ILCA UK Chair Blog #176

May 18

I’ve rather lost track of the number of years I’ve been coming to (as they were then) Laser Qualifiers and Nationals and (more recently) ILCA National Opens and Nationals – sometimes it's best not to count. At times it has taken me back to venues where I can just about remember what happened last time, and on occasions to venues where I swore blind I would never return. Occasionally I get memories on Facebook of results I posted where my sailor was somewhere near the bottom of the list, rather than now somewhere nearer the top and I distinctly remember driving off Hayling Island after a bruising windy weekend when I said “you don’t have to do this you know”. The ILCA journey isn’t a single pathway of course. One of its strengths as a boat is you can be 13 years old in an ILCA4 and just club sail, or travel to regional opens or go full-in and do the national/ international circuit thing. And you can be of a slightly more mature age in a 6 or 7 (or a 4 for that matter) and stay in the boat until almost any age. There’s an ILCA sailor at my club well into his 80’s – he bought a new Harken kicker at the dinghy show this year because he had to have the latest thing – and I believe the Masters circuit had to invent a new top age category recently by popular demand.

But of course the boat isn’t perfect – an aging design, heavy, expensive sails and a stupidly small rudder that makes it harder to sail than it could be. And when I go to those old results lists, there are literally hundreds of sailors, some of whom were uber-dedicated and dreamt the dream, who no longer sail ILCAs with us. But that’s also the beauty of the ILCA Class. Wherever you go in the sailing world there are ILCA sailors. Cape 31s traipsing around Europe on big budgets, ilca sailors calling the shots – tick; Tom Slingsby in SailGP, the America’s Cup – tick; former Olympians Ali Young or Nick Thompson recycling their considerable skills, experience and talent as coaches – tick…….and when wearing one of my other hats (President of BUSA) I dip into the world of University sailing I’m delighted to see ILCA sailors everywhere – and simply smashing it. Last week at the Wilson Trophy – the pinnacle of team racing worldwide – there were the Rutland Raiders coming second overall with Ben and Jamie Tylecote and Terry Hacker (all ILCA sailors past or present, students all of them) helming against 33 of the top team racing teams from the UK and across the world. The same is true elsewhere…..Will Pank and Tommie Grit have literally transformed sailing at UEA during their short time there and yet occasionally still find time to return and jump in an ILCA (alongside a full on 49er campaign) as they did at last year’s Nationals. The point of this ramble, if its not clear, is ILCA sailors come and go but ILCA sailing can set you on a sailing pathway for life. The BUSA students by and large organise things for themselves and learn great life skills along the way. Sometimes this broader picture gets forgotten and its important because clearly by definition not everyone can make it to top of the pyramid.

And none of this happens without volunteers. Our sport is particularly volunteer reliant due to the complexity of what we do. Hopefully you’ll have seen the call for more volunteers to run the Nationals – the same is true of all our events. Many people don’t realise that none of our race management teams gets paid, some get expenses but most don’t actually claim back all they have spent. Same is true of the jury who are often sitting late into the evening hearing protests, and tally, beach, bridge, results, registration and on and on. The clarion call is that, as the class continues to grow, we need more volunteers to make things happen. Please don’t think that because you’ve paid your sailor’s entry fee you’re “done”. It would be lovely to think it works like that - it doesn’t. If you’re worried that you’re not a sailor and might not be a help, you absolutely will be and you’ll learn new skills. You may be a 4 parent whose sailor has just started in the Class and because you don’t know everyone you think the race officers are being cliquey – we’re really not trying to be…..it’s just that when we get to an event we don’t have a lot of spare time to get to know everyone. So if you want to help and don’t know where to start please email Ellie or Claire and we will find you a role. It doesn’t need to be week long – a few days here or there also helps. Similarly at the Nationals we will hold the AGM and there will be roles that need filling both on the general committee and the various sub-committees who make everything happen. The Women and Girls sub committee, the Sailing sub committee and Masters would all I’m sure welcome extra help. And at the Nationals this year to say thank-you we are having a volunteer drinks evening, supported, I’m delighted to say, by class sponsor Noble Marine Insurance…..I’ll certainly be looking forwards to sharing a pint with lots of you.

Neil

Upcoming events:

Womens Regatta https://portal.ilca.uk/event/ILCA-Women-2026-Burton

Master Series WPNSA - 23-24th May 2026

Masters National Championships Parkstone YC - 3-5 July 2026

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

Fernhurst Books https://fernhurstbooks.com

Tideway Wealth https://tidewaywealth.co.uk

Wildwind https://wildwind.co.uk