ILCA UK Blog #100

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

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