ILCA UK Chair Blog #144
Our next big event is the ILCA UK National Championships in Pwllheli, where we do know we will be racing on a world class race track and of course ILCA UK will be doing our best to put on our usual “festival of sailing” where all are welcome. Late entry fee kicks after 8th July so please get your entry done in the next week. We are also looking for more volunteers - everyone is welcome to help included new parents and whether you are an experienced sailor or not. Also we have a couple of experienced, volunteer race official places and can cover expenses. We are also looking for a band to play one of the nights at Plas Heli! If you are coming and are musically inclined please let us know at hello@ilca.uk. In particular we are looking for a guitarist, drummer and singer. See our dedicated website here for all information on the event.
One of the things at the recent Master Europeans was how efficient our time on the water was. It wasn’t always like that. I remember in the eighties when we had two races a day over a weekend and at the end of the first race of the day we would stop on the water for lunch. The safety boat would hand out packed lunches – sandwich, drink and an apple or orange. These would be demolished quickly but then we had to wait for the committee boat to finish their lunch at rather more sedate pace ! Maybe I am being a bit unfair given the passage of time. In recent times, we treat dinghy racing as a sport, rather than a “day on the water”. I guess the start the 1996 Olympic cycle saw this accelerate with races of less than one hour on trapezoid courses. Two other things have changed the way we manage races – better forecasts and easier ways to communicate with sailors.
Better forecasts allow both competitors and race teams to manage time more efficiently. At yesterday’s ILCA Thames Valley ILCA GP / Open many sailors stayed away as the forecast never had the wind over 3 knots and the fleet never launched. I have no doubt if the wind has been like Saturday – 15knots in warm, sunny conditions many more would have turned out. These forecasts also allow organisers to plan ahead, especially for National events where lots of sailors are travelling – we have seen ILCA weekend events curtailed on Saturday after racing or indeed a decision on a Friday not to race till Sunday when too much wind is forecast. It also allows organisers to go for an early start – we tried earlier in the year (unsuccessfully it turned out) to race at 9am on Sunday at WPNSA to catch the best forecast wind. At Hayling for the Master Europeans, we did not launch until the sea breeze had fully established. Of course, all of this requires judgment and understanding of local conditions.
Communication with sailors is also key and this can be done easily with messaging platforms like WhatsApp. Putting up the postponement flag ashore maybe the traditional requirement but this now backed-up with the reasons why – what are the race team’s expectations and timing. This can be extended to explaining why racing is held in a certain area (tide, expected wind shift etc) and other racing decisions and can be done both before and after racing. This approach is certainly becoming prevalent, certainly at our regattas. After all, what we want is quality racing, done as efficiently as possible, rather than a nice “day on the water”. I ceetainly beleive the class is leading the way on this.
I also wanted to mention again the 2025 EurILCA Team Racing European Championship for four boat teams and will be sailed in ILCA 4 – two boys and two girls – in Greece in Dec 2025. There is currently no GBR team entered – if interested please go head and make and application.
Finally our Youth Series which is in full flight now with three regional events done with strong fleet numbers. Next one is part of the Welsh Championships (40 entries already) followed by the East region at Royal Harwich. Check out our calendar.
Snippets
ILCA UK Events
Visit our National Championship dedicated website Why not come and join us? Entries to UK Nationals
Volunteer at the Nationals - HERE
Welsh Championships - CLOSED
2025 Women’s Regatta at Rutland entries closed
Skills Week South (SOLD OUT) & North - entries open
You will see our calendar starting to fill up.
Other news
2025 Suzuki Master European Championship
2025 ILCA UK Masters Nationals video
2025 ILCAUK Masters Nationals at Hayling Island Sailing Club - ILCA 6 report
2025 ILCAUK Masters Nationals at Hayling Island Sailing Club - ILCA 7 report
QM ILCA initiative has gone from zero to international in six months
2025 ILCA7 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club
2025 ILCA6 Masters Spring Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club
ILCA Midland Grand Prix at Attenborough Sailing Club
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