ILCA-UK Training
As we move from Autumn National Opens, Inlands and Masters Inlands into colder winter sailing so the focus shifts more towards training options so I thought I’d make some observations on what’s available. Having had a couple of children go through various incarnations of ILCA-UK’s offer as well as having spent a chunk of time teaching and coaching sailing in an earlier life, I’ve a few insights. Up to individuals which are helpful but here at least to get people thinking are my pointers.
The first thing I’d say (again) is we are blessed by scale and this allows us to provide training that is suitable for all sorts of levels of ILCA sailor.
Starting to learn to race really is the purview of Junior Class Regatta fleets and Club offerings but after that the Class offers a wealth of options all of which are high quality. Sailors can hone their skills at Regional Open Training and progress through to National Training.
We have the Women and Girls training option which is funded by the RYA / Sport England Evolution Grant. I’m so pleased to see that now being rolled out to more and more venues including for instance putting a day on ahead of the (now cancelled) Masters Inlands at Draycote. Watch out for new Womens Days being added to the calendar – Christine Statham and her team are getting some real momentum into building a pipeline there and it’s fantastic to hear the feedback. Christine comments:
“It’s been a great start to our women’s and girls’ coaching programme! So far, we’ve run four sessions across the regions, with 32 women and girls attending and benefiting from the coaching.
There’s more to look forward to this year, with a session at Draycote on Friday 4 December, followed by sessions at Delph and Chipstead on 12 December. Looking ahead to 2027, we have a session scheduled at Parkstone on Friday 19 February, and another planned for Royal Harwich.
We’ve also had some really positive feedback about the benefits of female-only coaching environments and the safe space they provide.
And don’t forget to save the date for the Women and Girls’ National Regatta at Rutland on 3–4 July 2027. We’d love to see you there!”
Of course there are other training options away from ILCA-UK both through the RYA pathway squad system, going overseas if that’s your bag or other non ILCA-UK groups. Choices….. And on top of that the Class provides overseas event support through its partnership with the Andrew Simpson Performance Academy. We are close to launching the overseas support programme for 2027 which will include for the first time the ability for people to pay in instalments to spread the load – more on that soon. Ensuring the ongoing success of our overseas event support is important to make sure that no-one gets left behind.
Alongside all of these positives I do observe some slightly less than healthy perceptions. The first is in respect of National Training. Some seem reticent to sign up unless they get the specific coach they want; others, having not attained the qualifying threshold, ask for exceptions to be made - since the end of the qualifying events the training team has received a stream of such requests. The qualifying criteria we set were to ensure that the best sailors have an opportunity to train with each other irrespective of which region they are from. If you aspire to get into National Training it’s clear the more qualifying events you choose to go to the better your chances of reaching the threshold. Those who chose to go to East Lothian gave themselves the best chance of making the required standard. Others did not but that was a choice. We have had to be clear that if we relax our criteria for one we will have to relax them for all and that will simply be unworkable. As to coach selection the training team work hard with our coaches to make the right decisions but those decisions are objective and are taken for the benefit of the whole Class not for individual preferences. By the way, exposure to more than one coach to get different perspectives has a real value if its managed carefully.
Also importantly, many seem to miss that Regional Open Training provides an excellent grounding where sailors at that level can really hone the basics to give themselves a solid platform for the future. The level of coaching is still excellent often using many of the same coaches we use at National Training and when you train with other sailors at the same level as yourself you can made real progress. This builds real confidence rather than being continually spat out the back of training runs. I have real life experience of this working very well.
The Training sub-committee works hard to put these great training programmes together. If everyone gets behind them as a collective effort then their value will be all the better for it.
A further perception appears to be that you need to always train on the sea. At a certain level that becomes true but far more important through the winter is to maximise the value you get from your weekends training. A shore dump at say Stokes Bay in the middle of winter isn’t going to help you make much progress. Hours on the water are important, but being purposeful is “importanter”!
What about our “more mature” ILCA sailors who go racing week in week out, most probably making the same mistakes they made the week before and most probably not making huge progress in whatever pecking order has been established in their fleet for years? How many of them actually train to improve? I know my own step change in dinghy racing results came the year I drove a rib all winter for the legend Mike Mac – at the time Cadet Class National Coach. I wasn’t training per se but I learnt more that winter than ever before (or since!). I see the Queen Mary ILCA fleet (dare I say it who are generally more mature) getting its act together and signing up for some pearls of wisdom from Micky Beckett and its worth mentioning that the Class has a coaches register where we can help clubs access other coaches in their area who are relatively cheap to hire and will put a lot into raising the standard. The ILCA fleet at Waldringfield (my club) has similarly accessed someone not too distant from me to help them make progress. If you have someone local and club ribs you can access cheaply or for free it's really a very cheap option. Our training group can help with making connections.
Hopefully that’s all helpful. We owe a big thankyou to Fiona Grayton, Claire, Kathryn and the rest of the training team and coaches who work so hard to pull all this together. There’s a tonne of work - often thankless. It’s a really important element of the culture of the Class and one I am keen to preserve as when the Class pulls together everyone benefits.
Dovetailing nicely with all matters training comes news of “Fitness to Win” by Michael Blackburn newly published by Class Sponsor Fernhurst Books. ILCA7 sailor and former Topper World Champ Joe Rowe has reviewed it, he writes:
“The book is written by someone who has not only won an Olympic medal and Laser World Championship but has also coached the winners of the last four ILCA 7 gold medals. I will never get the chance to be coached by him, but this book gave me a fantastic opportunity to learn from him and all his experience. A great book. I have found it really useful to help build a better structure and give my training more focus.”
I’ve already got my copy – it has links to videos, it’s as relevant to Club sailors as to our real National Champions and comes featuring ILCA luminaries Mikey Beckett, Matilda Nicholls, Joe Rowe and Jane Sunderland (!).
https://fernhurstbooks.com/books/permalink/195/fitness_to_win
There are a few new snippets below worth looking at too when you’ve a spare moment.
Have a great week.
Neil
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