a growing trend. As a result, in the last few events we have started to modify our approach somewhat, firstly around the schedule and secondly around communications. With forecasts more accurate than they were, we can predict when it is likely the best time of day to race, meaning holding ashore, starting early or late or abandoning / cancelling promptly and I think we are going to see more of this. Related to that is the need to communicate our sailing plans as early as possible so everyone is prepared. This has always happened to some extent but we will see greater emphaise going forward.

Part of our success is our inclusive approach, and we need to continue to make sure our events are welcoming to all ages and a range of competency levels. An example has been an improvement in behaviour on the water through encouragement to do penalty turns and tone down language. Of course, that’s never going to be perfect, but we must continue to respect each other given the self-policing nature of the sport.

The location of our events continues to be a challenge. WPNSA has the resources to cope with our numbers with a mixture of in harbour and Weymouth Bay sailing, but we also visited Brightlingsea in March and Pwllheli for the first time in many years in September. Finding hosts to cater for 150 boats at the right time of year remains difficult. I know some of you feel we should split the fleets, but there is strong support for all three rigs racing together. As I said recently, we continue to try and make our events as cheap as we can – that’s why we run them at a deficit!

Finally, I wanted to mention the volunteers that make these events happen. Firstly, we have the many committee and sub-committee members planning and organising – we use Basecamp to help with this and there are currently 55 people listed! At the events themselves, we have a great team helping out. Brett has provided me with the numbers for Qualifiers 5 and 6 and the Inlands - the race management team afloat including mark layers and finish, numbers 18 to 20 per event. Over those three events we had 45 RIBS each resourced with volunteers. We also have volunteers helping with tally, bridge, registration, results and prize-giving. While many of these volunteers are parents, some are not. Overall it is a great community effort and my thanks to every one of you.

The class is of course involves many of you who do not go to these events and we want to continue to support club and local sailing. This year we tried to put more focus around Grand Prix events with John Ling and the Regional reps and we will be reviewing this over the next month or so. We also have set-up a Youth Regional Co-ordination Group with Mike Powell to help share information across the regions. Part of this is to encourage clubs in a region to work together to provide racing and training. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago where Queen Mary had 24 women doing a coaching / training weekend ILCA Women's Coaching Day at Queen Mary Sailing Club. While this was not an ILCA UK event we are happy to put these events in our calendar (where they are open) and provide publicity through our channels. So if you want to organise an event at your club and attract others, we can point you to coaches, use any poster you have and add to the ILCA UK calendar.

Mark Lyttle 11/4/24 Mark Lyttle 11/4/24

ILCA UK Chair blog # 111

Hannah’s blog…..

Hannah’s words of wisdom (debatable)

Hold on tight everybody. Mark has taken his life into his own hands and passed over the baton of the next blog to me. What could possibly go wrong?

The first place I would like to start is to say thank you, actually. I owe an awful lot to the ILCA class, and the wonderful people who are involved in it. It has been a friendly and supportive environment to learn, train and race in ever since I first stepped into an ILCA 4 a Very Long Time Ago, through to when Ken Falcon – then UKLA President – had to sail my ILCA 6 back to shore at a qualifier in Plymouth because it was too windy and wavy to do it myself, through to being the first female to win the ILCA 6 Nationals, through to being selected – at least a decade later than originally planned and hoped for – to go to my first Olympics. It's been a long road, and I’m very grateful that that road has been in the ILCA class.

“What could possibly go wrong?” – a mantra that I’ve had to use quite a lot in my fairly lengthy sailing career to date. There are many routes to the same destination, and it is absolutely a-okay to take one of the more scenic ones. The view can sometimes be better that way.

My entire career actually started as a skive out of P.E. at school that has got really out of hand. I was completely terrible at pretty much all school sports, and my reports used to read something along the lines of: “Attainment C, Effort 1. Tries hard but has made only limited progress. Future lies elsewhere.” (I love a bit of irony.) When it came up as an option that I could get out of all the activities I was so bad at, and use my £2 weekly pocket money to go sailing on Wednesday afternoons instead, it seemed like a bit of a no-brainer.

I wasn’t initially a particularly naturally talented sailor, and I didn’t take the conventional route through youth sailing. I was often left out of squads at first time of trying, and it was only really when I took a gap year after school and went self-funded around the European circuit that spring and summer that I started to have some results that showed any real promise.

Following that year, I was asked to train alongside the British Sailing Team, which I just about managed to balance with studying at Cambridge. It wasn’t all ‘plain sailing’ (is there any such thing?!) from there onwards though. I made the decision to sail full time after university, but was dropped from the team 15 months later, and retired (badly, because here we are) after blowing all my savings trying to keep going.

I made it back into the team four years later, after crowdfunding and working my way through the 2018 season, which culminated in finishing 4th at the World Cup in Japan. Despite its many challenges, I’m incredibly grateful for that period of time in my life and the perspective, adventures, and experiences it gave me. Everything from trapping a stranger into a revolving door compartment with me when I tried to take a rolled sail through it and got stuck, to getting Ben Elvin’s van impounded in Barcelona… those are the things that make you smile and tell stories about when you get old... well, as old as me.

One of the first questions that people ask when I say I am a sailor is: “Oh, do your parents sail?” and when I tell them that they don’t, they always look incredibly puzzled and ask how on earth I got into it. It still bothers me that there is a perception that you can’t make it in sailing without a family history in the sport. My parents are tree surgeons, but are wonderfully supportive of my sailing and have learned their port from starboard now, although I do still have to ask for a picture rather than a description when I’m away sailing and Duncan sends a Sailingfast parcel to their house instead of mine. Otherwise I get: “well there’s some yellow string, and some red string, and a few metal bits.”

As Micky said in his blog, one of the most frequent questions that you get asked when the Games is over is: “so, what’s next?” – and just like Micky, I also still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

I do know that there’s a lot of aspects to sailing that I personally feel could be improved through some small positive changes – be that female participation, grassroots inclusion, or financial barriers to progression up the high-performance pathway – and I would love to be a part of helping to bring some of those changes about.

It’s been amazing to watch the women’s America’s Cup and the increasing opportunities for females in sailing, but there is a long way still to go. We have a real gender imbalance in top level coaches, it was a shame to see so few women in the youth America’s Cup boats, and it seemed like a missed opportunity to have just one race for the women’s AC final, when there was such an eager audience.

I’m really aware that I was incredibly privileged to grow up by the coast in Lymington so I was exposed to the sport at a young age, and I was an only child, so my parents were able to traipse around the country at weekends taking me to sailing events. That being said, I have definitely done the majority of my career on a shoestring, and that had moments of being very difficult. I also understand how hard it is to be on the wrong side of selection decisions, which is why I’m now sitting on the Youth Selection Committee. I really believe that difficult decisions can be made well, and delivered well, to keep as many talented and enthusiastic people in the sport as possible.

If anyone reading this has any great ideas about how to change the world, please do get in touch! I’d love to hear from you. Sailors do love to talk about sailing, after all.

I will leave you by disclosing the best piece of top-secret coaching advice I have received to date (there is always still time) – and that was from my Mum at the Optimist Nationals, when I was 10-years-old. Lots of other parents were talking about the tide, and which side of the beat to go up, but she nailed the ‘applies-to-every-situation’ tip with: “make sure you eat your sandwiches and mind your head.”

Happy sailing everyone – and see you on the water.

Hannah

Snippets

ILCA UK Winter Training

Spaces are available for Regional training on 16/17Th Nov See our calendar for more

National Training eligibility has been updated to top 50% in 2/4 of the events, with sailors who have transitioned to the ILCA 6 after the ILCA Nationals able to include their ILCA Nationals event in the ILCA 4 if they were top 50% male/female as appropriate.

We are also increasing the number of ILCA 6 tickets from 12 to 24 for the 7/8 Dec WPNSA All-Regions Open Training

For ILCA4s who missed the winter training program, we are creating 6 x ILCA 4 tickets for the 7/8 Dec WPNSA All-Regions Open Training, with a waiting list of 6 - on the basis that when that waiting list is full we can then convert it to a further group of 6.

Other news

ILCA UK Women’s Regatta video (new)

ILCA UK ILCA 6 Masters Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

ILCA UK ILCA 7 Masters Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

Women In Sailing Talk with British Sailing Team’s Daisy Collingridge

ILCA Women's Coaching Day at Queen Mary Sailing Club

Tri360 Challenge Fundraising – with Andrew Simpson

Noble Marine & Rooster Qualifier WPNSA write ups: ILCA 7, ILCA 6, ILCA 4

Noble Marine ILCA 6 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Noble Marine ILCA 7 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Olympian raises £18k by raffling Paris 2024 boat

ILCA Midlands Grand Prix at Staunton Harold Sailing Club

Northern ILCA Circuit Finale at Dovestone Sailing Club

ILCA Thames Valley Travellers Series Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Sailingfast ILCA Welsh National Championships 2024 at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy

Mark Lyttle 10/28/24 Mark Lyttle 10/28/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog #110

ILCAs everywhere

Making the ILCA attractive to a wide and diverse group of sailors helps participation at all levels and allows us the “buck the trend” with consistently strong numbers sailing our class at all levels.

This weekend showed that in operation. While hundreds of ILCA sailors were club racing in lots of clubs around the country (even if the wind was a bit light), at Weymouth we had 175 sailors across all three rigs in our final “qualifier” of the year, the second weekend in a row with over 170 sailors. In the ILCA6 we had Hannah Snellgrove, fresh from Paris 24, heading a 83 strong fleet of British Sailing Team and other top sailors, together with many experienced and some first-time youth sailors. The ILCA7 was even more stacked with two medal race sailors from Paris (Micky Beckett and Lorenzo) and Tokyo Olympic rep Elliot Hanson. It was of course disappointing we didn’t get to race despite best efforts from the race officer.

As an aside, we are considering changing the name of these events from “qualifier” as there is a feeling this gives sailors the wrong impression. These are National open meetings with high quality race management and a fleet of sailors wanting high level competition or club sailors aspiring to improve their sailing to the next level. While they serve as qualification for international events, if only rarely needed, for most sailors this comes well down the list of reasons they are sailing.

Meanwhile in Rutland, over 70 Masters were competing at the Masters Inland Championships, with the usual age span - some Apprentices through to some Legends (over 75!!). It says something that we have over 240 sailors competing in October in two ILCA UK events at the same time.

At Queen Mary we had 24 women doing a coaching / training weekend. By all accounts it was well received with plans for another early event in 2025. Well done to Jonathan Stirling for organising.

I also wanted to provide some feedback from the survey on the 2024 Nationals, which has been included in RYA Event of Year. I have not yet heard whether we were finalists but below is part of our submission. Overall the feedback from the survey was very positive with a number of comments on things to improve, although there was no consistent overall trend around these. Of course many thanks to our great volunteers who continue to make our class special.

Why do you believe this event should be RYA Event of the Year?

Over the last couple of years ILCA UK have focussed on turning our National Championship into a “festival of sailing”, attracting sailors of all levels,ages and regions to the event with high quality racing combined with lots of onshore activities and social events. This formula has worked with over 250 entries coming to WPNSA from 12th to 17th August this year across our three rigs of ILCA4, ILCA6 and ILCA7.

We provided world class racing at 2012 Olympic venue on two separaterace courses, with most days out in Weymouth Bay. This involved mobilising two safety teams of 16 RIBs with 216 days of volunteer time.

This effort allowed us to run racing on one day with winds gusting up to 30 knots by racing in the harbour and rotating during the day the starts/racing across the three rigs.

As well as daily briefings on local conditions, we had daily morning race clinics from top sailors from the British Sailing Team, ensuring every sailor felt welcome. They covered various topics from set up/rigging to boat speed down wind, from pre-race strategy to wave technique. It was a fantastic opportunity to listen to our best sailors, see what they do differently, and ask them those questions. This was combined with a mentor/mentee scheme which was a great success and a super way to meet fellow sailors and get some sailing tips and encouragement.

Each day we had an official photographer on the water and thousands of high-quality photos have been provided free to sailors as well as used in post-event reports.

Ashore, the class worked with WPNSA to provide a sailor’s hub with sponsor tents, a “grass area” and stage with chillout zone including table football and table tennis. The class led efforts to share these resources with the Toppers and Waszp in their championships at WPNSA before and after ours.

We used this stage for daily briefings but also for our daily prize draw with the support of our sponsors where sailors and volunteers could win prizes. This culminated on the penultimate evening when Micky Beckett, ILCA7/Team GB representative at the Paris Olympics, came and talked to the sailors and drew the prize of a brand new ILCA, provided by Ovington, which went to a club to help stimulate sailing at grassroots level.

Much of this was made possible by our great sponsors (Noble Marine, Ovington, Rooster, Sailingfast, Tideway Wealth, Southeast Sailboats and Fernhurst Books) with the class working closely with them to ensure we promoted and encouraged club sailors at our event by providing recognition and support throughout the fleet through spot prizes. We also sold official event merchandise but every sailor also got a free championship T-shirt.

After sailing each day, there was a snack and we also provided a welcome Pizza night the first evening and BBQ night in the entry fee. This was combined with entertainment every evening including a DJ on BBQ night.

Describe your main successes around inclusion, inspiration, engagement, connections, influence, and sustainability.

Our festival of sailing aims to be inclusive. Our youngest competitor was 13, our oldest was 72. We had many club sailors at their first championships competing alongside British Sailing Team sailors. All rigs and age categories had top three prizes for both men and women with the first overall in the ILCA6 won by Matilda Nicholls of the British Sailing Team. Driving higher women participation in the class is a big priority and why we ran a ILCA Women’s regatta this year at Rutland. We want all three rigs, ILCA4, ILCA6 and ILCA7 at our events so younger sailors interact with older sailors and also allow family groups to compete in the same championship. Building an ILCA community is important to us and we feel we are uniquely positioned to bring Olympic level sailing together with club and youth sailing, inspiring all sailors and boosting participation.

In our post-event survey, over 94% of respondents thought the event organisation was excellent or very good. We also work hard to promote our championship with a dedicated website and a special logo for the event which was used in our championship mug.

At each of our daily prize draws sailors had the opportunity to question the day's winners. With our Mentor/Mentee Scheme sailors were be able to meet their mentor before the start of the event and there were prizes awarded for most improved Mentee/Mentor pairing. The overall purpose was to enable those new to class/fleet/event or less confident sailors enjoy our events and grow in confidence as well as to empower more experienced sailors to mentor effectively, a transferable skill.

We ran events for non-sailors to make them feel included. An example was the Weymouth Chaser. Once sailors launched, we had a 5k handicap race. Promoted as Why just sit on shore? Go for a run or volunteer or both!

Our volunteer base is something to be proud of. As well as the safety team mentioned above, we had another 42 days of volunteer time on tally, registration, beach and bridge.

Snippets

Last major racing event of the year - Inlands at Grafham on 2nd/3rd Nov with 143 entries so far. The ILCA6 fleet will have separate men and women starts. BOOK or VOLUNTEER

ILCA UK Winter Training

ILCA UK are offering many opportunities for winter training 2024/2025 - See our calendar for more

Other news

Noble Marine & Rooster Qualifier WPNSA write ups: ILCA 7, ILCA 6, ILCA 4

Noble Marine ILCA 6 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Noble Marine ILCA 7 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Olympian raises £18k by raffling Paris 2024 boat

ILCA Midlands Grand Prix at Staunton Harold Sailing Club

Northern ILCA Circuit Finale at Dovestone Sailing Club

ILCA Thames Valley Travellers Series Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Sailingfast ILCA Welsh National Championships 2024 at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy

Mark Lyttle 10/21/24 Mark Lyttle 10/21/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog #109

Tactics, finances….

It is a very busy time of year for many ILCA sailors. While the number of open meetings starts to reduce and winter club series start, the class has six National events in the autumn, including two for Masters, at the same time as planning and starting our winter training program. All this activity would not be possible without the hard work of Ellie and Leo and the many volunteers who make it happen. Thank you everyone and please bear with us if responses are a bit slower at this time of year.

I don’t often talk about tactics in this blog but feel compelled to do so this week having watched the America’s Cup, especially race seven and eight (you can seem them in full on Youtube). Both races were held in shifty offshore winds and were won by NZL. What fascinated me was the importance of getting the first shift right in those races and I think there are important observations of all of us in that. Firstly, some disclaimers: I am not claiming to be any expert on AC 75 racing, nor do I have any access to loads of data which the tacticians and weather people in both campaigns have. Looking from a distance, it did seem to me that NZL had a slight speed advantage upwind in those conditions and we all know that some marginal extra boat can make you look like a tactical genius!

I watched the start of Race 7 with GBR nearer the pin and ahead and to leeward. Off the line the first shift was to the right which meant when the boats got to the boundary (which comes in less than a minute), NZL was able to front right in front of GBR, who then had to tack back left, as the wind started to head left. By the time they crossed again, NZL were well ahead and in total control. That is in no way a criticism, it may have been luck, but it is what happened. Now it is important to say that the boundaries mean the boats reach what we would normally think of as a “layline” very quickly – there is no time to wait for the header to come. Afterwards I watched Mozzy Sails on Youtube and this validated, based on the real wind data, what I thought I was seeing. As an aside NZL seemed to get on the wrong side of a shift later on that first beat and again on the second beat, but they were far enough ahead it didn’t matter.

Race 8 was the opposite with NZL nearer the pin and ahead and to leeward. GBR tacked early and as soon as they do, you can see NZL get lifted and GBR are sailing to the right on a header. By the time, NZL reach the left boundary the wind goes left so they have sailed two lifts and are well ahead at the first crossing.

Now these races are unlike normal ILCA races where it takes much longer to reach the layline and also the wind shifts were coming very quickly (very short phases) in this offshore breeze but the principles are the same. Given your boat speed relative to the rest of the fleet, the length of the course, the size of the fleet and many other factors, you have to start to take advantage of the first shift. If you are expecting a right shift off the start, a pin-end start may not look too good as most the fleet lifts inside you. Of course it depends how longer it takes to go back left, but you are in trouble if you are already on the layline before that happens. Of course, a pin-end start with the first shift being to the left, looks great as you tack to cross the fleet!

Now of course this is all a bit simplistic as there are many other factors involved including the line bias, tide/current, impact of land features etc. An example from the light air race the the Grand Master fleet at the recent Masters Europeans in Vilamoura. At the start the wind is 5 knots, so most boats are going the same speed but it is a short course, only 0.6 of a mile, with a fleet of over 70. With the line bias was fairly even and the wind was clocking right so what to do? I considered a committee boat start and a quick tack to the right but so did most of the fleet making it hard to execute that start and strategy. I decided on a clean lane off the middle of the line, sailing fast and looking for the first opportunity to cross most of the boats in dirty air at the crowded boat end. Well I got most of the way to the layline before I could tack clear across, ended up about 20th at the mark. It comes down to assessing the trade-offs and making a judgement. And of course it is not always easy to predict where the first shift is coming from.

But fundamentally, here you start determines you ability to respond to the first shift.

Switching away to ILCA UK matters for a second. I heard recently a couple of comments about the financial surpluses ILCA UK are making. Well regular readers of this blog will know that just isn’t true. In the first nine months of 2024, all ILCA UK regattas and training ran at a loss of just over £15,000. There was an even greater deficit in 2022, although the deficit in 2023 was a little smaller. Our strategy in this area is to competitively price our events for sailors so that events make a small loss overall. I have previously mentioned this around the entry fee of the Nationals, where initial figures suggest we did run the event at a loss. Same with Skills Week. So while we may run very successful events like the Nationals and Skills Week with large numbers of sailors, we are not making a big profit as the entry fee is set so that we make a small loss.

It is true that the class built up some significant reserves during Covid but our strategy is to use those reserves by investing where we can to boost participation in ILCA sailing.

Finally to mention some upcoming events:

Masters inlands this weekend is still open until Wednesday evening with moderate winds forecast. Currently 63 entries. BOOK Here’s great video from Jon Emmet about Masters Nationals

The final qualifier is also on in Weymouth this weekend (open till this evening) with about 150 entries so far. BOOK or VOLUNTEER. Right after the qualifier, Brett Lewis has arranged some courses with Andrew Simpson. PB2 October 28th and 29th - A 20% discount has been applied for ILCA UK Members The booking link is here. ILCA Specific Safety Boat course Oct 30th. Please book through AS Center manager Nathan Bloss. Nathan will be happy to answer any questions - nathan@andrewsimpsoncentres.org

Finally the Inlands are in Grafham on 2nd/3rd Nov with 85 entries so far. The ILCA6 fleet will have separate men and women starts. BOOK or VOLUNTEER

Snippets

ILCA UK Winter Training

ILCA UK are offering many opportunities for winter training 2024/2025 - See our calendar for more

Other news

Noble Marine ILCA 6 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Noble Marine ILCA 7 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Olympian raises £18k by raffling Paris 2024 boat

ILCA Midlands Grand Prix at Staunton Harold Sailing Club

Northern ILCA Circuit Finale at Dovestone Sailing Club

ILCA Thames Valley Travellers Series Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Sailingfast ILCA Welsh National Championships 2024 at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy

Mark Lyttle 10/14/24 Mark Lyttle 10/14/24

ILCA UK Chair blog #108

ramblings

Just some ramblings this week after an eventful couple of weeks for my sailing. First there was the Masters Nationals at Hayling Island (see reports below) that suffered extremes at both ends of the wind spectrum, allowing only five of ten races to be completed. This was followed by even worse wind at the European Masters in Vilamoura, where we had only three races (and no discard) in the ILCA7 Grand Masters, from ten races scheduled. Overall frustrating but worth reflecting on.

There is no doubt that luck plays a part in our sport. I got lucky on the second beat of one of the light air races at Hayling. Mid-fleet at the bottom gate in less than 5 knots, I worked the right side of the course hard and managed to pull up to a respectable seventh. Peter Sherwin led for two laps in the same race and dropped to 20th on the last run (there was certainly some bad luck there) whereas James Baxter picked off the gusts of the last two downwinds to climb from 35th or so to 5th (probably with a little luck too). Then in the first race in Vilamoura, I was lying in 2nd for most of the race in very light conditions, only for the race to be abandoned due a race committee error (a moving robotic mark!). When we eventually did the first race, I was 23rd – a big difference in a three race, no discard regatta! But this sailing, a sport where we have no control over the outside elements. While maybe more prevalent in our sport, competition produces unpredictable results and we must accept this as a “rub of the green” (see blog #60 for more on this). If you have raced for a long time, you will have won some and lost some due to luck. “Two ifs and but and we would all be world champion…..” but I think disappointment can be used as a compelling motivation to move to the next level.

It is worth remembering that while sailing conditions can be very difficult, they are outside the control of the race management team too (and very frustrating for organisers who have spent so much time trying to make a prefect event). It is easy for sailors (or supporters back ashore) to criticise individual decisions of the race officer without understanding the full context. The race officer has many sources of input from very experienced sailors to those with local knowledge and has to make the best judgements they can based on all that information. And judgments are not always correct with hindsight but we all need to respect this.

When it comes to safety, it is the race officer decision on whether to race and certainly in continental European that legal responsibility appears to be more profound. On one of the windy days, the harbour authority actually closed the entrance to the harbour, due to strong winds and big waves. Even when the wind abated, it is a big decision to allow us to race when other ports in Portugal were closed and you are allowing several hundred sailors over 55 to go afloat! And we were reminded that day of the need to be vigilant as one sailor got hit by the boom and knocked unconscious into the water. While he was fine in the end, it was a reminder that we must look out for the safety of others while afloat – redress is given in a race if you stop to help a competitor in distress.

I wanted to mention that ILCA6 event at the Inlands will have separate racing for men and women. We are trialling this based on the results of our survey 18 months ago where we had 108 responses (with many detailed comments), mostly from sailors active at UKLA events. A small majority wanted to “sometimes” race on women only starts – we have never tried this in the ILCA6 (we did last year for the ILCA4). It is a subject with strong feelings on both sides of the argument, probably reflecting a broader debate in society. Many women want to race in bigger fleets against men to maximise the opportunity to improve although it is also pointed out that international events have women only starts. But many women also find men are too aggressive on the start line. I understand both sides of the argument and I am simply reflecting the messages we have received as a class. We remain committed to any initiatives that will help increase participation levels for women. Fiona, chair of ILCA UK WAGs (Women and Girls) sub-committee will be assessing the feedback.

Finally we have the upcoming Inlands and Masters Inlands. Both represent a great opportunity to sail inland on flatter water with (perhaps) more emphasis on shifts, why not come and join us?

Snippets

ILCA UK events

Q5 WPNSA 19-20th October - BOOK or VOLUNTEER -closes tonight

Q6 WPNSA 26-27th October - BOOK or VOLUNTEER

Masters Inlands Rutland SC 26-27th October - BOOK

Inlands Grafham Water SC 2-3rd November - BOOK or VOLUNTEER - This event has limited number of entries

Save the date - ILCA Open and National Championships Plas Heli 9-15th August 2025

ILCA UK Winter Training

ILCA UK are offering many opportunities for winter training 2024/2025 - See our calendar for more

Regional Open Training for ILCA 4,ILCA6 and ILCA 7

ILCA 4

ILCA 4 Regional Open Training is a six-week programme for sailors under the age of 18yrs. Sailors are expected to have experience of club sailing , be confident in sailing in strong winds and comfortable managing full days in inclement/cold weather. Sailors are required to sign up for the six weeks to ensure continuity and getting the best from the programme.

The training programme will take place across three different regions.

Twelve places are available for each region. The ILCA 4 programme is now open for sailors to sign upon the ILCA UK calendar; a great opportunity to develop skills and meet other sailors in your region.

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Regional Open Training

Now open for sailors to sign up on the ILCA UK Calendar. The format will be 6 weekends running between October and March. Four of the weekends will be hosted in each region, with two joint camps when all of the regions will join together, one at WPNSA and one at Draycote SC

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 training will be open to all ages and entry will be on a per-weekend basis. An excellent opportunity to continue to develop sailing skills in your region.

National Training

National Training will be available following the October qualifiers in WPNSA. National Training is open to sailors who come in the top 50% male and top 50% female in at least three of the following events

ILCA UK Nationals
Plas Heli Qualifier
Qualifiers at WPNSA in October
Inlands at Grafham

The National Training is run by ILCA UK at WPNSA .

Don’t forget the Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

Other ILCA events

See our calendar for more

Other news

Noble Marine ILCA 6 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Noble Marine ILCA 7 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Olympian raises £18k by raffling Paris 2024 boat

ILCA Midlands Grand Prix at Staunton Harold Sailing Club

Northern ILCA Circuit Finale at Dovestone Sailing Club

ILCA Thames Valley Travellers Series Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Sailingfast ILCA Welsh National Championships 2024 at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy

Mark Lyttle 10/7/24 Mark Lyttle 10/7/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog # 107

Micky's blog

In last week’s blog Micky Beckett argued eloquently for buying raffle tickets in aid of the Andrew Simpson Foundation and few would argue with the merits of that. But how far should this go? Should elite athletes and Olympians use their platform to advocate change?

Well UK Sport thinks so. They are the body that funds our elite athletes through the Exchequer and National Lottery. In partnership with The True Athlete Project, they launched a 6-month programme to help funded athletes use their platform to inspire, facilitate and enable positive change. Quoting - In a consultation, UK Sport found that 86% of athletes on world class programmes want to use their platform to make a difference to society whilst they are still competing. The Powered by Purpose programme is a new offering for athletes who have a keen interest in using the power and platform of sport to inspire positive change, aligning with UK Sport’s ten-year strategy, to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments; reaching, inspiring and uniting the nation. This pilot will see athletes take part in a series of tailored, highly personal, live online workshops while being individually supported in their progress, which will lead them to explore the power of sport and become agents for social change. The scheme is led by The True Athlete Project, a charity that works with athletes, coaches and leaders to harness the transformative power of sport as a force for good in the world. Over the last six years, they have developed innovative programmes that blend mindfulness, mental skills training and mentoring to unleash the power of sport, engaging participants across the world. The Powered by Purpose programme is designed to empower athletes to make a difference, be that locally in their communities or nationally, for a cause that is authentic and genuine to them.

But a commentary in The Times does not agree. Quoting again -British athletes at the Paris Olympics are being urged to use the Games as a platform to campaign for causes close to their heart. The idea is the brainchild of UK Sport, the government agency charged with supporting high-performing stars. Dozens of athletes have already completed its Powered by Purpose programme to help them become “agents for social change”. Dame Katherine Grainger, one of Britain’s most decorated Olympians and the chairwoman of UK Sport, is convinced of the merits. “Athletes have found their voice and found a platform that they want to talk about, and that’s something we should support. It can be sustainability, it can be accessibility, it can be gender rights,” she said. But what has this to do with winning medals at the Olympics? No one cares — nor should they — what athletes think is wrong with society. Grainger goes on to bracket Olympians with pop stars as “a category of people who are trusted”. She has her thinking cap on back to front: such trust, if it existed, would not last long once British Olympians started mouthing off on the podium.

One of the great attractions of sport is that there is nowhere to hide. Athletes compete based on a set of rules with some jeopardy – we just won’t know who is going to win. And we love that. Winners are not predefined no matter their background and beliefs (there is obviously an argument on how accessible elite sport is). There is a purity to it and that’s why there’s been a feeling that sports and politics should not mix.

But we can’t get away from the fact that sport exists in the context of society and politics which often transcend sport. This happened with Apartheid in South Africa and more recently with Russia following their invasion of Ukraine. It is the reality. In an era where there is so much information available, especially with social media, top athletes have thousands of social media followers. Cristiano Ronaldo has 1 billion total followers and is the most-followed person in the world. Many of these are “ambassadors” or influencers and the reality is that they have a powerful voice. So if Marcus Rashford wants to influence something to make society better, it is hard to argue against, whether you support or not. Hannah Mills has been a prominent environmental campaigner, and we are now starting to see sailors take centre stage. And I think we do care what our athletes think and the question is as much why wouldn’t they use their influence to improve society - even if some want to refer to this as “mouthing off on the podium”? So for me the answer is a resounding yes they should be using their platform to make the world a better place.

What do you think?

Snippets

ILCA UK events

Q5 WPNSA 19-20th October - BOOK or VOLUNTEER

Q6 WPNSA 26-27th October - BOOK or VOLUNTEER

Masters Inlands Rutland SC 26-27th October - BOOK

Inlands Grafham Water SC 2-3rd November - BOOK or VOLUNTEER - This event has limited number of entries

Save the date - ILCA Open and National Championships Plas Heli 9-15th August 2025

ILCA UK Winter Training

ILCA UK are offering many opportunities for winter training 2024/2025 - See our calendar for more

Regional Open Training for ILCA 4,ILCA6 and ILCA 7

ILCA 4

The training programme will take place across three different regions.

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Regional Open Training

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 training will be open to all ages and entry will be on a per-weekend basis. An excellent opportunity to continue to develop sailing skills in your region.

National Training

ILCA UK Nationals
Plas Heli Qualifier
Qualifiers at WPNSA in October
Inlands at Grafham

The National Training is run by ILCA UK at WPNSA .

Don’t forget the Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

Other ILCA events

See our calendar for more

Other news

ILCA Thames Valley Travellers Series Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Win Micky Beckett’s Paris 2024 ILCA

Sailingfast ILCA Welsh National Championships 2024 at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy

Mark Lyttle 9/29/24 Mark Lyttle 9/29/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog # 106

Micky's blog

Mark has kindly offered to let me take the reins of the ILCA UK blog, please bear with me as I try and do it justice as a guest. As you may know, I’m running a raffle - the prize is the boat I used at the Olympics. At the time of writing, we have sold 1488 tickets, which has both greatly exceeded my expectations and at £10 per ticket has raised nearly double the value of the boat.

Whilst promoting the raffle I’ve regularly been asked why I’m doing this, to which I’ve simply said that it’s a fun way to raise money for a great charity, the Andrew Simpson Foundation, and gives someone the chance to win a unique and valuable prize.

There is however, a bit more to it.

I learnt to sail when I was very young. I’ve got a grainy photo of me as a 5-year-old, sailing a boat my dad built. I’ve said before that one day I’ll grow up and figure out what I really want to do, because right now I still do the same thing I did when I was a kid – racing dinghies.

I’ve been a member of ILCA UK for 15 years and the British Sailing Team for 11. In fact, it was almost 10 years-to-the-day from joining the team to getting ‘the’ call saying I was going to the Olympics. To say that the ILCA has been a large part of my formative years is a huge understatement.

Sailing has made my life quite an adventure. The first time I flew anywhere was to go to a Youth Europeans in Denmark when I was 17, since then it’s taken me all over the world. It’s given me so many memories which I hold dear, from getting barrelled in my (chartered) ILCA in some monstrous breaking waves in the Dominican Republic, to standing with Elliot and Lorenzo one freezing day in Poland, holding every podium spot at the senior Euros.

Being part of Team GB this summer has given me the opportunity to get to know athletes across the other Olympic sports. With a few exceptions, I was struck by how relatable my life as a sailor is to the life of any other athlete – tiring and rewarding in equal measure, illness and injury is always a problem and making ends meet can be tricky, but underneath that there is a huge love for our respective sports.

At the end of the Olympics, the thing most often discussed was ‘what now’? And that’s where I saw sailing contrast so well against other sports - the opportunities for employment across the sailing industry are vast in comparison. After a career in sport, what do rowers, swimmers, archers, or badminton players do? They can coach, but that’s probably about it.

I spent a few years working for SailGP as a part-time and fairly average producer. I would advise the production team on how each race might unfold, telling the helicopters and camera chase boats over the radio where they should be to get the best shots. I remember one race as the boats were heading to the windward gate, I told the whole production team that there was another lap to go, as that was part of my job – knowing the course. It turns out that I’d incorrectly counted to the number 2, they had in fact done 3 laps. As the F50s turned through the gate and burned down the reach towards the finish line and our entire camera team of boats and helicopters were all wildly out of position, all because I’d said there was another lap to go, it seemed like a safe assumption that that was my last day as a producer.

Whilst I digress, I didn’t actually get fired that day. That’s probably because people who understand sailing are valuable (and lady luck was looking over me). All the ‘ladder lines’ and 3D graphics you see in SailGP and the America’s Cup are developed and run primarily by sailors, and that’s because it’s easier to explain the software to sailors than it is to explain what a layline is to a software developer.

Although nearly all of my efforts for the last 10 years have been focussed on ILCA sailing, I have been struck by the number of opportunities that are out there, be they in professional yacht sailing, coaching or instruction, media and much more. I have a degree in Naval Architecture, which I really enjoyed studying, but it hasn’t opened anything like the number of doors that ILCA sailing has. If you’re 17 and thinking about university, my entirely unsolicited advice would be to do a degree if there’s a subject you’re enticed by. If there’s not, then think about going sailing. There will be a lot to figure out, like where to live and how to make ends meet, not least how to be good at racing. When distant relatives ask you what you’re going to study, they will look at you sideways when you talk about your sailing plans, but stick to your guns. I still have no idea what I want to do when I grow up either, but I stopped worrying about that a while ago.

Which brings me back to my raffle. Sailing, be it in an ILCA or another class, an Olympic campaign or gaining a dinghy instructors’ qualification, has so much to offer, particularly for those to whom academia doesn’t work. The Andrew Simpson Foundation are amazingly effective at getting people on the water who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance. As cliché as it is, they do change lives. Buying a ticket gives you a chance at a great prize, but it will also give someone else the chance to live the adventure which is learning to sail.

I can’t end this blog without doing two things. The first is to thank Ovington boats (who built the ILCA 7 boats used at the Olympics) and Tideway Wealth & Retirement. When I approached them with his this half-baked idea about a raffle, they both quickly agreed to support it, despite my disorganisation. Thanks to them, 100% of the money raised goes to ASF.

The second and final thing is to provide the link should you wish to buy a ticket. Entries close at 11.59pm this Monday. Thank you.

Micky

BUY RAFFLE TICKET

Snippets

ILCA UK Winter Training

ILCA UK are offering many opportunities for winter training 2024/2025 - See our calendar for more

Regional Open Training for ILCA 4,ILCA6 and ILCA 7

ILCA 4

The training programme will take place across three different regions.

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Regional Open Training

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 training will be open to all ages and entry will be on a per-weekend basis. An excellent opportunity to continue to develop sailing skills in your region.

National Training

ILCA UK Nationals
Plas Heli Qualifier
Qualifiers at WPNSA in October
Inlands at Grafham

The National Training is run by ILCA UK at WPNSA .

Don’t forget the Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

Q5 & Q6 - entries open

Masters Inlands - entries open

Inlands - entries open tonight (30th September 8pm) - This event has limited number of entries

Save the date - ILCA Open and National Championships 9-15th August 2025

Other ILCA events

See our calendar for more

Other news

ILCA Thames Valley Travellers Series Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Win Micky Beckett’s Paris 2024 ILCA

Sailingfast ILCA Welsh National Championships 2024 at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy

Mark Lyttle 9/23/24 Mark Lyttle 9/23/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog #105

ILCA UK Chair Blog # 104

Fun in waves?

I was at the ILCA Open meeting / Qualifier in Pwllheli over the weekend (along with 109 other ILCAs) and I was reminded what a great location this is for waves in a south westerly wind. It blew about 20knots all weekend and with a long fetch across the Irish Sea and a shallow bay, we got some steep waves that made for exhilarating conditions. It is not often we get to sail in these conditions and for many these big waves were perhaps more test of survival than exhilaration. It was easy “to go down the mine” – in other words bury the bow into the wave ahead and fill the cockpit with water, making the boat unstable and prone to capsize. I managed to survive the whole weekend without a capsize until the last gate when my mainsheet caught around the boom on the gybe and in I went. Anyone can capsize especially when racing hard (I know one of the British Saling Team did !). Well done to everyone who made a go of it, especially those not used to the conditions or new to their rig.

It is amazing how varied our sport can. ILCA sailing in Pwllheli was mostly boat speed especially upwind (fitness and technique being key) with good boat handling downwind. This is obviously completely different to inland sailing in a light breeze and flat water. The best sailors are good in all conditions and need to be – think back to the ILCA races in Marseille and the varied conditions there.

But it is also the variety of wave conditions even in sea venues – Stokes Bay often produces tricky short waves when wind is against tide, Weymouth Bay at the Nationals had one day with a small chop but a rolling swell from the side. Pevensey in the Southwester has long waves beautiful for surfing. I once sailed in the ILCA Worlds in Cape Town in a southerly - you could not see the boat 30 lengths ahead of you the waves were so big !

I wrote a little about wave technique in Blog #65 if you are interested.

Just to mention winter training especially for Regional Open training for ILCA4s for which places are limited – a couple of the regions are almost full (more below)

Snippets

ILCA UK Winter Training

ILCA UK are offering many opportunities for winter training 2024/2025 - See our calendar for more

Regional Open Training for ILCA 4,ILCA6 and ILCA 7

ILCA 4

The training programme will take place across three different regions.

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Regional Open Training

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 training will be open to all ages and entry will be on a per-weekend basis. An excellent opportunity to continue to develop sailing skills in your region.

National Training

ILCA UK Nationals
Plas Heli Qualifier
Qualifiers at WPNSA in October
Inlands at Grafham

The National Training is run by ILCA UK at WPNSA .

Don’t forget the Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

Masters Nationals enter here – almost 92 entries so far.

Other ILCA events

See our calendar for more

Other news

ILCA Thames Valley Travellers Series Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Win Micky Beckett’s Paris 2024 ILCA

Sailingfast ILCA Welsh National Championships 2024 at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy

Mark Lyttle 9/9/24 Mark Lyttle 9/9/24

ILCA UK Chair blog #103

rules and winter training

Rules have been part of our sport for many years. Take this headline from 1934 America’s Cup BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES AND AMERICA WAIVES THE RULES. Here’s the news report from the time and a relevant quote Sopwith bore away to avoid an inevitable collision but again, the protest flag wasn’t flown as the custom under the Yacht Racing Association rules in England was to fly the flag at the end of the race. The NYYC reverted to its own rules on the matter and held firm, insisting that a flag must be flown immediately in order to give the protested yacht the chance to counter-protest should they see fit. As you can imagine this seemed to cause a lot of controversy at the time.

Of course, the America’s Cup has always had protests and still does today but what of ILCA racing? I think it is fair to say that in the cut and thrust of ILCA sailing, boats have always come together resulting in minor collisions, whether it is the touching of gunwales at the start and a boom hitting an outside boat at a leeward mark. While every collision should result in a penalty under the rules, many sailors will ignore these types of collisions when there is no obvious gain or loss. There are exceptions, for example a boat-to-boat situation at the end of a regatta when leaders are manoeuvring against each other. I remember before the start of the 1996 Olympics when the Laser made its appearance being told that every collision would be protested – well it wasn’t!

While every rule infringement does not get a penalty, many should and do. Misjudging a port tack approach inside three boat lengths requires a penalty or protest as does barging in a mark when no overlap was established in time. Or if a boat comes in aggressively from behind and to leeward and bangs gunwales with no opportunity for me as windward boat to keep clear, wrecking my start – they should take a penalty. Same with misjudging port and starboard or hitting a mark. I know some of you will say rules are rules and it is not up us to determine when they should apply but it is the de facto scenario when racing in a self-policing sport – we decide what warrants a penalty. When there is a blatant rule infringement, whether it is a national event or club racing, there should be a protest or penalty and we all know some sailors are consistently on the wrong side of this – there is only one answer - protest!

That being said, my own philosophy is to give others a bit of leeway as it creates goodwill next time you are in a tricky situation. So, someone doesn’t quite make it across on port, I am likely let it go and put the goodwill in the bank and hope it will be reciprocated. But sometimes other sailors don’t get that – live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess. Of course, if it is head-to-head at the sharp end of a regatta that’s different.

We want to see sailors winning fairly on the water and don’t want to see them lose for frivolous or seemingly unfair protests from other competitors. That said at times, organisers need to do these protests to ensure racing is run properly, safety and fairly, but this needs to be applied with some empathy. Let’s hope the result of the current America’s Cup doesn’t end up being tainted by protest.

ILCA UK Winter Training

ILCA UK are offering many opportunities for winter training 2024/2025 - See our calendar for more

Regional Open Training for ILCA 4,ILCA6 and ILCA 7

ILCA 4

The training programme will take place across three different regions.

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Regional Open Training

ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 training will be open to all ages and entry will be on a per-weekend basis. An excellent opportunity to continue to develop sailing skills in your region.

National Training

ILCA UK Nationals
Plas Heli Qualifier
Qualifiers at WPNSA in October
Inlands at Grafham

The National Training is run by ILCA UK at WPNSA .

Snippets

Don’t forget the Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

Pwllheli open meeting / qualifier on 14th / 15th Sept closes tonight – just over 100 entries so far

Masters Nationals enter here – almost 70 entries so far.

Other ILCA events

See our calendar for more

Other news

2024 ILCA Master Europeans Sets New Participation Record - EurILCA

Win Micky Beckett’s Paris 2024 ILCA

Mark Lyttle 9/2/24 Mark Lyttle 9/2/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog#102

sports pros.....

I am a fan of Emma Raducanu – how could you not be after she won the U.S Open tennis as a qualifier at the age of 18! She played some stunning tennis in that competition with some sports performance analysts putting that down, at least partially, to “momentum”, whereby initial success breeds confidence and even better performance. But in the last three years, she has struggled to get results on the pro circuit, dropping down the rankings, suffering injuries, with many changes in her coaching her set-up and criticism of her scheduling and involvement in commercial opportunities. There has been a lot of negative media headlines but I think much of the criticism is wide of the mark and instead can be put down to one main factor – being a (young) professional athlete on a world circuit is incredibly difficult. Let’s think about it and how that might relate to ILCA sailing.

Firstly, the competition is fierce in any pro sport. Everyone trains as much as they can so there is no advantage there. Today there are hundreds of ILCA sailors racing and training full-time, working on boat speed and boat handling, trying to be all-rounders in different wind strengths – some trying to be better in light winds and others in heavy air. Differences end up being tiny and probably only manifesting themselves for short moments of transition, adapting to slight a change in wave pattern that provides a half boat length or so of distance gained. Race decisions are down to balancing risk and rewards-based outcomes that are not definite. In this context making the right strategic and tactical choices consistently is very hard. Now add to this the elements outside our control – wind and waves. So, it comes as no surprise that looking at the results of the ILCA races at the Olympics, it is hard to be consistent. The French ILCA7 sailor, a former world champion, finished 3rd and 5th in two races and 30th and 31st in another two. Or the Hungarian ILCA6 sailor finished the regatta with two first places but whose average score up until them was about 20th. In summary, the competition is fierce, boat speeds are very similar and even if you execute your tactics perfectly, the random elements of wind can interfere.

Secondly competing 10 or more events per year is physically demanding. You need to stay in peak physical condition for most of the year, watching your diet, sleep and recovery, while avoiding injuries. The resilience needed to do this is developed over years and is unlikely to reside in an 18-year-old. Bodies just aren’t up to it. For others with constant training, they lose their flare and become “stale”, reaching a plateau and no longer improving.

Finally, there is the mental strength needed to compete month in and month out. The need to raise your game for each regatta, not letting setbacks affect your performance. Even if some events are less important than others, you don’t want your performance in those to affect your confidence and belief. And then the Olympics themselves are a special event whose environment can only really be reproduced every four years. But on top of that the Olympics is the top prize in sailing and when you are knocked back a little during the racing, it requires a big effort to keep on track. It is after-all your big moment. It is worth remembering both the ILCA6 and ILCA7 fleets have sailors who a former world champions having competed in multiple Games, perhaps even Olympic medallists and for these sailors, a place of the podium is what they want, not a top 10 and top 20 finish. As result, they respond to slight setbacks with further risk taking to try and achieve that podium. I also heard an interview with two ILCA6 and ILCA7 Paris 2024 Olympians (not GBR) who referenced the need to reset expectations after the first few days of competition. That’s the nature of it – a need for serious mental preparation and resilience in a unique environment.

So when we reflect on performances in the ILCA at the Olympics we must remember that the competition is fierce and takes place in an environment that is unique and the weather isn’t predictable, so that when the inevitable minor setback occurs, it can be very hard to keep it all on track. While we can be thankful that ILCA sailors are not under running commentary and analysis of their performance by the media it is worth remembering that in higher profile sports, those pro athletes, like Emma Raducanu, will get hugely positive headlines when they win but also have to endure negative ones when they won’t, without the appreciation of how hard it is to be a pro.

Snippets

Please fill in survey on Nationals 2024, here.

ILCA UK events

We have four National events this autumn starting with our open meeting / qualifier in Pwllheli on 14th /!5th Sept. Entry is open for one more week. Come and enjoy the waves! We also have two pen meetings / qualfiers in Oct at WPNSA which will open shortly and the Inlands at Grafham on 2nd /3rd Nov.

We also have two Masters events coming up – Nationals on 27th to 29th Sept at Hayling Island and the inland masters at Rutland on 26th / 27th Oct.

The dates of Regional Open training are in our calendar. There are four weekends in each of three regions plus two “joint” weekends. These will be available to book early next week with venues. ILCA4s are a replacement for the RYA RTG program will require sailors to sign up for all weekends but at a discounted rate (with the support of the RYA). ILCA6 and ILCA7 can be booked per weekend.

There are also five National training weekends - National Training for the ILCA 4s and ILCA 6s will be open to all sailors who have come in the top 50% male and 50% female in at least 3 out of the following 5 recent ILCA UK events: being the ILCA UK Nationals at WPNSA, the three Autumn Qualifiers (Plas Heli in September and two at WPNSA in October) and the Inlands at Grafham in early November.

Mark Lyttle 8/19/24 Mark Lyttle 8/19/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog#101

Post Nationals.....

Short blog as I am still exhausted !

What a great week we had at the Nationals, at least according to most of the informal feedback I have had. My own perspective was very positive. We had 250 entries at a time when doing these events is expensive. In particular, 77 ILCA4s was super and the 60 ILCA7s was probably the most competitive ILCA7 fleet in the UK in at least a decade. We had a whole variety of conditions, light and heavy, in the harbour and the Bay. The temporary exclusion zone around the North entrance meant a lot of sailing to and from the course at the start of the week but at least it was nice summer weather. We almost got a full schedule in without making it too hard on the sailors. It is certainly true that with 250 sailors, there will not be full consensus on schedule, conditions and course locations and we must cater for the bulk of the fleet, who appeared very happy.

The Race Hub at WPNSA was a brilliant addition. The race clinics, Q&As, daily prizes, mentoring and of course the daily prizedraw with the exceptional support of our sponsors all worked as I hope the social program did. The large number of volunteers helping on and off the water was impressive. The reception for Micky Beckett on Friday was emotional as was the moment Peter Sherwin got an award for being the oldest competitor (aged 71 😉).

Anyway, please your feedback in the survey here.

Daily race reports (overall to follow):

Day 1 – 2024 ILCA UK Open & National Championships at the WPNSA

Day 2 - 2024 ILCA UK Open & National Championships at the WPNSA

Day 3 - 2024 ILCA UK Open & National Championships at the WPNSA

Day 4 -2024 ILCA UK Open & National Championships at the WPNSA

Day 5 Ovington Boats Big Prize Draw with Micky Beckett during the ILCA UK Open & National Championships

There are 100 sailors booked on Skills week on 26th August. The next ILCA UK event is Plas Heli on 14th/15th Sept – opens tonight. There is lots more in the calendar including most of the winter training dates (please note open training for ILCA6/ILCA7 still need to be added on same dates and venues at ILCA4 RTG training). The Masters Nationals at Hayling Island is now open as well.

Mark Lyttle 8/5/24 Mark Lyttle 8/5/24

ILCA UK Blog #100

Annual report from Chair…..

ILCA UK Chair report – Aug 2023 to 2024

In the UK and across the world, the ILCA class is booming. Entries for World and European championships remain strong and in some case at records levels - the recent ILCA4 World Championships had applications from 660 sailors from over 50 countries. In the UK ILCA racing remains in robust shape from club to National level. Hundreds of clubs have ILCA racing and there are about 100 ILCA open meetings each year. ILCA UK has around a thousand members, run over 10 National competitions, mostly processing over 100 entries, provide 1,800 sailor training days per year and have hundreds of sailors aged 13 to 80 competing in international events. Both youth and masters sailing continue to attract good numbers and we have two sailors competing in Paris 2024. Why is the class doing so well?

Firstly, I believe culture is a big factor. We welcome sailors of differing experience and ages at our events and there is no “us” and “them”. We don’t select, nor have squads or teams. People often think “oh it’s the Olympic ILCA class, it’s going to be cut-throat”. Yes, it is the most competitive class in the world (and the UK) but for the most part the top sailors will support and encourage those that are less experienced. That’s our culture, our openness and inclusivity, and we want to protect it.

Of course, as a boat that has been around for over 50 years, it is easy and relatively cheap to acquire a competitive ILCA and go racing. While there is no doubt newer equipment is needed to compete at the top, you can’t buy a faster ILCA! And that’s the essence of the class, highly competitive racing in equal boats where your skill and fitness (and maybe a bit of luck) determine your result. And you can choose the type of racing you want, many continuing to race at club level or doing the odd open meeting. Youth sailors (and their parents) are often exploring how far their talents will bring them and others are returning to the sport after decades to compete at masters level.

That mixture of ages and experience also creates a balance. Our top youth sailors must show some humility when lining up against British Sailing team sailors. It also provides incentive and there is the pathway that the ILCA provides from ILCA4 through different age group events to Olympic single-handed disciplines. It is transparent to sailors – if you want to compete against Micky Beckett and Hannah Snellgrove in the senior World Championships the process is 100% clear – it’s up to you.

The quality of our National competitions, including Masters, remains strong. We also back this up with an extensive training offering, catering to all levels from club racer to National level. There are number of initiatives to mention:

1. We launched “skills week” at WPNSA several years ago with support of an RYA grant and it has proved incredibly popular (and copied by other classes) with 125 sailors this year. So we now have “skills week” in Plas Heli which is also proving popular. In fact, it has been great to see the rise of consistent ILCA UK in North Wales thanks to the support of our volunteers and RYA Cymru Wales.

2. With our (quite) new Females in ILCAs sub-committee chaired by Fiona Atwell, we held our first Women’s regatta at Rutland in July with training and racing for women with a wide range of experience and ages. We hope this becomes an annual event but there is much more to do to increase diversity in our sport and in ILCA sailing. In particular, I would like to see many more women competing in our Masters events.

3. Next year Hayling Island Sailing Club and ILCA UK will host the Master Europeans in June. I am looking forward to seeing many UK Masters competing including those returning to racing after some years away!

In addition to above, there are many more improvements and changes we have made (taking on the RYA ILCA4 Regional Training Group program, rebranding to ILCA UK, mentoring trial for ILCA7 sailors, our improved National Co-ordination of the Grand Prix series with John Ling, more virtual winter training, I could go on).

But also, I wanted to acknowledge the increasing cost of sailing, racing and training and I know this is a concern for many of us. I know clubs and venues have had rising costs but as a sport we need figure out together how to sustain participation. ILCA UK aim to run our events and training at a loss (even before admin costs), enabling us to keep prices as low as possible for members. This is only possible through our membership income, our volunteers, our sponsors, and the support of the RYA. Many thanks! While Ellie, our class secretary works very hard for the class (with the support of Leo in the office), she works part-time and the bulk of the organising is done free of charge by volunteers.

This is not the only challenge we have and there are many improvements for us to focus on. As an example, we need to improve our regional co-ordination and provide a periodic stepping stone or a next step for younger sailors who want to race in a one-design fleet without the need to go “National”.

Another challenge remains getting enough volunteers to help organise and manage our activities which simply would not happen without them.

I would like to pay tribute to four special committee members who have made a very significant contribution to the class in the last six years as it has transformed itself. Ben Nicholls has been a passionate supporter of Youth sailing and Vice-Chair for the last few years. Likewise, Alan Davis as an advocate of Masters sailing (and a great sailor) and as class measurer. Ben and Alan are both retiring at the AGM based on term limits. Steve Taylor has done the unsung work as Treasurer keeping us on tracking (and encouraging us to spend more money). He will be helping us transition over the coming months. And Keith Videlo as Sailing Sec has kept the show on the road over many years and many events. He will also be helping us transition over the coming months. Thank you to all of you for your selflessness in giving something back to help all of us.

Thank you to those retiring from the committee (Pamela Cross), those staying on and those coming in. We should we very grateful to all our volunteers, including our volunteer committee members, those that perform unseen work and those that help at events. I can’t mention each of you and I appreciate your support. We are a unique class and you are part of something special!

Mark Lyttle – ILCA UK Chair

Click below to find further AGM documents and reports

2024 ilca uK AGM

Mark Lyttle 7/29/24 Mark Lyttle 7/29/24

ILCA UK Chair blog #99

Just snippets….

With lots of summer sailing and the Olympics in full swing, not to mention around 45 ILCA UK sailors at the ILCA6 Youth Europeans in Ballyholme, just a couple of reminders and snippets this week.

One item that caught my eye was 9 ILCA sailors were flag bearers at the Paris Opening ceremony (see story)

ILCA racing in Marseille starts later in week. If you are one of thousands of ILCA sailors around the country that can relate directly to their competition as you sail exactly the same boat, please support Hannah and Micky and like the post in our FB channel.

Snippets

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 (late entry from 1st August) – WPNSA here

AGM Notice here

Other ILCA events

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

Poole Week is popular with many ILCA sailors – more info here and ILCA Big Monday at Parkstone Yacht Club

An opportunity to sail against other ILCA’s at Mersea Week 2024. Whilst the ILCA Nationals take place up to 17th August on 18th August to 23rd August there Mersea Week. The 50th Anniversary. Targeted at our Regional sailors in the East of England there is up to 5 days of racing, all the ILCA classes together, their own start. For entries who wish to participate for a week there is an entry. For those on a tighter budget there is the chance of taking part for three days. Further information is available at https://merseaweek.org/

RYA British Youth Sailing Team Squad Applications for 2024-25 are now OPEN - Please Click here to apply.

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are ILCA UK events so for details please see the organisers):

NW Junior and Youth Traveller Series - https://www.rya.org.uk/gbni/north-west/junior-and-youth-traveller-series
NE & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association - https://www.yhysa.org/
Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League - https://csysa.org.uk/youthleague/
KSSA (Kent) - https://kssa.co.uk/
Northamptonshire Youth Series - https://www.facebook.com/northamptonshireyouthseries/?locale=en_GB
Derbyshire Youth Sailing - https://www.dysailing.org/

You may be interested in a link to this book by Robin Griffith (not endorsed by ILCA UK) Six Boats: My metamorphosis from dinghy racer to liveaboard cruiser. eBook : Griffith, Robin: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Race reports

Queen Mary Junior Open

ILCA 4 South and South West Regional Junior Championships at the WPNSA

Great experience for ILCA UK sailors at ILCA 4 and 7 Worlds in Viana, Portugal

Sailingfast ILCA Thames Valley Series Grand Prix at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

Sailingfast ILCA Thames Valley Series Grand Prix at Queen Mary Sailing Club

ILCA Open at Notts County Sailing Club

Mark Lyttle 7/22/24 Mark Lyttle 7/22/24

ILCA UK Chair blog #98

Olympics….

The Opening Ceremony for the Paris 24 Olympic Games takes place this coming Friday 26th July with the ILCA single-handed events starting on 1st August. Olympic sailing remains the pinnacle of our sport with sailors from all over the world striving to participate and get on the podium. While some sports may have a different attitude to the Olympics (I am thinking in particular about sports like golf and tennis where an Olympics Gold medal may not have the cache of winning The Open or Wimbledon), sailing has a long history of being in the Olympics. The biggest change is recent years is perhaps the equal number of men and women competing for the same number of medals but there is also the evolving classes used. Here’s the low down on ILCA racing in Paris 24.

The ILCA7 has been part of the Olympics since 1996 with the ILCA6 being added as the women’s single-handed event in 2008. Of course, ILCA is renowned as the most competitive racing there is. We are the “universal class”, with more countries competing than any other class – 43 in Paris. But across all the ILCA World championships, the accessibility of the ILCA is profound – the recent World Sailing Youth Championships had 62 and 53 countries respectively in the ILCA men and women categories, way more than many other class.

Of course, it is not just that the ILCA is sailed everywhere, it is that the boats are equal, In Paris where the boats are supplied, no sailor has a better sail or a more flexible mast. Here is the technical story of the ILCA for Paris.

While ILCA sailing probably does relate well to the Olympic ideal of “fastest, highest, stronger” more than most classes, there are challenges to retaining sailing in the Olympics. We need to make sure the sport is marketable. That means engaging across media channels not just with sailors but also a broader audience. We need “stars” and we need to evolve how we run racing to make it more engaging to those audiences without compromising what we like about our sport. The ILCA is highly accessible but there is more to be done to engage countries in places like Africa, Oceania and the Caribbean. We certainly need to reduce our carbon footprint in connection with equipment, travel and events to make the sport more sustainable. And we need greater diversity at all levels, not just among sailors but also coaches and officials.

Finally, best of luck to Hannah and Micky. If you are one of thousands of ILCA sailors around the country that can relate directly to their competition as you sail exactly the same boat, please like the post in our FB channel.

Snippets

Get ready for the summer – Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 – WPNSA here

AGM Notice here

The Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July has sadly been cancelled

Other ILCA events

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

Poole Week is popular with many ILCA sailors – more info here and ILCA Big Monday at Parkstone Yacht Club

RYA British Youth Sailing Team Squad Applications for 2024-25 are now OPEN - Please Click here to apply.

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are ILCA UK events so for details please see the organisers):

NW Junior and Youth Traveller Series - https://www.rya.org.uk/gbni/north-west/junior-and-youth-traveller-series
NE & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association - https://www.yhysa.org/
Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League - https://csysa.org.uk/youthleague/
KSSA (Kent) - https://kssa.co.uk/
Northamptonshire Youth Series - https://www.facebook.com/northamptonshireyouthseries/?locale=en_GB
Derbyshire Youth Sailing - https://www.dysailing.org/

Race reports

Queen Mary Junior Open

ILCA 4 South and South West Regional Junior Championships at the WPNSA

Great experience for ILCA UK sailors at ILCA 4 and 7 Worlds in Viana, Portugal

Sailingfast ILCA Thames Valley Series Grand Prix at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

Sailingfast ILCA Thames Valley Series Grand Prix at Queen Mary Sailing Club

ILCA Open at Notts County Sailing Club

Mark Lyttle 7/15/24 Mark Lyttle 7/15/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog #97

Nationals and lots more…..

Lots going on at the moment, our Nationals in August, Skills Week in Plas Heli, recent Women’s Regatta at Rutland and Masters event at WPNSA and lots more.

Let me start with the ILCA UK Open & National Championship at WPNSA. Entries close 5th August 2024 - that's less than a month! We have also held the entry fee until 31st July so the late entry will only apply from 1st August onwards. The team has published this overview of the event. What’s Included:

World Class Racing at Olympic venue
Sailor Hub with chillout zone
Mentor/Mentee Scheme
Briefing on local conditions
Welcome Pizza night (meal included in entry)
BBQ night (meal included in entry)
Après sailing snack
Sponsor technical top t-shirt
Evening entertainment every night
Race Clinics
Photo/Video coverage
Event/sponsor merch
Full event support
Daily Spot Prizes
Fantastic daily prize draws with a main prize a brand new Ovington ILCA for your club & much more!

A quick reference to the entry fee. Our aim is to provide a high-quality event (at last year’s Nationals in our survey overall 93% of respondents felt the organisation was excellent or very good versus, race management was 89% (excellent or very good) and onshore activities was also 93%) and as a result we budget to run the event at a deficit, appreciating the cost to sailors and their supporters of coming to the event. Also a very significant percentage of the entry fee goes directly to the host venue.

Finally Andrew Simpson Centre at WPNSA are offering a 10% discount to parents / siblings during the Nationals

Our first Women’s regatta was held at the weekend at Rutland and I hear it went down very well. Please see photos on our social media channels. Thanks to Fiona and her team for organising. We also held another successful Masters event with over 70 entries including 6 in the ILCA4. ILCA4 report, ILCA6 report, ILCA7 report

Finally the Olympic Regatta starts in two weeks – could you please like our post on FB in support of Hannah and Micky? Racing for ILCAs starts on 1st August. If you are one of thousands of ILCA sailors around the country that can relate directly to their competition as you sail exactly the same boat, please like the post in our FB channel.

Snippets

Get ready for the summer – Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 – WPNSA here

AGM Notice here

Welsh Championships welcome sailors of all ages on 19/21st July and Youth is invited to sail at the Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July.

Other ILCA events

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

Poole Week is popular with m any ILCA sailors – more info here and ILCA Big Monday at Parkstone Yacht Club

RYA British Youth Sailing Team Squad Applications for 2024-25 are now OPEN - Please Click here to apply.

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are UKLA events so for details please see the organisers):

NW Junior and Youth Traveller Series - https://www.rya.org.uk/gbni/north-west/junior-and-youth-traveller-series
NE & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association - https://www.yhysa.org/
Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League - https://csysa.org.uk/youthleague/
KSSA (Kent) - https://kssa.co.uk/
Northamptonshire Youth Series - https://www.facebook.com/northamptonshireyouthseries/?locale=en_GB
Derbyshire Youth Sailing - https://www.dysailing.org/

Race reports

Queen Mary Junior Open

ILCA 4 South and South West Regional Junior Championships at the WPNSA

Great experience for ILCA UK sailors at ILCA 4 and 7 Worlds in Viana, Portugal

Sailingfast ILCA Thames Valley Series Grand Prix at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

Sailingfast ILCA Thames Valley Series Grand Prix at Queen Mary Sailing Club

ILCA Open at Notts County Sailing Club

Mark Lyttle 7/1/24 Mark Lyttle 7/1/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog #96

Committee volunteers…

John F. Kennedy's inaugural presidential address stressed the importance of public service. His historic words, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” still challenges us to today. Organised sport is not a commercial activity for the most part but relies on volunteers at every level. And ILCA UK is no different. We are a class association that comes together to organise ILCA activities in the UK. We have around a thousand members, run over 10 National competitions, each processing over 100 entries, provide 1,800 sailor training days per year and have hundreds of sailors aged 13 to 80 competing in international events. And I am not counting club sailing or the hundred or so ILCA open meetings each year organised by clubs. None of this happens, despite our hard-working part-time class secretary Ellie, with support from Leo in the office, without a hoard of volunteers. And it not just the volunteers at events, it is those that plan and organise behind the scenes between events. My sincere thanks as ever to those volunteers.

One thing I am passionate about for ULCA UK is our openness. We welcome sailors for differing experience and ages at our events and there is no “us” and “them”. We don’t select, nor have squads or teams. People often think “oh it’s the Olympic ILCA class, its going to be cut-throat”. Yes it is the most competitive class in the world but for the most part the top sailors will support and encourage those that are less experienced. That’s our culture and we want to protect it.

Of course we don’t always get everything right and there are things to improve. And that’s where we need your help – to keep the class strong and improving.

You will see the notice below of our AGM to (re)elect our new committee. ILCA UK is run by a main committee. There are six Flag Officers (Chair, Vice-Chair, Sailing Sec, Training, Treasurer and Measurer) and up to 11 General Committee roles. There has been a significant shift though away from the Main Committee to Sub-committees to manage the day-to-day activity of the class and this will continue after August. All roles are up for re-election every year so if you are interested, you just need a proposer and seconder in the first instance. Please talk to any current committee member or myself if you want more information.

There are some specific areas we are looking to fill roles on the Main Committee, Sub-committees and others. Please let me know or any committee member know if interested in one of these.

Main Committee

Master Rep – we have an active Masters sub-committee doing a lot of the work but need a Chair to lead that sub-committee and be the appointed Masters Rep.

Treasurer – we are looking for someone to lead the Finance sub-committee, with the role now divided into 4 key parts. We are also supplementing the role with some paid support (see below and subject to approval).

General committee roles – these roles will also involve active participation on one of the sub-committees.

Sub-committees

These have delegated authority to make day to day decisions, noted by the main committee. There is no requirement to be a Main Committee member for these roles, nor are they elected at the AGM.

Sailing Sub-committee – we are looking for several people to join this who have experience in organising events and/or race management /safety

Finance Sub-committee – we have four roles to fill on this new sub-committee, each with around 2 to 3 hours per month

Training sub-committee – we are looking for another person to join this sub-committee. No experience of training is required.

Other roles

Welfare / Governance - we have a mini-project to update some of our welfare policies (using RYA model templates) and processes, working alongside our Safeguarding officer, Fiona Attwell.

Social media co-ordinator – co-ordinating a group of younger sailors around Insta and possibly Tik Tok. Role to be defined but flexible.

Paid role

Bookkeeping role – around 6 hours per month – would possibly suit a student studying business or economics. No formal training is required but some skills is using excel are needed.

Snippets

Get ready for the summer – Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 – WPNSA here

AGM Notice here

The next ILCA UK event is the Masters weekend at WPNSA on 6th/7th July. Taking late entries until Tuesday mid-night. 75 entries already included 7 ILCA4s. Why not come and start your program for the Masters Europeans in Hayling Island next June? For those of you considering a return to competitive ILCA sailing after some years at this Masters event, remember you are not expected to perform at the same level as you did as a youth!

After that we also have the Women ILCA Regatta - Rutland Sailing Club on 13th/14th July. If you want to ask more about this, Fiona’s contact details are on the link. She would love to hear from those thinking of transitioning from junior classes and masters and anyone else.

Welsh Championships welcome sailors of all ages on 19/21st July and Youth is invited to sail at the Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July.

Other ILCA events

RYA British Youth Sailing Team Squad Applications for 2024-25 are now OPEN - Please Click here to apply.

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are UKLA events so for details please see the organisers):

NW Junior and Youth Traveller Series - https://www.rya.org.uk/gbni/north-west/junior-and-youth-traveller-series
NE & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association - https://www.yhysa.org/
Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League - https://csysa.org.uk/youthleague/
KSSA (Kent) - https://kssa.co.uk/
Northamptonshire Youth Series - https://www.facebook.com/northamptonshireyouthseries/?locale=en_GB
Derbyshire Youth Sailing - https://www.dysailing.org/

Race reports

Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League at Grafham Water

A busy weekend at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club with the North West Youth and Junior Travellers and a Laser / ILCA Open

UKLA ILCA/Laser Northern Grand Prix

GP at Bristol Corinthian

South area GP series

Mark Lyttle 6/24/24 Mark Lyttle 6/24/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog #95

summary….

At this time of year, many sailors are getting into the swing of the summer season – club racing, youth weeks, open meetings, Nationals, Skills week and for some international events, so it is probably a good time to write about ILCA sailing in UK and if needed allow you share with others. There is information of the website under each class / rig. For example

New to ILCA UK? UK class association for ILCA
Moving into an ILCA? Your complete guide
UKLA Youth Sailing Pathway Opportunities
Choosing the best ILCA Rig - Which ILCA rig most suits me?
Youth page for more information about Youth sailing
Masters page to read more about UK Masters circuit (Age 30+)
Grand Prix page for the extensive national Grand Prix circuit
Events for calendar of regattas and training
Training for information on ILCA UK training
Your Guide to Class Legal Equipment

We want our class to be inclusive and welcoming to all. That means we have hundreds of youth sailors, masters and club sailors mixing together. We have sailors in the Olympics this summer and we have sailors who will sail just at thair club. Almost all our events are open - we don’t run squads or teams - enabling that inclusive environment.

Club level

Many sailors learn to sail and race ILCAs in their local club or transition from Junior classes to ILCA at their club. Many clubs around the country have a very active ILCA racing fleet.

The clubs are encouraged to develop fleets in all three rigs for all age groups. If you want ILCA training at your club, ask your class captain or organise it yourself. Most clubs love voluntters to step forward to organse sailing activities and it is not as hard ss you think. ILCA UK can advise on local coaches and if your training is open to non-members, ILCA UK will help you promote it. Also ask your class captain if they are on the ILCA UK Class Captains WhatsApp group.

Regional level

Some ILCA sailors will want to start venturing further afield. ILCA UK maintain a calendar of open meetings and Grands Prix which are usually open to everyone in all rigs. These regattas help develop your skills in lots of different types of venue and you can decide to do a couple every year or more. Many regions also have youth racing leagues during the summer, often with mixed classes.

ILCA UK run regional training once per month during the winter for all rigs and these are open to all members of ILCA UK. This winter (24/25), the RYA will no longer be running Regional Training Groups for the ILCA4 and ILCA UK have taken over the running of these.

ILCA UK also run an annual skills week during the summer – this year in Pwllheli in July and Weymouth in August (please note these events may be full / waitlist only - please check on website) and sailors transitioning to the ILCA from a junior class may these useful.

National level

ILCA UK run seven Nationals regattas each year and the National Championship (a fun week of good sailing and onshore activities) and these are open to all age groups and rigs, with club sailors encouraged to enter. In addition we run a number of Masters events (aged 30 and over).

We also run National training once per month during the winter. In order to ensure you are at the right standard for these, you ask that sailors do a number of Nationals events before this and finish in the top half of the fleet. ILCA UK does not run squads.

The great thing about ILCAs is the number of international events that are open. In addition there are European and World championships in each rig which have restricted numbers. The good news is that we normally get more than enough places for sailors interested. We don’t select teams from these events and regatta support is available through ILCA UK

Snippets

Get ready for the summer – Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 – WPNSA here

The next ILCA UK event is the Masters weekend at WPNSA on 6th/7th July. Why not come and start your program for the Masters Europeans in Hayling Island next June? For those of you considering a return to competitive ILCA sailing after some years at this Masters event, remember you are not expected to perform at the same level as you did as a youth!

Welsh Championships welcome sailors of all ages on 19/21st July and Youth is invited to sail at the Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July.

Other ILCA events

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are UKLA events so for details please see the organisers):

NW Junior and Youth Traveller Series - https://www.rya.org.uk/gbni/north-west/junior-and-youth-traveller-series
NE & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association - https://www.yhysa.org/
Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League - https://csysa.org.uk/youthleague/
KSSA (Kent) - https://kssa.co.uk/
Northamptonshire Youth Series - https://www.facebook.com/northamptonshireyouthseries/?locale=en_GB
Derbyshire Youth Sailing - https://www.dysailing.org/

Race reports

Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League at Grafham Water

A busy weekend at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club with the North West Youth and Junior Travellers and a Laser / ILCA Open

UKLA ILCA/Laser Northern Grand Prix

GP at Bristol Corinthian

South area GP series

Mark Lyttle 6/17/24 Mark Lyttle 6/17/24

ILCA UK Chair blog#94

masters …. and roger

Would you like to sail at the London 2012 venue with like-minded masters?
Are you worried that the ILCA6 sail is a bit too big?
Why not come and try an ILCA4 on our Masters event on 6th/7th July at WPNSA with an entry fee of £10?

Masters sport is growing dramatically, and it is not hard to see why. ILCA Masters sailing is part of that trend with our numbers increasing but we need more of you and we have a rig that suits many sizes – ILCA7, ILCA6 and ILCA4. It keeps us physical active and engaged. Why not join us?

One of other comment, technically this is a “qualifier” meaning that if places to go to an international event (like the Master Europeans in Hayling in June 2025) are restricted, this would be one of the events used to rank sailors. This doesn’t apply to most sailors, and we encourage all competent club sailors to come to our national Masters events. Of course, if you plan on going to Hayling and want to guarantee a place, you should plan on coming to at least two of our events this year.

I am not a Roger Federer fan but his speech to graduates at Dartmouth University has drawn some attention and certainly has some compelling messages.

#1 winning effortlessly is a myth – he may well have looked effortless, but it is about hard work when no one is watching and the talent you need is grit and discipline

#2 every point needs to be fought for, then move on. He has won 80% of his professional matches but over that time has won just over 50% of his points! Work hard for every shift but don’t sweat missing one. Or improving is not a steady climb

#3 life is bigger than a tennis court – be a great sportsperson when competing, a great student when studying and a great person in life.

Snippets

Get ready for the summer – Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

RYA Pathway Evolution Webinar Series Tuesday 18 June 2024 | 5pm | Online

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 – WPNSA here

Welsh Championships welcome sailors of all ages on 19/21st July and Youth is invited to sail at the Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July.

Other ILCA events

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

As some of you will have seen, the RYA Regional Junior championships have been cancelled (please note that the Scottish and Welsh events are unaffected https://www.rya.org.uk/racing/british-youth-sailing/events/regional-junior-championships). I am aware for three replacement regattas (click on venue for details) on 22nd/23rd June for ILCA4s at Queen Mary, WPNSA and Derwent.

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are UKLA events so for details please see the organisers):

NW Junior and Youth Traveller Series - https://www.rya.org.uk/gbni/north-west/junior-and-youth-traveller-series
NE & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association - https://www.yhysa.org/
Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League - https://csysa.org.uk/youthleague/
KSSA (Kent) - https://kssa.co.uk/
Northamptonshire Youth Series - https://www.facebook.com/northamptonshireyouthseries/?locale=en_GB
Derbyshire Youth Sailing - https://www.dysailing.org/

Race reports

Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League at Grafham Water

A busy weekend at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club with the North West Youth and Junior Travellers and a Laser / ILCA Open

UKLA ILCA/Laser Northern Grand Prix

GP at Bristol Corinthian

South area GP series

Mark Lyttle 6/10/24 Mark Lyttle 6/10/24

ILCA UK Chair Blog #93

Who would not want to sail an ILCA and sailing other boats …..

Firstly a reminder, please send your support to Hannah Snellgrove and Micky Beckett who competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics as part of our ILCA community and are connected to us in ways that many others aren’t. There are thousands of ILCA sailors around the country that can relate directly to their competition as they sail exactly to same boat. That’s why I would like to ask you to send a message of support. We have pinned a post in our FB (I know some of you may not interact with FB but as a volunteer organisation, it allows us to get things going efficiently).

Who would not want to sail an ILCA? Check out this 2min video and send it around your friends and family (young and old). As a younger sailor I am sure this would have been appealing but back then Laser sailors had a reputation as one-trick ponies. This may have been given the fitness and technique needed to succeed in the class.

The ILCA remains a highly tactical boat. With its relatively slow speeds and one design nature, tactics and boat to boat manoeuvring remain a core skill. That’s what we all love. A couple of weeks ago we had 25 ILCAs racing ay Queen Mary on Sunday morning in 4 to 8 knots of very patchy and shifty conditions. Over four laps of two races, the place changes were dramatic - some down to luck and others skill. Many sailors had the chance to get close to the front, not based on technique or fitness but tactics. Of course, these skills are developed and refined as the racing becomes more competitive at national and international level. It is no secret that any ILCA sailor competing regularly in the gold fleet of Worlds and Euros is a highly skilled tactician with skills that are highly transferrable to other classes.

While I don’t think some of those skills will be developed without a focussed approach to ILCA sailing, I also believe there is a benefit to sailing other boats. While most of my sailing was in Laser /ILCAs, I also spent four years team-racing in Firelies at university, a number of years campaigning J24s as well owning and racing Fireballs, 470s and 1720s. In recent years (or decades!) it has been ILCA racing but I have also sailed a Waszp for the four years as alternative therapy. All this experience complements my skills when it comes to ILCA racing.

Today, ILCA racing is the route to professional sailing and many of the top ILCA sailors combine their ILCA racing and training with sailing other boats, anything from J70s to Waszps but also kitesurfing/foiling and wing foiling. Young sailors should always look for opportunities to try new things where they can. This may be borrowing a double-hander for a regatta, trying a wingfoil or even doing some instructing or coaching.

Snippets

Get ready for the summer – Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

RYA Pathway Evolution Webinar Series Tuesday 18 June 2024 | 5pm | Online

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 – WPNSA here

Welsh Championships welcome sailors of all ages on 19/21st July and Youth is invited to sail at the Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July.

Other ILCA events

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are UKLA events so for details please see the organisers):