ILCA UK Chair blog #98

Jul 22

The Opening Ceremony for the Paris 24 Olympic Games takes place this coming Friday 26th July with the ILCA single-handed events starting on 1st August. Olympic sailing remains the pinnacle of our sport with sailors from all over the world striving to participate and get on the podium. While some sports may have a different attitude to the Olympics (I am thinking in particular about sports like golf and tennis where an Olympics Gold medal may not have the cache of winning The Open or Wimbledon), sailing has a long history of being in the Olympics. The biggest change is recent years is perhaps the equal number of men and women competing for the same number of medals but there is also the evolving classes used. Here’s the low down on ILCA racing in Paris 24.

The ILCA7 has been part of the Olympics since 1996 with the ILCA6 being added as the women’s single-handed event in 2008. Of course, ILCA is renowned as the most competitive racing there is. We are the “universal class”, with more countries competing than any other class – 43 in Paris. But across all the ILCA World championships, the accessibility of the ILCA is profound – the recent World Sailing Youth Championships had 62 and 53 countries respectively in the ILCA men and women categories, way more than many other class.

Of course, it is not just that the ILCA is sailed everywhere, it is that the boats are equal, In Paris where the boats are supplied, no sailor has a better sail or a more flexible mast. Here is the technical story of the ILCA for Paris.

While ILCA sailing probably does relate well to the Olympic ideal of “fastest, highest, stronger” more than most classes, there are challenges to retaining sailing in the Olympics. We need to make sure the sport is marketable. That means engaging across media channels not just with sailors but also a broader audience. We need “stars” and we need to evolve how we run racing to make it more engaging to those audiences without compromising what we like about our sport. The ILCA is highly accessible but there is more to be done to engage countries in places like Africa, Oceania and the Caribbean. We certainly need to reduce our carbon footprint in connection with equipment, travel and events to make the sport more sustainable. And we need greater diversity at all levels, not just among sailors but also coaches and officials.

Finally, best of luck to Hannah and Micky. If you are one of thousands of ILCA sailors around the country that can relate directly to their competition as you sail exactly the same boat, please like the post in our FB channel.

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 Youth Open event at Royal Lymington YC 27/28th July has sadly been cancelled

Other ILCA events

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

Poole Week is popular with many ILCA sailors – more info here and ILCA Big Monday at Parkstone Yacht Club

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/

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

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