ILCA UK Chair Blog #133
There are many reasons why we compete in ILCA races or indeed in any sporting competition but fundamentally there is something purist about competition. It is the jeopardy of not knowing how performances or results will work out, not knowing who will win or produce the standout performance. It is knowing that at one level it is a deeply personal experience for those competing given their context and preparation. It is also the fact that the game is played based on a defined and agreed set of rules. Yes sometimes, competitors break those rules or someone else judges they have been broken, but this just adds to jeopardy.
Two outstanding sporting moments brought this to life for me this week. On Tuesday, I was at Arsenal in North London for the quarter-final of the Champions League with perennial winners Real Madrid. My expectations were not high, but the atmosphere heading into the ground was amazing and after a first half of chances for both sides, the game came alight with two world-class free kicks for Arsenal. The stadium went wild and the joyous mood continued on the walk home. I couldn’t help thinking how depressing the news had been at the start of week – major wars and chaos in the global economy where complexity reigns – juxtapositioned with the simple task of putting a ball in the net but not knowing in advance whose net. There was nothing complicated – the stakes were high but there was a winner and a loser, and we didn’t know who it was going to be. Then Rory McIlroy produced a final round at the Masters in Augusta that was filled with ups and downs. I don’t how many times it looked as if he had let it slip by, only to recover with a world class shot. The resilience and human endeavour involved was so compelling and nerve-wracking. The jeopardy was obvious.
Well I am not really suggesting tht ILCA racing at club level is comparable but it many ways it is! We don’t know who is going to win in advance and throughout the fleet there are individual performances where some go home delighted, happy or content while others are disappointed. Last weekend Marcus Bird won the first race at Queen Mary, sailing superbly and while he wins regularly, he knew it was not going to be a foregone conclusion – he had a chance if he sailed well. It was Matt Fletcher who wrote the report as first around the first mark, winning that particular battle. He deserved it because he sailed well and I am sure he was pleased as it doesn’t happen every week. Of course many will say it is only sport, whether ILCA racing, the golf Masters or Champion’s League, but that’s surely the point. We compete based on a set of rules, we perform and the winner emerges. It’s that simple. And the jeopardy produces moments of elation / satisfaction or the opposite.
As some of you will know we used Trackers at the two National Opens in March and Youth Winter Trophy at Datchet in February. These were trials to allow us to assess the impact and feedback. I wrote about digitisation in ILCA sailing in Blog # 114 and stated that use of trackers divided opinion. Well, I think it is fair to say that the overall feedback has been very positive. You can see the races here on the TracTrac site (search ILCA UK). At each event there is about 90 trackers (ILCA4s/ILCA7s at NO1 and ILCA6s at NO2) and during each weekend, the website was getting around 1,000 unique visitors, which seems to me a very decent number.
A feature of our use of this is the feedback sessions after the event, kindly done by James Foster – see links below. ILCA6s, ILCA4s
Post-event feedback through survey has been positive with 100% recommendation for use at future ILCA UK events and the good news is that we will be using trackers at the Masters Nationals. The challenge though is the cost. So far this season, this is being funded mostly through class reserves (about £500 per event) as we don’t want to increase entry fees to cover. Going forward we will need to find the right balance between funding through entry fees, the class and sponsors. Finally thanks to Brett Lewis for his support around this initiative.
Finally I was asked about the entry list for the British Nationals at Parkstone in 1982 - well here you go
PS Are you interested in Team Racing - Euricla has a European Championship and are inviting entries from ILCA UK? See here
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 will see our calendar starting to fill up.
2025 ILCA Handbook is now available online.
ILCA UK Events
Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone and Masters Nationals
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
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
2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report
2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 6 fleet report
2025 ILCA UK National Open 2 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report
Video of National Open 2
Also we also had three really good write-ups from that first weekend:
2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 7 fleet report
2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA - ILCA 4 fleet report
2025 ILCA UK National Open 1 at the WPNSA- ILCA 6 fleet report
National Open 1 video Here it is.
Finally have you seen the tracking? Here are the links - ILCA UK National Open 1 ILCA UK National Open 2 James Foster did a nice debriefing of the racing using the tracking data, see here. ILCA7 briefing. ILCA4 briefing.
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