ILCA UK Chair Blog #129
Happy St Patricks Day ! Wow what a great weekend at WPNSA for the first National Open of the year ! 190 entries, so much so that we had to flight the ILCA6s and highest entry for a weekend event for many years. Full range of experience from almost a full complement of British Sailing Team members to club sailors, masters and first-timers. Yes there was a (very) cold chill but the race team got through the races efficiently. There was a good crowd for food and rugby after sailing.
The tracking is super – see here and adds a great new dimension to our events. I couldn’t quite get to grips with the strategy for the weekend and having replayed a couple of the races after the weekend, I was able to confirm where I was going wrong! I sailed two good first beats in Race 1 and 6 which was based on multiple shifts that required mostly taking the lift. For the other races, I assumed the strategy was similar, but it wasn’t. Quite a few of the races had long slow shifts – you can see this clearly in Race 5 of ILCA7s, where the lift on starboard off the line is followed by a very short-lived shift to the left before another dramatic shift to the right for the rest of the beat (basically a long, slow shift to the right). Other races had a persistent shift on the first beat. Of course, identifying all of this before rather than after the race is the difficult part. And those with better boat speed are able to hedge their bets somewhat. If you want to see how some of the best sailors in the world do it, you can follow their tracks. Next weekend trackers will be on ILCA6s – we are trialling tracking at these two events and looking for feedback as there is a cost to providing for the sailors (entrants should see a survey).
These events don’t happen without a load of work – below is a list of helpers who have made this happen. Sorry if anyone has been missed as it is fairly dynamic. Thank you.
While these volunteers are usually quite visible, there is a lot of work going on “below decks”. Roger Hakes as Chair of the Youth sub-committee has been working hard to get our RYA Class Recognition completed. Also Lorna Phipps is acting as our Treasurer and working on the Finance sub-committee with Fiona Grayton and Sarah Harding. These are the sort of activities that keep to class going. Thanks to them and everyone who works on the main committee or a sub-committee.
Entries for National Open 2 at WPNSA this weekend close of Tuesday.
Snippets
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 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). Masters Inlands date is confimred for 25/26 Oct.
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