ILCA UK Chair Blog #128
I had a lovely two races at Queen Mary on Sunday – sun out, 16 degrees and 8 to 10 knots, attracting around 30 boats. I hope many of you also had to chance to get out. We were talking about race strategy afterwards and I don’t think I have discussed that in this blog. The great thing about our sport is the number of factors you need to address for a good performance – avoiding major mistakes, boat handling and boat speed and starting are all key, but race strategy is also critical. After all, your tactics around the racecourse are subservient to race strategy.
Components of race strategy are well-told. What geographic features affect the wind direction and strength? Is there a current or tide that is not consistent? Is the weather a factor (e.g. big clouds)? We often resort to “is the wind stronger on one side of the course than the other?” and we test for shifts by sailing upwind for a few minutes before the start.
But for many of us racing on inland venues this doesn’t really suffice as what is really needed is a clear assessment of what “type” of wind it is. The wind rarely oscillates in a classical sense (i.e. swing back and forth in a regular rhythm) but is instead a random “pattern” of shifts and gusts. This means a left shift is not necessarily followed by a right shift in a certain timescale – it could be followed by a further shift to the left or a very delayed shift to the right. But while the gust and shifts may be somewhat random, they can have patterns.
At Queen Mary on Sunday, the shifts, of usually 10 to 20 degrees, were occurring may be six times per weather leg. But sometimes they were bigger and longer and overlaying this was inconsistent pressure or gusts over racecourse. The race strategy is to stay in the pressure and take the lifts in the middle of the course. If the wind assessment is correct, this strategy works over the long run, but not every time, given the random nature of the wind.
On many other days at Queen Mary, the shifts occur much less frequently, maybe once or twice per beat and in this case, the race strategy is to stay on the lift until it shifts back (don’t take the little shifts), even if that brings you right into the corner. This is very tricky as time often runs out. It is even worse, when boats head to opposite corners on a median heading as the next shift can go either way (remember it is more random than oscillating). Of course, it is possible to hedge your bets (literally) by avoiding the corners or covering the fleet. But the first beat can be very difficult if the race starts on a median heading as it is hard to predict which way the first big shift is going to go.
Of course, sailing on the sea is often very different to this but understanding what the wind is doing remains key. I remember a masters race at Hayling a couple of years ago where the first beat in 20knots required tacking ten times on multiple shifts but the second beat required two tacks for two big shifts – sometimes the race strategy changes mid-race!
Snippets
ILCA UK celebrated International Women’s Day with the latest Women’s Coaching Programme at Queen Mary SC attended by women sailors of all ages. George Povall and Ellie Cumpsty chose to focus on speed and control in champagne sailing conditions. Inspiration and confidence are essential to all sailors: for the afternoon session the group were joined by Coté Poncell who represented Chile in the 2024 Olympics and inspired whoops and holas with her demonstrations and Q&A session. Half a dozen of the sailors joined QM Club racing on Sunday and discovered what a friendly bunch they are.
The next ILCA Women’s Coaching session, led by Ellie Cumpsty, is at King George SC on 17th May. Further dates at Parkstone YC, Stokes Bay SC and Draycote Water are being finalised. Keep an eye on the ILCA Calendar for details as these sessions sell out quickly.
Our sponsor Wildwind are hosting a Women's ILCA Clinic led by NED sailor Maartje van Dam from May 4th. You can see and buy photos from this event through Lotte Johnson’s page.
You will see our calendar starting to fill up. For Masters sailors, the 2025 SUZUKI ILCA MASTER EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS at Hayling Island in June is now open. This is a great chance for GBR sailors to sail a European Championship on home waters. If you are a competent club sailor, why not come along? Or maybe you have been out of sailing for a while, well its not too late to come to this! We have the ILCA UK Masters Nationals the weekend before and a Masters event in Parkstone in early May (Parkstone entries open TONIGHT).
2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.
ILCA UK Events
Entries to National Open 1 (closes TONIGHT) 1 and National Open 2
Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone - open TONIGHT
You can now renew your membership for 2025. Not a member yet? JOIN NOW
See our calendar - last winter training is available to book.
ILCA UK training - all remaining training for winter/spring is now open. BOOK here
Entries for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships are now open
ILCA UK have two National Opens at WPNSA on 11/12 Oct and 18/19 Oct - the latter clashes with the U21s Europeans so discretionary points may apply for the qualification ladder but not for the first weekend (we moved from 25/26 Oct to 11/12 Oct to avoid a double clash). Please not that the Masters Inlands date remains provisional.
Other news
ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 4 fleet report
ILCA UK Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet Water Sailing Club - ILCA 6 fleet report
The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle will start in Mallorca
NI Sailing Team dominate Celtic Cup with clean sweep victory
Call to action: Abandoned Boats Changing Lives for Youth Sailors in St. Vincent and the Grenadines