ILCA UK Chair Blog #172
As we know Mark Lyttle is now President of ILCA Worldwide and will be stepping down as Chair of ILCA-UK at the AGM in July. Whilst I’m a big believer in democratic process, we’ve not been hearing jungle drums of people lining up to be Chair and so on the (hopefully not presumptive) assumption that I will take on the Chair role, my current Vice Chair role which Mark sold to me as “not too much work” has been expanding over the last several months. A part of that is Mark saying I should take over writing the blog - so here I am!
Mark’s are big shoes to fill – he’s a former Olympian who won a race at the Games in Savannah, and he’s a very successful Masters ILCA sailor whereas I sailed my last ILCA race about a decade ago – it was quite fruity at Waldringfield that day and whilst I was very quick upwind I was dog slow downhill so after a couple first places (really!) my body told me enough was enough and get back into my Wayfarer. So the blog will doubtless be different looking forwards as I’ll have different perspectives to Mark but as a mechanic for communicating with current and prospective members, I believe it’s a very useful tool.
My perspectives on ILCA-UK may or may not be of interest but please indulge me. First to say is that we are a largely volunteer led organisation. We are running what’s in effect a small business in our spare time and inevitably that puts stresses and strains on what we do. As the class has grown – and it undoubtedly has – we risk adding complexity to what we do and it's important not to compromise the quality of what we do as a result. So my ask is if you want to get involved let me or others on the Committee know. If you’ve got a great new idea but it needs effort to effect it please recognise that unless you’re happy to make it happen yourself, it probably won’t! The answer is not just to ask Ellie or Claire to add it to their list of to do’s.
The class both internationally and domestically is strong. Whilst they are really only of passing interest (and at this moment underrepresents our strength) nevertheless the Class has 3 of the top 15 men and 2 of the top 15 women in the World in the latest World Sailing Rankings. Our National Opens are blow out; regularly topping 180 entries. The National Championships too are hugely popular and it says something that in our planning for this year we are running a 300 boat stretch case – it would be lovely to top that number. The master’s scene is again vibrant in the UK and internationally and it’s particularly great when the “experienced” guys turn up and give the slightly more youthful sailors a run for their money when its light and tactical and fitness is perhaps less important. The Class run training has been a huge success and is doing much to fuel our growing numbers, and whilst we don’t always get results internationally at junior and youth level the most recent ILCA4 Europeans show we can get that right as well – well done Chloe Grayton (Bronze U16 Girl) and Thomas Semmens (9th overall European Boy).
We also have some great sponsors who help support the class in many ways – Fernhurst Books, Noble Marine, Ovington (with TracTrac), Rooster, Sailingfast, Tideway and Wildwind. We are lucky to have them and have upped our game on Social Media to try to make sure they see a greater return – it helps the class of course that we are also telling our story rather better to the outside world which I hope will fuel further growth.
All the above are reasons to be cheerful as Ian Dury would have said – younger sailors go look it up on Spotify…..he’s good. But there is plenty more for us to do. We can do a better job reaching down into Club “Laser” sailors – the Regional Youth Series is an important step in that direction, as are the Grand Prix. A member of my club only yesterday said “but why would I pay to become a member?” – 15 minutes later she was still unconvinced even though her sailors were committed regionally and had previously enjoyed our training. We’ve made progress with encouraging girls and women but we still fall well short. I’ve just come back from the BUSA Team Racing Finals where 47% of sailors were female – still not parity but near as damn it – so I don’t really buy the lazy “they’ve got other things to be doing when they get to 16” thinking. And we have this constant wrestle with fitting our numbers into available venues. The recent NO1 at Warsash shows we try to get away from WPNSA when we can – and what a success it was, but I’d ask for everyone’;s support when we go to East Lothian in the Autumn as I know the club volunteers there were just as enthusiastic last year as we found at Warsash. It’s a long way but we can make it fun! And finally having seen the good bad and the ugly of race management in the UK and abroad I do believe we run high quality events but be aware it really annoys me when the rules go out the window – that is not the right culture for the Class.
That’s it from me for now. Please get in touch if you want to talk or contribute. A lot of planning to be done for the Nationals still. Please don’t be shy if you can help, and let’s see if we can test that stretch target.
Neil
Snippets
Upcoming Masters events:
Master Series WPNSA - 23-24th May 2026
Masters National Championships Parkstone YC - 3-5 July 2026
Recent National Opens:
For your support Rooster are providing a discount code for ILCA Members : ILCAUK10 for 10% off a range of Rooster products!
Pictures from National Opens:
NO2: Rooster ILCA National Open 2 - Ilca SMPhotos
NO3: https://ilcasmphotos.smugmug.com/2026-ILCA-UK-Events/2026-National-Open/Ovington-ILCA-National-Open-3/n-csWXZj
Videos:
NO1: https://youtu.be/DmeHcdevsL8?si=iJ9KOzZPQWMiLRky
NO2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27zBlIY036s
NO3: https://youtu.be/lRfBw2OHgNA?si=wjfe3aVAvQsIDMdg
👉🏼Ovington Insights/Tractracuk replay:
NO1: https://www.tractrac.com/event-page/event_20260210_ILCAUKNati/3451
NO2 & NO3: Tractracuk racing replay: https://www.tractrac.com/event-page/event_20260321_ILCAUKNati/3441:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lOjIKZHIq8
Weekend sponsors:
Ovington Boats https://ovingtonboats.com/ilca/
Sailingfasthttps://sailingfast.co.uk/product-category/sailing/boat/ilca/
Rooster https://www.roostersailing.com/
Noble Marine https://www.noblemarine.co.uk/boat-insurance/ilca-dinghy-insurance
Follow us on social media:
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ilca_uk/
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ILCAUK/
• Website https://ilca.uk/
👉🏼Sign up to ILCA UK Chair blog: https://portal.ilca.uk/subscriptions
See all the results here: https://ilca.uk/ilca-uk-results-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 - 22-28th July 2026
Masters events (over 30)
Introduction to Masters sailing - ILCA UK NEW Masters rep Gareth Humphrey
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
Snippets
Youth World Championships 2026 - Notice of Selection