ILCA UK Chair Blog #155
There has been some discussion recently on the format of sailing in LA28 and it certainly provokes a range of views. As WS moves towards a defined format, I am not going to wade directly into that debate but instead make some comments on sailing in the Olympics in general.
Firstly, there is wide support for sailing remaining in the Olympics and as an Olympian myself I understand that. It is the aspiration of many younger sailors to compete in the Olympics and to win a medal (of any colour) remains the goal of many of today’s top sailors. Many thought that the Laser /ILCA becoming an Olympic class in 1996 would be the death of grassroots sailing in the boat but the opposite has happened, perhaps at least partly due to the strict one-design nature of our class.
But developing the media profile of our sport is important. The top sailors want, and need, a higher profile and organisations like ILCA UK need that to drive and sustain participation. That higher profile drives sponsorship, which in turn supports the development of our class in an inclusive nature.
SailGP has shown us that the sport can reach a bigger audience and be exciting to watch. That potential needs to be now brought to the Olympic Games and other top dinghy/ILCA events, even though funding that be difficult. In my view there are some key lessons to be learnt, regardless of what format is used.
Our sport needs wind and so it seems obvious that venues should be chosen for their likelihood of decent wind conditions. Thankfully the statistics are in favour of Los Angeles.
Races need to start on time and delays avoided at all costs. Technology to allow automatic detection of early starters is now being used in many regattas and now needs to be tested for precision at Olympic level - as you can imagine these sailors demand a high level of accuracy. Avoiding general recalls certainly speeds things up, but we also need to cut down on postponements due to wind shifts. This requires simpler race courses to avoid lengthy resetting and other improvements in race management, possibly through technology.
For the Olympic Games, the races need to be shorter while retaining the core skills of our sport. Shorter races are media friendly and avoid big gaps between boats (and minimal place changes at the end of races). Before you call “foul”, most top ILCA races are now around 45 to 50 minutes (with trapezoid courses) but before 1996 we had one race a day at the Olympics around triangles/sausages and no one would dream of going back to that.
Of course for successful live steaming or broadcasting of dinghy races, we need to improve what I call our “digital storytelling”. Yes we need expert producers to show the right shots at the right time - drone, mark-rounding and onboard, these SailGP does brilliantly. But the digital graphics need to support the storying telling - course lines to show who is ahead, with race position/place being shown dynamically on mast heads and a dynamic scoreboard showing “the Race for the Medals”. In my view it should be possible to watch a race with no sound and understand who is winning or is on course to the medals.
And the commentary should describe the racing in non-sailing terms. For example “the GBR boat has turned on to a line to the mark” not “the GBR boat had tacked to loo-ard on the layline”.
Our sport needs to develop while retaining the core skills we think are important but for the sport to remain in the Olympic Games we also need to improve our media profile. By going to venues with wind, starting on time, running shorter races and improving our digital story-telling and commentary, we can make a big step forward before we even discuss formats.
Snippets
ILCA Events 2025
You will see our 2025 calendar is almost complete!
National Open 4 at WPNSA 11/12 Oct - Open for booking, closes 6th October (TONIGHT)
National Open 5 at WPNSA 18/19 Oct - Open for booking, closes 13th October
Master Inland Championship at Grafham 25/26 Oct - Open for booking, closes 22nd October
Inland Championship Draycote Water SC 1/2 Nov - Entries open by next week
Winter training 2025/2026
Most of our winter programme is available for booking - look through the training calendar and find something for your self in your region
Events 2026
National Opens
National Open 1 - Warsash SC - 14/15 March 2026
National Open 2 - WPNSA - 21/22 March 2026
National Open 3 - WPNSA 28/29 March 2026
Skills Week
ILCA Skills Week 2026 WPNSA - 15/20 August 2026 (Provisional - may move by one day)
National & Open Championships
Unfortunately, due to clashes with international regattas, we could not accept dates offered by the Hayling Island Sailing Club to host our nationals in 2026. We therefore confirmed that the 2026 Nationals will be held in JULY at WPNSA. He hope to go back to HISC soon!
ILCA UK Open & National Championships 2026 WPNSA - 23-29th July 2026
Masters events (over 30)
Master Series WPNSA - 23-24th May 2026
Masters National Championships Parkstone YC - 3-5 July 2026
Masters Inland Championships Draycote Water SC - 7-8 November 2026
Other news
ILCA Women's Coaching day at Parkstone Yacht Club
ILCA Thames Valley Series Grand Prix at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club
ILCA Northern Championship at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club
2025 ILCA UK National and Open Championships at Plas Heli Welsh National Sailing Academy
Here is Nationals video
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