ILCA UK Chair Blog #120

Jan 13

I was lucky enough to spend last week in Malta at a masters training clinic and regatta thus avoiding the cold snap at home. We had six days of sailing in mainly sunny, 12 to 18 knots with a reminder of how much fun ILCA sailing can be once the weather warms up. We had one race in 25 knots which I would call “survival” conditions, so what are the key factors in a race like this?

Firstly not to capsize, which is obviously not quick but more importantly for masters, any time in the water is incredibly draining of energy. Upwind extra time is needed to prepare for a tack, choosing a moment where the water is a little flatter and not in the middle of a big gust. I normally ease my kicker slightly before the tack firstly as I can’t get under the boom when it is fully on (catching the boom is a major source of capsizing) but also the risk of the boat stalling and getting stuck head to wind is reduced. Running downwind needs to be controlled - best to have the cunningham off and the kicker eased beyond “block to block” but not too much and don’t ease the outhaul. Most stable is very slightly by the lee but boom at 75 degrees and leech at 90 degrees. In the big gusts, sheet in a bit.

Another aspect of “survival” conditions is to avoid manoeuvring around other boats as much as possible. Start in the middle and avoid the ends. Don’t tack so much and approach the windward mark on starboard, making sure you don’t have to squeeze around the mark. In multi-day regattas, recovery is key as it is just not possible to recover fully after each day.

On another topic, many of you will have seen the announcement of significant funding for the British Sailing Team (BST) for this Olympic cycle. This is of course great news for the BST but also for ILCA UK as it means we continue to have brilliant, full-time sailors coming to some of our National events. Funding like this is now essential in all elite sport and it indirectly benefits sailing in the UK. But it is important to understand that this funding is ring-fenced totally for the elite end and this money does not trickle down to youth sailing or even ILCA UK. I don’t know the detailed conditions laid down by UK Sport but in principle they are funding TeamGB to win Olympic medals, not fund a development pathway or participation programs.

We can though see the benefits of this in the ILCA community more than any other class. All our sailors can see the standards attained by the BST and aspire to improve our own sailing, whether youths or masters. Best practice and techniques trickle down to us. We can relate directly to what it is like to sail an ILCA.

There are two aspects worth raising through. Firstly, should the sailing community, or more specifically the ILCA community, be doing more to financially support our top sailors? While this does happen in some clubs, there appears limited programs that are transparent to the community as a whole. Secondly, there remains a massive funding gap between top youth sailors and full-time seniors and there isn’t enough money to support that, like in all sports. It remains hard to know which sailors have the attitude, commitment and talent to make the leap and there isn’t money to fund everyone with potential. The best solution probably centres around better “talent identification” approaches as so far many of these continue modest in their successes.

Mark Lyttle

ILCA UK Chair

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