ILCA UK Chair Blog #96

John F. Kennedy's inaugural presidential address stressed the importance of public service. His historic words, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” still challenges us to today. Organised sport is not a commercial activity for the most part but relies on volunteers at every level. And ILCA UK is no different. We are a class association that comes together to organise ILCA activities in the UK. We have around a thousand members, run over 10 National competitions, each processing over 100 entries, provide 1,800 sailor training days per year and have hundreds of sailors aged 13 to 80 competing in international events. And I am not counting club sailing or the hundred or so ILCA open meetings each year organised by clubs. None of this happens, despite our hard-working part-time class secretary Ellie, with support from Leo in the office, without a hoard of volunteers. And it not just the volunteers at events, it is those that plan and organise behind the scenes between events. My sincere thanks as ever to those volunteers.

One thing I am passionate about for ULCA UK is our openness. We welcome sailors for differing experience and ages at our events and there is no “us” and “them”. We don’t select, nor have squads or teams. People often think “oh it’s the Olympic ILCA class, its going to be cut-throat”. Yes it is the most competitive class in the world but for the most part the top sailors will support and encourage those that are less experienced. That’s our culture and we want to protect it.

Of course we don’t always get everything right and there are things to improve. And that’s where we need your help – to keep the class strong and improving.

You will see the notice below of our AGM to (re)elect our new committee. ILCA UK is run by a main committee. There are six Flag Officers (Chair, Vice-Chair, Sailing Sec, Training, Treasurer and Measurer) and up to 11 General Committee roles. There has been a significant shift though away from the Main Committee to Sub-committees to manage the day-to-day activity of the class and this will continue after August. All roles are up for re-election every year so if you are interested, you just need a proposer and seconder in the first instance. Please talk to any current committee member or myself if you want more information.

There are some specific areas we are looking to fill roles on the Main Committee, Sub-committees and others. Please let me know or any committee member know if interested in one of these.

Main Committee

Master Rep – we have an active Masters sub-committee doing a lot of the work but need a Chair to lead that sub-committee and be the appointed Masters Rep.

Treasurer – we are looking for someone to lead the Finance sub-committee, with the role now divided into 4 key parts. We are also supplementing the role with some paid support (see below and subject to approval).

General committee roles – these roles will also involve active participation on one of the sub-committees.

Sub-committees

These have delegated authority to make day to day decisions, noted by the main committee. There is no requirement to be a Main Committee member for these roles, nor are they elected at the AGM.

Sailing Sub-committee – we are looking for several people to join this who have experience in organising events and/or race management /safety

Finance Sub-committee – we have four roles to fill on this new sub-committee, each with around 2 to 3 hours per month

Training sub-committee – we are looking for another person to join this sub-committee. No experience of training is required.

Other roles

Welfare / Governance - we have a mini-project to update some of our welfare policies (using RYA model templates) and processes, working alongside our Safeguarding officer, Fiona Attwell.

Social media co-ordinator – co-ordinating a group of younger sailors around Insta and possibly Tik Tok. Role to be defined but flexible.

Paid role

Bookkeeping role – around 6 hours per month – would possibly suit a student studying business or economics. No formal training is required but some skills is using excel are needed.

Snippets

Get ready for the summer – Chair’s playlist of three virtual training sessions on Youtube

ILCA UK events

You can enter the ILCA UK Noble Marine Open & National Championships 2024 – WPNSA here

AGM Notice here

The next ILCA UK event is the Masters weekend at WPNSA on 6th/7th July. Taking late entries until Tuesday mid-night. 75 entries already included 7 ILCA4s. Why not come and start your program for the Masters Europeans in Hayling Island next June? For those of you considering a return to competitive ILCA sailing after some years at this Masters event, remember you are not expected to perform at the same level as you did as a youth!

After that we also have the Women ILCA Regatta - Rutland Sailing Club on 13th/14th July. If you want to ask more about this, Fiona’s contact details are on the link. She would love to hear from those thinking of transitioning from junior classes and masters and anyone else.

Welsh Championships welcome sailors of all ages on 19/21st July and Youth is invited to sail at the Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July.

Other ILCA events

RYA British Youth Sailing Team Squad Applications for 2024-25 are now OPEN - Please Click here to apply.

Over the summer there are many open meetings and Grands Prix all over the country. See our calendar.

An opportunity to sail against other ILCA’s at Mersea Week 2024. Whilst the ILCA Nationals take place up to 17th August on 18th August to 23rd August there Mersea Week. The 50th Anniversary. Targeted at our Regional sailors in the East of England there is up to 5 days of racing, all the ILCA classes together, their own start. For entries who wish to participate for a week there is an entry. For those on a tighter budget there is the chance of taking part for three days. Further information is available at https://merseaweek.org/

In addition, for those youths looking for regional racing throughout the season, check out these (none of these are UKLA events so for details please see the organisers):