ILCA UK Chair Blog #135
We are almost up to 70 for the masters at Parkstone – entries open until end of Wednesday – forecast is warm weather and moderate wind, with sailing in the Bay. Entries to Masters Series at Parkstone. See you there.
We had a couple of close reaches at Queen Mary recently which made me think. In many ways the art of reaching has died to a great extent compared my early days of Laser sailing. In my formative years I had many great battles with Bill O’Hara, a double Olympian in the Finn class, and these were often defined by the reaching legs. On those days, the course was usually triangle, triangle, sausage (remember that?) and the reaches were quite broad and much more important than the running leg. Bill was much faster than me upwind and was invariably ahead at the first windward mark and my target was the pass him on the next two reaching legs and establish a lead that I could defend. Being lighter I could surf the waves longer and lower so would always aim to sail higher and then over the top of him. This was hard to defend so Bill adopted a strategy of sailing rhumb lines rather than sailing high to defend his position. It became a game of cat and mouse but more importantly, speed on the reaches was critical.
I can still remember (a little) of racing the Worlds in Gulfport in 1983 and one of the memories that sticks was the reaching. On the first reach of the first race, I sailed very high and the question was how much I would lose coming back down to the mark. As it happens the gybe mark was close to the shore and the waves got bigger as we approached so I was able to surf down over the top of others. It was a strategy that worked well all week.
By the time, the Laser came to the Olympics in 1996, the game had changed. The reaches were much tighter with less scope for making big improvements. I distinctly remember approaching the windward mark in Race 3 in second just ahead of a bunch led by the Greek sailor – my over-riding thought was to round ahead of him as he as slow on the reach and would act as a block – we were only talking 2 or 3 boat lengths on the leg, but enough to create a gap to the following group and so it was… funny the things you remember.
That change to shorter courses and more running (and S turns) started in the lead-up to 1996 and it certainly de-emphasised the reaching. However, some aspects still remain. When the top sailors are faster, they get into a “passing lane” to windward of the line of reaching boats and just sail over the top, going faster. I have seen this many times in recent years with the British Sailing Team sailors at our Qualifiers / National Opens. I think their speed advantage is down to keeping the boat very stable and anticipating a drop in speed by going higher. My own strategy is usually “don’t lose ground on the leaders” or “extend on the bunch” behind if in the leading group, often involving sailing a straight line, while keeping clear air.
With tighter reaches going low is much harder to execute and the risk needs to be assessed. It sometime works if the reach is a bit broader or the wind is decreasing or backing. Of course, lake sailing is a different game. Clearly going up and down in the lulls and gusts works but I think a lot depends on how quickly a gust moves down the course.
So while the options for catching up on the reach are reduced, they are still there, and it is certainly possible to lose a lot of places.
Snippets
RYA are looking for volunteers to join the RYA's Youth Racing Committee - interested? Apply online here.
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 (SOLD OUT)
You will see our calendar starting to fill up.
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 - Eurilca has a European Championship and are inviting entries from ILCA UK? See here
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
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