Mark Lyttle Mark Lyttle

UKLA Chair blog #5

Skills week, ILCA4 worlds and coming to Qualifers

I have had a couple of weeks family holiday away from sailing but if the wind is good and the water level not too low, I hope to make it to Queen Mary for club racing on Sunday.

Meanwhile, it is a very busy month ILCA sailing for many of you. Today UKLA Skills week started at WPNSA with 82 boats. It is probably the largest class training event in the UK but with 11 coaches, an 8:1 coach / sailor ratio, with Olympians like Ali Young as coaches and a world class venue, it is exceptional value for money at £200-£240 for 5 days coaching. UKLA are subsidising the event to the tune of around £6,000. We can do this for our members as a result of the long-term support of the RYA and our sponsors.

August also sees over 50 GBR boats in Villamoura for the ILCA4 and ILCAU21 World Championships. Well done to all the ILCA4 sailors who have just finished and good luck to the U21 sailors this week.

Entries for the three autumn qualifiers are now open. Qualifiers is probably the wrong word as these are just high quality open meetings with a wide range of experience levels. Also, certainly for youth sailors, it is rare that there is competition for places at international events and qualification usually means attending at least one qualifier. So, if you have never attended one of these events why not come along and give it a try?

Finally, do you feel you are not heavy enough for an ILCA6? Well, UKLA are encouraging adults to race an ILCA4 is the qualifiers. As the qualifier in Hayling Island is also a masters event, we are especially encouraging master sailors in the ILCA4 fleet at that event.

All the best

Mark

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Mark Lyttle Mark Lyttle

UKLA Chair blog #4

Building resilience

I watched in awe Adam Peaty competing in the Commonwealth Games as he is such an athlete and competitor. I believe he was unbeaten in the 100m breaststroke since 2014 having broken the world record around 8 times. But here he was fading down the last 50m eventually finishing fourth. Maybe it was a bit unsurprising as his training was interrupted by a foot injury but he was disappointed to say the least. Then a day or two later he showed the resilience of a true champion and rebounded by winning the 50m race.

This all made me think of ILCA racing. Firstly, sailing an ILCA in over 12 knots is a big physical test and you may have heard Daisy and Mathilda at the Nationals talk about how intense the physical training is for elite ILCA sailors. Master sailors among you know that you will get a good workout over a windy weekend. In fact, both Guy Noble and Stick Daring (Neil Peters) both said their "bio watches" were showing 10 days to full recovery after the Masters Nationals!

Of course, for elite sailors mental preparation and training is at least as important, but many of us will understand, especially post Covid, how important sailing and racing is our mental well-being. Beyond that, ILCA racing is a great sport for building both independence and resilience in younger sailors. We know the RYA put great emphasis on the former, not just around coaches facilitating learning on the water (rather than telling sailors what to do) but off water activities. Anything from dealing with protests and to making sure your water bottles are filled.

Perhaps the biggest benefit is building resilience through the ups and downs of sporting competition. After all, the essence of sport is winning some and losing some or not knowing the outcome in advance. Our racing has so many factors outside our control like wind, current and other boats and helping and supporting younger sailors build that resilience when results don't match their expectations is key. In my view, building that resilience is a great skill in life. One skill Adam Peaty exudes.

Just a final note to say to that the UKLA committee has collected lots of feedback on the Nationals through the survey and directly. Overall the event was very well received and we will assess suggestions over the next month or so.

All the best

Mark

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Mark Lyttle Mark Lyttle

UKLA Chair Blog #3

Overview of UKLA training…..

UKLA aims to provide training for all levels and I wanted to provide you with an overview.

Our regional open training, led by our UKLA training officer Tim Hulse, was a great success last year. It has opened our training to a wider demographic of sailor, both in age and ability. Open training is truly ‘open’ and we celebrate this as a Class Association, ensuring all sailors in the Class feel supported.

This year in 22/23 we have also introduced UKLA subsidised club training which clubs were invited to bid on. At least six of these training sessions are now available on the calendar at clubs across the country. This is an exciting initiative which we hope to build on depending on the feedback this year.

We will also now have a National Training Weekend monthly alongside the existing regional open training. These are for more experienced racers who regularly attend our National events or International events. 

 

So for ILCA4 sailors, as well as the regional open training, there will be monthly National training for more experienced sailors. In addition, the RYA have regional training groups (RTGs) in three regions to which you must apply through the RYA (deadline is 11th Sept). Our aim in the UKLA is to provide training to a wide base of ILCA4 sailors to develop their core skills.

 

For ILCA6 sailors, we also have the regional open training and there will be monthly National training for more experienced sailors. In addition the RYA have their Youth Squad which is typically a smallish group of sailors (deadline for applying through RYA is 18th Sept) with the National training seen as a compliment to this.

 

For ILCA7 sailors as well as the regional open training, there is National training with ASC Performance Academy run in conjunction with the UKLA catering for U23s who aspire to the top end of ILCA7 sailing.

 

To a large extent, dates have been designed to ensure minimal clashes with UKLA training available on our calendar.

 

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Mark Lyttle Mark Lyttle

UKLA Chair blog #2

Upcoming stuff

Last week the first messages I received after my blog #1 were inspiring.

First, Jon Holt from the Scaramouche Sailing Trust/Greig City Academy, which had four sailors competing at the Nationals. The trust’s role is to enable students, who would never otherwise get afloat, to reach sailing heights. Then Simon Foster from Poole Yacht Club got in touch to say their local ILCA training the previous weekend had an age spread of 56 - the oldest being 70! And the third message in was from Sam Whaley who has just joined our committee - Sam is part of the British Sailing Team and a full time ILCA sailor. While we are far from perfect it goes to show what we have to build on in terms of inclusivity. Of course it has its challenges in the need to be sensitive and aware of the diverse needs of our community.

After the Nationals, I am sure some of you are looking for sailing opportunities in August and beyond. I am afraid the UKLA Skills Week, which is back this year as ILCA Transition Week, is now fully booked with 80 bookings. We have already extended numbers twice. It’s a super initiative that is partly funded by UKLA to promote skills development in our community:

  • Supporting any sailor transitioning into the ILCA from another class

  • Supporting and developing any sailor moving between/new to ILCA rigs

  • Offering an opportunity to train at a world class venue with fantastic coaches to all class members, of any experience, any ability and any age!

There are open meetings in our calendar but I know many members love Poole week which has lots of racing (and fun) for ILCAs over the week. Thanks to Darren Howarth for the link www.pooleweek.org. Our training for the autumn also opens this week – I will provide a further insight to our plans in the next blog.

A quick mention of the GBR and UKLA team that competed in the ILCA6 Worlds in Houston last week -you will see more on FB - well done to all of them but in particular to Carys Attwell who finished 6th!

Finally some of you will have seen the post about our friend Tony Woods – if you would like to help by donating, here is the JustGiving link

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Mark Lyttle Mark Lyttle

UKLA Chair blog #1

Hi there ILCA sailors,

This is my first post as the new UKLA Chair and I would like to start by thanking Rob Cage for the sterling work he and his committee have done in transforming the UKLA over recent years. We have a thriving class and I look forward to building on that.

Talking about thriving, the UK Nationals has been a huge success with 260 entries across all three rigs. It has been a super week on and off the water and my thanks to the UKLA team and volunteers and of course Hayling Island Sailing Club for making it so great.

Just a note for those that don’t know me. I got my first Laser in 1977 (yes it had a wooden tiller), grew up sailing in Dun Laoghaire, doing events around Ireland and internationally. I sailed a Laser in 1996 Olympics and have lived in London since then. For many years after I club raced at Queen Mary and started doing Master events in UK (and two World championships) five years ago. I have three boys who all sail ILCAs now.

So, what’s the plan now? The ILCA is uniquely positioned as the most inclusive dinghy there is. We have age groups from young teenagers to sailors in their eighties up and down the country, sailing and racing at clubs, locally, nationally and all the way to the Olympics. It is a class for everyone. And we want to build on that and promote those unique benefits. I want you all to help with that by participating and volunteering.

I hope to post regularly with personal views and information about ILCA sailing in general but please continue to check our website, social media channels and your emails to get all the information and news you need. And if you have something you want to share, please let me know (no promises on using it though!)

All the best

Mark

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