ILCA UK Chair Blog#102

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     

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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.