UKLA Chair blog #12

At the UKLA committee meeting on Thursday we approved our strategy / focus for the coming year.

It will be a fairly dynamic document that gives you an idea of the priorities of UKLA. No doubt there won't be full agreement from our members on everything and other things will arise during the year. It is worth noting that we are making good progress on some of these

Feedback is of course welcome. And thank you to those who have sent me emails after reading the blog and apologies if I have not replied to all of those. 

All the best

Mark

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UKLA Chair blog #11

I was on the balcony of Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on Saturday watching the ILCAs sailing in a steady 25 knots (gusting 30) at the UKLA open national training. The coaches did a super job getting the sailors out in smaller groups and it was a rare and thrilling opportunity for sailors to sail in these conditions. There is nothing like sailing an ILCA on a broad reach in such wind, but it got me thinking about how little that happens these days.

Back in the period prior to the Laser/ILCA getting Olympic status in 1996, we sailed long races, often over 2 hours and sometimes only one a day, round a triangle, sausage, triangle course. It meant great broad reaching but by the time it came to the run, the fleet was already spread out with big gaps between boats. In the run up to 1996 we switched to a 50-minute, trapezoid courses with lots of running and no broad reaching. Two things happened- serious aerobic fitness was required at the top level and modern running techniques (rolling the boat to facilitate steering in waves) emerged. While broad reaching 25 knots is now more likely to be found in club racing, it also reminds me that just taking your ILCA out for a “blast" in strong winds can be a lot of fun.

I am sure many of you have been following the progress of the British Sailing Team of Daisy and Matilda at the ILCA6 Worlds in Texas and indeed some of our Masters at the Europeans the previous week in Spain. There are regular posts our Facebook channel. I know not everyone is a supporter of that channel, but right now this provides a great reach for UKLA with over 3,000 followers and significant interaction with our posts. You may also be interested that Ellie has re-initiated our twitter feed which now is being used solely to retweet ILCA Y&Y event reports. You may be surprised at how many there are and how much is going on in ILCA around the UK.

Finally, just to mention the Inlands at Grafham on 5th/6th Nov - we have reached capacity in the ILCA6 and close to it in the ILCA4, however there are spaces in the ILCA7. With many of the top sailors away at the Europeans and it being an inland venue, it is opportunity for you to get some great racing - why not come and join us?

All the best

Mark

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UKLA Chair blog #10

One of the great things about ILCA sailing in the UK is that you can line up against some of best in the world. At the autumn qualifier at WPNSA in 2021, I recall hovering on the start line with a minute to go and below me was Michael Beckett, who had just won the Europeans, and above me was Elliot Hanson, who had just come back from the Tokyo Olympics as GBR’s representative. How exciting and humbling it is to be 58 years of age and competing with those guys (or at least being in the same race 😊).

When Daisy Collingridge and Matilda Nicholls are competing now in Texas at the ILCA6 Worlds for the British Sailing Team, we had the two of them coming 1st and 2nd in our National Championship and taking part in Q&A sessions. While we are privileged to have these sailors (and others on the BST) in our fleet, while challenging to compete in the Olympics at the same time, they give something back. I wonder whether there are other important aspects of ILCA sailing that we overlook.

But let me build up to that. I remember as a 16-year-old going on the ferry to a team-racing event in West Kirby with a bunch of older sailors (probably only in their early twenties). What an experience that was! Learning from these sailors not just about tips and tricks in team racing, but also the social side of things where they are looking out for a younger sailor.

In Weymouth recently, I got talking with Peter Allam, who runs WPNSA, and Roger Hakes, both members of Parkstone about how great our sport is for mixing up age groups and how important that is for everyone.

Unlike other sports, sailing is not rigidly structured around age group competitions and allows not only youth sailors of different ages to complete against each other, but also more (and less) experienced adults to compete against younger sailors.

Roger told me how he went ILCA club racing with his son Tom in Parkstone and apart from the obvious thrill of being together on the same racecourse, it was an opportunity to visit the main club house together after racing. The younger Hakes was able to engage in chat about the racing with his dad’s friends and fellow racers, and experience some of the banter around the racing. It also allowed experienced ILCA racers like Alan Davis to share their tips across the generations. Our sport allows this all in an easy way. It helps children develop and learn in a supportive environment with informal mentors.

In the past, this was often adults and children crewing together in a double-handed boats, but ILCA sailing affords a new way of looking at this with its three rigs (ILCA 4, 6 and 7) often seeing one start line and course. I see this at UKLA open meetings and training where more and more parent / child groups are racing – I think of Matt and Dan Fletcher, James Noel and his son Alfie, Alex and Thomas Davey, Roger and Tom Hakes and at Skills week, Jane Sunderland and her sons and Fiona Atwell with her daughter (not an exhaustive list).  I see this racing against my son Josh’s friends who have just moved to the ILCA7, where there is lots of banter especially when I beat them the odd time!

So, everyone can race together by selecting the rig that suits you. There is place for everyone. ILCA now provides an opportunity to race together across the ages. It encourages a less regular sailing parent or child to come and race against you. And it is probably every bit as important as supporting our elite sailors like Michael, Elliot, Daisy and Matilda and the rest of the British Sailing Team.

Finally, could I say that we continue to look for venues for our Qualifiers that can handle 200 boats on and off the water. We know and have contacted many venues, but they do have to be interested and available in Autumn and Spring– if you know of one, let us know.

All the best

Mark

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UKLA Chair blog #9

September and through to the weekend just finished was an incredibly busy month for ILCA sailors and the UKLA. As well as UKLA open regional training, we had four major open meetings (three main Qualifiers and one Masters Qualifier). I have also heard reports of strong turnouts at clubs around the country as well as well-attended open meetings. ILCA sailing and the UKLA are vibrant with strong numbers. But we are not sitting back, with the UKLA Committee in the process of agreeing our strategic initiatives for the year ahead, which we would like to share with the class in due course. We are also meeting this week to discuss your feedback on the Nationals with recommendations.

Looking ahead, this weekend we have a Super Grand-prix on 8th/9th Oct at Burton Sailing Club with tickets still available until the 5th. There are several UKLA training events and various open meetings in our calendar for October and beyond on www.ilca.uk. We also have quite a few masters heading off to the Europeans in Spain and then at the start of November is the ever-popular inlands at Grafham. With a short sail to the racing area and tactical lake conditions, I would encourage those who don’t often attend our Qualifiers to come along.

Thanks to those who offered their time in response to last week’s blog – we had a great response with around ten offers of help!

Finally, today we are launching a WhatsApp Group for ILCA class captains in clubs across the UK to allow us to better communicate with each other. If you are a class captain, please click link contained within the email to join the group or please feel free to send on to others who are ILCA Class Captains.

All the best

Mark

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UKLA Chair blog #8

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport. I remember my dad taking over, almost 50 years ago, as the junior affairs office of our club and the work seemed all-consuming. Today, clubs and class associations still need volunteers to keep things going but it has become increasingly difficult. Everyone is so much busier and of course we are more used to a service culture where everything can be bought. But the natural consequence of that, is higher prices for things that used to be done by volunteers and ultimately the exclusion of those who can’t afford to participate. And that’s before we talk about the mental wellbeing that can be derived from giving something back!

Today Ellie does a great job supporting UKLA and its close to a 1,000 members, but lots of the work is done by volunteers, both on the UKLA committee in supporting roles, and of course at our events and training. They all do a great job and it is much appreciated. To keep the class growing and moving forward we have developed a plan around volunteers.

First, we have identified where we need extra help and you will see some of those roles below. Often, they require a just couple of hours a month and are usually desk based.  Thank you to those you have offered help already, bear with us as sometimes it takes a little time to get roles up and running. Please email me or Ellie (resources@ilca.uk) if you can help.

We also want to make volunteering at our events easy, transparent and flexible and we have a group (including Brett and Ellie) working on this.

Finally, we want to acknowledge and reward our volunteers better. So, as a starter, at the last UKLA regatta of the season at the Inlands in Grafham, we will have a drinks reception after racing on Saturday for anyone that has volunteered during the year.

Event Admin

This involves providing some extra support in the lead up to our events using Sailing Club Manager (we use this to manage entries etc). We will get you up to speed on the software and then there is some flexibility around when activities can be done.

Support for Sailing Secretary

Keith would like help sourcing and contacting venues for our events.

Sponsorship management

UKLA has 6 sponsors, and the role involves liaising with them to ensure we meet their requirements at our events. It is not about finding sponsors. A couple of hours a month and both would suit someone with a business or media background.

UKLA Technical Manager / webmaster

Helps make website changes and use photoshop etc. Several hours a month. Technical skills needed. 

Results Archive

Updates our website with results of historic UKLA events and UKLA as they happened. Several hours per month. Skills using software applications. 

Media – UKLA events

This involves organising and managing the photography, video interviews and write-ups of our main events. It is a co-ordination role.

Media – Features writer

UKLA would like to publish 3 or 4 feature articles a year that promote the ILCA to a wider sailing and non-sailing audience. This role may suit someone who wants to develop a career in writing (or always wanted to!)

All the best

Mark

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UKLA Chair blog #7

We want our class to be a welcoming place for all sailors, parents and volunteers no matter their level of experience or their age. We need to show each other respect. We want to encourage and nurture a culture where we can all enjoy the sport and display sportsmanship on and off the water.

ILCA racing is a competitive activity and, as you might expect for someone who has competed in the Olympics, not to mention regular National events and club racing, I would not want to minimise the emotions that can be produced in the intense arena of competition – such as results not going in line with expectations, other boats getting in the way, or seemingly breaking rules and wind not conforming to expectations.

But we must remember everyone has different skills and experience, not to mention expectations. If you have found yourself shouting aggressively at another sailor or bullying them into sailing a certain direction or using foul language (this is not an exhaustive list), it is time to think again.

Foul language and poor and/or aggressive behaviour on or off the water at our events is not acceptable.

The reason I am raising this before the upcoming Qualifiers is that we received several reports of foul language and aggressive behaviour at the recent Nationals in Hayling Island and the UKLA will therefore be taking action to improve this going forward. Happily, this does not appear to be widespread but a number of isolated incidents.

First, I would remind sailors that they can report incidents to the directly Protest Committee. If “a breach of good manners, a breach of good sportsmanship, or unethical behaviour” or “conduct that may bring, or has brought, the sport into disrepute” comes to the attention of the Protest Committee, by whatever means, that may lead to the Protest Committee deciding to call a formal hearing under Rule 69.

If the Protest Committee decides that there has been a breach of Rule 69, a wide range of actions is available to it, ranging from a warning for the least serious cases to excluding the person(s) concerned from the event or venue and taking other action.

Second, if a sailor, parent or volunteer would like to raise an incident informally, please let Ellie know in the Race Office or talk directly to one of the class reps - ILCA7 (Sam Whaley), ILCA6 (Jane Sunderland) and ILCA4 (Pamela Cross). Please note that UKLA will not investigate any allegations or impose sanctions as this can only be done by the Protest Committee.

Thank you for your support in making the class a better place and I look forward to seeing you at upcoming events.

All the best

Mark

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UKLA Chair blog #6

Just quick post this week as I have been at a funeral on Monday. Luckily, I managed one race on Sunday at QM in light and shifty conditions and it was nice to be back on water with fellow QM sailors as well as racing against my two older boys in ILCA7s. Also great to see Tony Woods back out racing. 

I was drawn to a Yachts and Yachting headline on twitter “Big Laser (ILCA) Wednesday at Tynemouth Sailing Club” which went on to say, “Well we unashamedly replicated the format from Parkstone Yacht Club in rounding up and cajoling as many Laser/ILCA sailors as possible to sail one evening”. That was back in 2021 when they had 62 ILCAs. Tynemouth didn’t quite match that, but they did have 26 on the water – well done to them. I seem to recall there were 40 ILCAs for a club race at Queen Mary earlier in the summer – I have a sense of a “roll of honour” developing – why not email me your biggest ILCA club race this year and let’s get the ball rolling ?

All the best

Mark

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UKLA Chair blog #5

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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UKLA Chair blog #4

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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UKLA Chair Blog #3

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.

UKLA Chair blog #2

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

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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