UKLA Chair Blog #72
Fitness…..
Tonight is our second winter online training - Fitness for ILCA racing. I talked about fitness back in Blog #32 where I said physical fitness remains at the core of ILCA sailing. No matter what level you are sailing at. Certainly, in windy weather it is hard to win without decent fitness, but the fitness needs changed after the Laser became an Olympic class, mainly as races became much shorter at all levels and serious aerobic fitness was required. Shortly before starting sailing full-time, I did a fitness and medical assessment. The latter identified potential back problems due to my core strength not being good enough. It was easy enough to address this but the result of the fitness assessment was a complete change of emphasis.
Prior to then, fitness for Laser sailing was mostly focussed on building stamina. For me that was long, steady runs. Today that could just as easily be cycling. That was fine for 2-hour races (or building core fitness) but the need for increased aerobic fitness meant a heart rate monitor (HRM)! I started using one after a VO2 max test and I have not stopped (sad hey?)! A VO2 max test is a measure of fitness using maximum oxygen consumption that also indicates the threshold at which there is an abrupt increase in your blood lactate. Once that happens, you can only sustain serious effort for a short period. It’s all to do with how the body consumes energy at different levels of effort.
I started doing high intensity interval training a couple of times a week using my HRM. I also did a couple of medium intensity sessions near my threshold level where you can keep going for an hour without tiring through the lactate build-up.
Did this make any difference? Yes I believe I saw this in Race 6 of the Olympic Games, where everyone was not yet training like this. We had the first race of the day in a steady 15 to 20 knots, pretty hard work. As we went up the first beat of the second race, a thunderstorm started to move through the race course with the wind increasing to 25 knots and shifting right. I rounded the weather mark in about 10th (and had to execute a hairy gybe in big waves with my kicker still on as I had to tack in under at the last second – funny the things you remmber). I survived the run passing Robert Scheidt who had been leading but death-rolled halfway down. The fitness makes a difference at the leeward mark where despite all the effort so far, you have to be able to think straight without being exhausted – left or right, has the thundercloud passed through enough? I chose right and after a couple of tacks, found myself on the weather quarter of the eventual bronze medallist and, after a minute, sailed straight over the top based on fitness alone (at least in my mind). I flew up the rest of beat and rounded in 3rd - I wasn’t one of heaviest in that fleet but I believe I was one of fittest. And the importance of that I have never forgotten. The next day we had two moderate wind races but if we’d had two windy ones, I don’t think the bronze medallist would have hung on. Ben Ainslie won that race (as I recall) and Robert passed me downwind to the finish – as well as being brilliant sailors, they were incredibly fit too.
As an aside I also tried to put on some weight through strength work in the gym but this was never successful – it works for some and not others.
Today one of reasons I keep Masters sailing is because it forces me to do fitness training as I know how important it is.
I am sure the fitness regimes have moved on a lot in the last 20 or so years so I expect you will hear what the top sailors are doing tonight from Tim Hulse and Ali Young. But one thing has not changed - fitness remains at the core of ILCA sailing.
Snippets
UKLA Youth Event
Queen Mary on 3rd/4th February - entry details shortly
UKLA Training
Winter training dates for Jan, Feb and Mar - UKLA Calendar
On 8th Jan at 7pm we are having our second virtual training of the winter – Fitness for ILCA racing. This winter the sessions are open to members (if you are not a member please join here for 2024 or renew here). Last year we ran three sessions which are available here to anyone Setting up your ILCA for performance, ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air and Getting your tactics right.
UKLA Announcements
Performance Academy Sailor Scholarship Application Form 2024
UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm
UKLA Chair Blog #71
Early specialisation…
Happy New Year to all of you! It is tremendous the amount of ILCA sailing going on over the holidays in club racing but also the recent Youth Open at Draycote and in the various Sailjuice events. I guess the reasonably mild weather helps with that. Many of you will be turning your attention to the year ahead - why not consider coming to UKLA Nationals in Weymouth in August? It has become a highly attractive event for sailors of all experience around the concept of a “festival of sailing” with a lot of onshore activities.
I decided just before Christmas to go to the Master Worlds in Adelaide in February on the basis if not now, when? 28 years ago today I started racing the Asia-Pacific Championships in the “Fremantle doctor” where the sea breeze regularly gets over 20 knots which, combined with big waves and warm weather, makes for super sailing. It was of course an iconic venue after the 1987 America’s Cup. A trip to Adelaide was hard to resist, hoping for more decent winds and having sailed a reasonable amount into the early winter. I am hoping that my preparation will be enough. Avid readers of this blog will know that I believe “time on the water” and training is the way to improve performance.
While I did lots of sailing as a youth, it wasn’t until I was 15 that I sailed outside the summer school holidays. My formative Laser years were really between 18 and 22 while at university with more time to commit and several “European tours” and that context made me believe there is lots of time to develop skills. Three decades later I got the chance to do some critical analysis on “early specialisation” (which I mentioned in my last blog) when doing a MSc in Sport Performance Analysis. It is a fascinating area which I have touched on before (blog #36). If you are interested in more reading here is a paper on early specialisation in sport in general (there may be more recent papers on this now). I also tried to apply this to sailing - Sailing – an Early Specialisation Sport? (I don’t think it is).
But it is not just youth sailors, as I have seen Guy Noble (our hard-working UKLA media officer, who is nearly a Great Grand Master) consistently put in many hours of training and racing at local, national and international events over recent years and it is tremendous to see the improvement in his performances. So it is never too late for any of us!
UKLA Chair Blog # 70
role of UKLA…
As we approach the year-end, I thought I would write on the role of UKLA for ILCA sailors, especially Youth and Junior sailors. It also comes at the time when the RYA is conducting a review of their pathway for those sailors.
As I have said many times, the benefit of our class is the inclusivity of it, a very wide age-range of sailors from 13 to over 75, across three rigs, sailing and racing in hundreds and hundreds of clubs across the country, in national and international competitions and of course two Olympic single-handed events. We are in a privileged and unique position!
And so the opportunities for ILCA sailors need to be wide-ranging. For Youth and Junior sailors, we need a pathway that is flexible and inclusive, catering for a diversity of ambitions and desires. We want to provide a platform for our sailors to make the most of themselves, not one that is focussed (just) on results. And it is not just the sailors, we have many, many volunteers organising, supporting, and promoting the class.
Thinking about ILCA sailors at clubs, today UKLA acts as a reference point, providing information on our website, a central calendar, a regular blog to over 2,250 of you and some virtual training. But of course, we need to do this on a "one to many" basis as we just don't have the resources to work with individual clubs (and its why our club training model must change in 2024). We want to encourage more women and more club racing for ILCA4s and ILCA6s. We want more clubs to offer ILCA club boats to start ILCA racing. We would like to have more training at clubs and support that with a coach register.
With 10 regions across the country, there is an excellent Grand Prix circuit (there were 78 of them in our calendar last year) but we need to promote and co-ordinate this better. We need more ILCA4s and more Youth and Junior sailors doing these circuits.
UKLA does provide regular, open regional training but we also want to support open club training at a "super-local" level. The RYA has Regional Training Groups (RTGS) for ILCA4 sailors and while we co-ordinate our schedule around this, we need to understand their strategy as it evolves. Two other challenges at this level - as a sport, how to support talented sailors at club level who don't have a boat to allow travelling, and how best to support sailors who need to be challenged beyond what may be possible at regional level.
UKLA does provide lots of opportunity at National level, whether you are a junior sailor or a master, with 10 to 12 National events each year with loads of training as well. We are not promoting the need for "early specialisation" but instead giving a foundation to many sailors with different motivations and wanting to take different paths. That's why our events are open and do not involve any selection. We don't have squads and encourage, if possible, sailors from teenagers upwards to go to international events (with many different aspirations) usually offering open regatta support to all UKLA members.
It is also why we don't support private coaching but understand that some younger sailors want to fast-track their progress. Currently, the RYA have a role here with their Youth Squad for a small number of ILCA6 sailors. Beyond this, sailors who have aspirations to Olympic level or professional sailing, still see the ILCA as the best route to that. Racing an ILCA in senior international competition is the most competitive in each to hone skills and build experience. The path to British Sailing Team or Squad level is mostly an individual one, although this year, UKLA have been trialling a mentoring scheme for U23 ILCA7 sailors to help with that.
For all ILCA sailors, we would like them to continue racing beyond youth level where they can enjoy a sport for life but also support some that are interested into coaching, jury work, event management and race management.
Thanks for your support in 2023. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and good winds in 2024.
Snippets
UKLA Training
Winter training dates for Jan, Feb and Mar - UKLA Calendar
On 8th Jan at 7pm we are having our second virtual training of the winter – Fitness for ILCA racing. This winter the sessions are open to members (if you are not a member please join here for 2024 or renew here). Last year we ran three sessions which are available here to anyone Setting up your ILCA for performance, ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air and Getting your tactics right.
UKLA Announcements
Performance Academy Sailor Scholarship Application Form 2024
RYA webinar Fast Cars; Poor Brakes – Understanding the adolescent brain.
UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm
UKLA office will be closed over the festive period (24th December 2023 - 4th January 2024)
Race reports
UKLA Chair blog #69
Micky on starting and a bit about training
I had an impromptu sail at Queen Mary on Saturday. Chris looked behind the forecast of rain and strong winds to spot a gap and encouraged eight of us on the water. What a great sail we had over 2 hours, starting with about 12knots gradually building to over 30 knot gusts – I know it was that windy as I capsized on a broad reach, the first time I have done that in many years. Overall, an exhilarating sail.
Micky Beckett gave a virtual talk on starting last week and I thought it would be worth recapping some of the main points.
He started by saying that some starts are “make or break”, while others are not. I remember the 6 knot sea breeze (or less 😉) race at the Nationals this year with a port-end bias on the starting line with a strategy to go left. This was make or break. I didn’t get a lane off that end, tried and failed to get clear air by making several tacks like many others. The only alternative was to take sterns and go right, not a winning strategy.
According to Micky, deciding when to compete for one of the pole positions comes down to personal preference and risk/reward. I understand this as often when I sail in a Qualifer, I know my chances of winning a good lane at the biased end is quite low so I do a start that allows me to execute my plan knowing than I may lose a little ground to the top sailors who execute at the biased end (e.g. 50% chance of executing your plan at biased end versus 100% chance from the other end but 5 boats will be ahead of you from that end).
He also talked about being near the Committee Boat to get the 5- or 4-minute gun – if you are at the pin end it is much harder to be precise on timing, you could end up being a couple of seconds out. Also when getting a transit, if possible get different markers as it may be hard to spot your only marker. Talking to your fellow sailors is a good way of getting input “where did you think the bias is?”. I would expand this analysis to “why do you think the left paid in that race?”. I also liked his comments on course bias (where the weather mark is offset and not directly upwind) – many think this is about distance to the mark – it’s not – it is about the loss of flexibility around being on the same tack for a long(er) time.
Another general point was if you are close to the line in the last minute you lose all flexibility to hold your position (e.g. you can’t move forward to help close the gap to the windward boat). If you have lost control of your position – get out of it! Once the gun goes, the total effort must be on boat speed – not the time to be fiddling with the kicker or cunningham control line. Finally, that critical first tack – a great start and you are not constrained by other boats but more often than not, you will be. Micky advises to hold off tacking for 3 or 4 boat lengths after another boat has ducked you. Also, as you come off the line, you think about how long you can hold your lane as this allows you to plan ahead for your first tack – if you have a boat on your lew bow, you might think I can hold this for 30 secs so you need to find the best moment to tack in that time frame. Some super pointers from Micky – many thanks once again.
I wanted to touch on ILCA training as we approach year-end. A quick summary on 2023 – UKLA training did 1,723 training days for 599 (non-unique) participants in 2023, a remarkable total. It excludes all club training (UKLA facilitated or not), international event support and Super Grands prix. Of these, 18% were Skills Week which were sold out once again with over 100 participants and 40% (240 participants) were open regional training where we offered training in the south, north and east on the same weekend for eight months of the year. 42% were National training.
That said, the numbers are slightly down mainly based on lower autumn 2023 numbers. Predicting demand for training this winter has been very difficult which has not been the case before (for reasons not fully understood) and we have had to respond flexibly. Our main concern as we head into 2024 is ensuring that we provide training opportunities for all our sailors. To that end, we have published a lot on training opportunities on the calendar to be transparent to all. One area we would like to promote and encourage is open club training – ILCA training that is open to everyone but organised by a club. More details in due course.
Snippets
UKLA Training
Winter training dates for Dec - UKLA Calendar
On 8th Jan at 7pm we are having our second virtual training of the winter – Fitness for ILCA racing. This winter the sessions are open to members (if you are not a member please join here for 2024). Last year we ran three sessions which are available here to anyone Setting up your ILCA for performance, ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air and Getting your tactics right.
UKLA Announcements
Performance Academy Sailor Scholarship Application Form 2024
RYA webinar Fast Cars; Poor Brakes – Understanding the adolescent brain.
UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm
UKLA office will be closed over the festive period (24th December 2023 - 4th January 2024)
Race reports
UKLA Chair Blog #68
ILCA equal performance
When is the last time you came ashore from an ILCA race and said you were beaten by another sailor who had a better mast or whose hull design was better suited to the conditions? Never I hope! As I said in Blog #33, one of the great attractions of the ILCA / Laser is that boats can remain pretty competitive for several decades. Certainly for most racing in the UK, your technique, fitness, starting and strategy are much more likely to affect the outcome of your race than the age of your boat (sailing excluded).
I have just spent three days at the ILCA World Council meeting as the second European rep with Jean-Luc Michon (and for my sins I have been elected as Vice-President). One of the main topics was around ensuring that ILCA builders from around the world produce ILCAs conforming to our strict one-design principles. Part of this is the OSEPODS concept, an acronym that does not so easily slip off the tongue - Off-the-Shelf, Equal-Performance, One-Design Sailboat. With nine builders, the class is probably in a unique position of producing strict one design boats that don’t need measurement certificates and yet having a competitive market for builders. You can read more about it here but the ILCA Technical team now has manufacturing data including data captured through scanning that helps ensure integrity. Over recent years, differences have come so minor that even the professional sailors are unlikely to pin-point any performance differences.
There were a couple of other themes during the weekend. There is increased transparency around the running of ILCA and this likely to progress over the coming years. Communication with ILCA sailors around the world is also a focus. (You can sign-up to the ILCA newsletter here). These are areas UKLA members are already familiar with – for example with the leadership of Guy Noble, our race reports (see below) are super!
Micky Beckett attended one of the sessions and provided us with insights to what professional sailors want. Not surprisingly, consistently high-quality racing is important but one challenge is when fleets get to more than 60 boats, the first beat just isn’t long enough to provide enough separation at the first mark – it is chaos or as Micky says if you aren’t in the top 10, it is trench warfare! The professional sailors also want high quality and consistent judging especially around Rule 42. There is a challenge here for the sport at this level as sailors are professional but getting enough quality volunteers for race management and juries is not easy. We should reflect on how lucky we are here in the UK.
I wanted to touch on one other topic and that is winter training. This year is proving difficult to manage and respond to a dynamic situation. We had planned on similar numbers and format as last year, but it is proving difficult to predict numbers. Last year was probably still part of a post-Covid spike and this year the cost of living may be having an impact. Our volunteers are doing their best to provide the best training opportunities we can – please keep an eye on the calendar.
Snippets
UKLA Training
Winter training dates for Dec - UKLA Calendar
On 6th Dec at 7pm we are having our first virtual training of the winter – Starting in Big fleets with Mickey Beckett. Please register here. This winter the sessions are open to members (if you are not a member please join here for 2024). Last year we ran three sessions which are available here to anyone Setting up your ILCA for performance, ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air and Getting your tactics right
UKLA Announcements
UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm
UKLA office will be closed over the festive period (24th December 2023 - 4th January 2024)
Race reports
UKLA Chair blog #67
Approach to training
Thinking back to ILCA training in the “old” days, there were some things that stood out. Older, more experienced sailors acted as mentors and were often how knowledge was transferred.
I remember one occasion when we were launching, one of these sailors said “you can’t sail with your kicker that loose – here’s how tight it needs to be”. I couldn’t believe it (as it was one mean feat trying to tighten the kicker at all unlike today) and it was a game changer for me. We also tried to practice in small groups but this had to be co-ordinated days in advance through a landline telephone call or word of mouth. Small groups provided some safety net as we had no RIB support on the water and that made us think carefully about seamanship – we always started sailing upwind in case something broke.
But these training groups were highly effective, especially through our use of “rabbit runs” (see Chair blog #18). I also did lots of solo training, taking the time to learn techniques without the pressure of other boats around. Indeed, one of the best books then was “Sail Race and Win” by Eric Twiname with a chapter on Making your Self Coaching Plan (UKLA sponsor Fenhurst offer a number of self-coaching books) and some great insights to developing intuitive sailing skills. The emphasis on developing skills was one of individual responsibility.
For me, that started to change when I started sailing full-time in my late twenties. I worked a lot with Trevor Millar at Sailcoach (I claim to be the first Sailcoach customer) where there were more formal training camps which were quite inclusive, but also the opportunity to engage with a coach and share thoughts. It was during this period that coach support at events started to become normal. It was also the start of a period where developing a career in coaching outside the National authority became viable.
Fast forward to today and I see the opportunity sailors, especially youth sailors, get. They work with great coaches, many of whom were highly experienced sailors. I look at how lucky these sailors are, not alone with great coaches but also the plethora of content available. The UKLA, under Tim Hulse, has provided super training at both regional and national level in recent years. While I have not got much coaching myself in recent years, I have seen that quality training my children have access to. This year we have started to make some changes to the approach, with more emphasis on consistency of training, more holistic and structured and less transactional. In many ways it is an evolution. It is surprising that there isn’t a structured development model for ILCA sailors for sailors and coaches to use for assessment and development.
As the “service-provider” approach has become prevalent rather than individual responsibility, we need to consider what has been lost. Sailors need an opportunity to learn techniques given in formal training by sailing solo. They need more informal training “get-togethers” at the local club and more formal club training that is open to others in the region. And it is this mixed model that is best for learning whether you are club sailor or aspiring Olympian.
We have great coaches that can impart technique and skills like never before, but to make the most of this we need complement it with more informal training.
UKLA Training
Winter training dates for Dec - UKLA Calendar
On 6th Dec at 7pm we are having our first virtual training of the winter – Starting in Big fleets with Mickey Beckett. Please register here. This winter the sessions are open to members (if you are not a member please join here for 2024). Last year we ran three sessions which are available here to anyone Setting up your ILCA for performance, ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air and Getting your tactics right
UKLA Announcements
Eurilca has announced details of the 2023 EurILCA Team Racing European Championship – it is open on a first come first served basis. Details here
UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm
Entries are now open for the first Euro Masters event of 2024 in Malta, taking place from January 12th to 14th. SailCoach is offering a three-day coaching program tailored for masters. More info here
RYA are running ‘Sporting Parent’ workshop on Monday 4th December at 7.30pm. Click here to join the meeting
Race reports
UKLA Chair blog #66
Ramblings…..
I had two decent races at Queen Mary on Sunday in very gusty conditions ranging from 12 to 25 knots and I was reminded once again how physical an ILCA can be in these conditions and what a great workout it can be – some frostbiting as part of your physical training this winter?
So no overall theme to today’s blog.
UKLA training in Dec - a number of masters have asked about training during the winter and there is a dedicated masters group on 9/10 Dec at WPNSA, Grafham and Ullswater. Maybe get a couple of mates together to ensure we have enough numbers? See the calendar for all training.
On 6th Dec at 7pm we are having our first virtual training of the winter – Starting in Big fleets with Mickey Beckett. Please register here. This winter the sessions are open to members (if you are not a member please join here for 2024). Last year we ran three sessions which are available here to anyone Setting up your ILCA for performance, ILCA technique for upwind/downwind in light and heavy air and Getting your tactics right
As we head into a quieter period for UKLA in terms of events, we have launched work on quite a few projects and initiatives. One of these is around our regional activities and Grands Prix and you may recall we had a forum on this a couple of weeks ago. We discussed having a meeting of Regional reps to refine the role of the regional structure, how to promote and make it easier for people to find events from UKLA channels, and to determine what support UKLA can provide.
Another initiative with to try and make our entry process less burdensome on our volunteers – I know the system can be a bit clunky for sailors but it is worth reflecting on the numbers – we had 11 National events in 2023 with 1,487 sailors racing and even if 5% of those have queries or issues, it is a lot of work. As another example on the Saturday morning on the first autumn qualifier at WPNSA there were 29 sail number changes – imagine the impact these have on tally sheets and results. It is why our entry cut-off in usual three days before the event.
UKLA Training
Winter training dates for Dec - UKLA Calendar
UKLA Announcements
Eurilca has announced details of the 2023 EurILCA Team Racing European Championship – it is open on a first come first served basis. Details here
UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm
Entries are now open for the first Euro Masters event of 2024 in Malta, taking place from January 12th to 14th. SailCoach is offering a three-day coaching program tailored for masters. More info here
RYA are running ‘Sporting Parent’ workshop on Monday 4th December at 7.30pm. Click here to join the meeting (Meeting ID: 324 339 881 766 Passcode: gjnQPn)
Upcoming open meetings and club events / news
Race reports
UKLA Chair blog #65
Sailing in waves
I went for a short sail in Portland Harbour on Sunday morning. My son was doing some UKLA training and I started thinking about sailing downwind in waves.
If you can surf or half-surf on a wave you get a speed surge and that is quite important if you are racing 😊. Unless it is quite windy, waves pass under the boat, so it is all about how to better catch the wave. Firstly, your fore and aft body position is important. If your weight is too far back in the boat, it stern digs in and the boat are less likely to skid down the wave, so getting the weight forward facilitates more surfing. Of course, in steeper waves and windier conditions, the bow of the boat is likely to bury itself, filling the cockpit with water (which is very slow) so moving back in the boat is important. Then in some conditions you will need to move forward and then back all on the same wave.
Moving on from that, the faster the boat is moving, the better the chance of catching a wave and this brings us to upturns, downturns and so-called S turns. An ILCA on a broad reach or sailing by the lee is quicker than running dead downwind, so setting either course with a bit of extra speed means as you turn dead downwind you are more likely to catch the wave. To facilitate the turning, you heel the boat – heeling the boat to leeward helps steer the upturn on to a broad reach and heeling to windward helps steer the downturn as far as sailing by the lee. Linking this steering together is where the term S turn comes from. Of course, it is not as easy as that.
There is Rule 42 – Propulsion which allows actions like rocking and pumping only in certain cases (Rule 42 is probably the subject on another blog). Specifically heeling to windward to facilitate bearing away and heeling to leeward to facilitate heading up are permitted but repeated rolling not linked to wave patterns is prohibited even if the boat changes course with each roll. This means that if you getting the timing of your rolling wrong, you are breaking the rules, which is difficult if you are still learning how to do it competently. Also if there are not waves (e.g. many inland venues) then repeated rolling to facilitate steering is not allowed.
It is also worth mentioning that the degree of turning is different in all three rigs and is probably least pronounced in an ILCA4 as the boat is relatively under-powered.
The description S turn is also not accurate as you have to steer a course that maximises catching the waves and this is likely to be fairly random, looking for the best waves to turn on. It is also complicated by different waves patterns (e.g. cross waves rather those aligned directly with wind), wind shifts and gusts (both of which may help surfing in one direction more than another). Choosing the best course to steer in the waves is something top sailors are continually striving for and not always getting right as it depends on both experience and skill.
And this relates to why Masters sailors are often not as quick in waves and I can relate this to my own experience. This type of sailing in waves started prior to the 1996 Olympics when shorter races with trapezoid courses were introduced. Running before this might have been in the second hour of a two-hour race when the fleet was already well spread out. Now the running downwind starts within 10 or 12 minutes of the start and so it becomes critical to be able run faster. It was in the years leading to 1996 that the core techniques emerged. If you were a Laser sailor in the eighties (as I was) you never learnt these techniques but the nineties we did. I remember being towed upwind for miles to allow long runs back down to develop those skills. By the time of the Games in 1996 I think my running speed was as fast as anyone – check this video from Race 3 (OK it has taken me 65 blogs to mention Race 3 😊) and see how close the fleet were at the windward mark and the end of the first run. I still vividly remember that run as every time I upturned, I saw boats out of the corner on my right eye and every time in downturned I saw boats out of the corner of my left eye – all you could think was don’t miss a wave.
So why am I not so quick running downwind now compared to the younger ILCA7 sailors? Well, I am probably slightly heavier and this does makes a big difference when trying to surf. You also need to be sailing a lot in different conditions to maintain or acquire those skills and I notice this particularly at the end of longer regatta that my downwind speed starts to improve as skills are re-acquired. Developing those skills means having to sail in lots of different waves conditions, and that’s what I was thinking about Sunday morning in Portland Harbour.
UKLA Training
Open Regional Training on 18/19 Nov closes on Wed. Also if 5 masters sign-up for the 9/10 Dec Regional training, they will have a dedicated coach
Winter open training dates released - UKLA Calendar
UKLA Announcements
Eurilca has announced details of the 2023 EurILCA Team Racing European Championship – it is open on a first come first served basis. Details here
UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm
Upcoming open meetings and club events / news
Race reports
UKLA Chair blog #64
Inlands
At the weekend we had the last UKLA regatta of the year which was the Inland Championship at Draycote and it was a great weekend of racing.
With temperatures dropping, the Race Management team were very efficient in getting 3 races completed each day with minimum hanging around. I enjoyed my first racing in a month recovering from my back problem and as ever, it was difficult competing in the ILCA7 with many younger sailors. It was typical inland shifty conditions and my first thought afterwards was how hard it is to get the strategy and tactics correct. But on further reflection, I think boat speed is just as important in these conditions and it is often under-rated. The winners are undoubtedly getting the big decisions correct but here is also truth in the expression that a little boat speed makes you look like as tactical genius!
There is no doubt that you must get the shifts and no superior boat speed is going to overcome poor decisions. But consider the first tack off the start, a boat length or two advantage after a couple of minutes gives you the freedom to tack when you want as the shift appears. Without that you are often held by the boat on the weather quarter or will need to duck starboard tackers losing valuable ground. There is certainly a skill in trying to get through a closely bunched fleet while continuing to make the right tactical decisions and of course, once a little ahead, it is so much easier (though not easy) to make those decisions.
It is often worse if you lose your lane after the start and you need to tack. If you tack off a lift, you may end ducking quite a lot of boats heading right to get clear air, all the time being on a header. Once you get that clear air and tack, the chances are the wind shifts back and you have sailed two headers and are even further behind.
So rather than beating myself up for not getting the tactics, I need to focus a bit more on developing boat speed. In the meantime, compromises need to be made. Starting on the pin without superior boat speed in shifty conditions exposes you to missing the first shift with so many boats on the weather quarter. That’s why I started in the middle of the line to provide a bit more flexibility.
So that is more or less a wrap on the 2023 racing season. My thanks to all the super UKLA volunteers that have allowed us to have record (or at least close to record) numbers at our events.
UKLA Training
Winter open training dates released - UKLA Calendar
UKLA Announcements
Eurilca has announced details of the 2023 EurILCA Team Racing European Championship – it is open on a first come first served basis. Details here
GP and club on Monday 6th Nov at 7pm. Click here to register and give your views
Upcoming open meetings and club events
Thames Valley GP - Queen Mary on 12th Nov UKLA Calendar
Race reports
UKLA Chair blog #63
Event locations and GP forum
Our class is booming at most levels. We have over 1,000 members and at least as many again who regularly sail ILCAs who are not members (it is £3.25 per month – please join here 😊). We get thousands of entries at our events and do over a thousand training days each year. There were over 75 Grands Prix on our calendar in 2023 in ten regions. We had hundreds competing internationally. All of this creates several challenges. Putting aside the shear amount of work for our volunteers (and ever-present need for more of them), we are bound to have diverse opinions across our ecosystem. It is the role of UKLA committee to manage this in the best interest of the class as a whole, which of course doesn’t mean (always) the majority. As a group we have broad experience, and while we do make mistakes, we strive to improve ILCA sailing in the UK. There are two challenges I would like to address this week – the location of our events and how we should support grassroots ILCA sailing.
Many of you will have seen the decision to move our 2024 Nationals from Paignton to WPNSA. As we said last week, while Torbay is a world class sailing area and we had super support and encouragement from Paignton S.C., we decided, after considerable discussion, that running an event with 250 boats in the way we have got used to, was just not practical. It is worth providing some background. Under Tony Woods’ leadership, pre-Covid the class started re-building numbers at our Nationals using the “festival of ILCA sailing” concept with high quality racing for club sailors and more activities and socials ashore. Like many sports and classes, in 2021 we saw an unexpected post-Covid spike in numbers at our Nationals in WPNSA but unlike others, our numbers have remained robust at around 250 entries. It is also worth mentioning the dynamic around venues in the post-Covid world. While many classes had no National championship in 2020, WPNSA stepped-up and hosted a super event for us, which meant we had the Nationals in consecutive years at WPNSA. In 2022, two venues in Wales (not Plas Heli) cancelled at relatively short notice and we were lucky to have Hayling Island SC to host us, even though we were booked to go there in 2023 as well. My point is that there was period when securing venues was difficult. The feedback from this year’s Nationals was very positive (see blog #59 where 93% of sailors thought the organisation very good or excellent), so the committee’s view is that we need to be able to sustain the same “festival of ILCA sailing” approach with 250 entries. Looking ahead, as we had already booked to go to WPNSA for the 2025 Nationals, we have swapped that for Plas Heli. We have also reconnected with Mounts Bay following their decision to cancel our Nationals a couple of years ago due to Covid and plan to visit in 2027. Looking at events further ahead, in 2029 East Lothian YC have agreed to host our UKLA Nationals.
We have also been looking at the venues of our six Qualifiers. It is true that 15 of the last 16 have been on the south coast, partly for the reasons mentioned above. I made a commitment shortly after becoming Chair 15 months ago to have more events away from the south coast, a commitment that the class reaffirmed at the AGM in Paignton last month – we are the UKLA after all ! This does give us a challenge as there remains a high desire from our sailors that all three rigs are at the same event most of the time, which means we need venues that can handle 150 entries in March or September/October.
So next year, we will be going back to Plas Heli for the first time in many years on 14th /15th September and to Brightlingsea on 2nd/3rd March for the ILCA6s and ILCA7s (it clashes with RYA RTGs so no ILCA4s). We also plan on going to East Lothian YC in Sept 2025. We remain interested in hearing from clubs across the country that can support 150 boats at the time of year mentioned.
Over the winter we plan to review our events asking whether we can run Qualifiers at different times of year but also reviewing our policy on when to flight fleets and what criteria to use when deciding to sail in Weymouth Bay. As ever, we are thankful to all our venues for their support and I would like to thank our Sailing Secretary, Keith Videlo, for his hard work and commitment.
On the second topic of supporting grassroots ILCA sailing, hundreds of ILCA sailors are doing club racing every week. Hundreds of you sailed in Grands Prix this year. This blog is emailed to 2,200 of you every week but I am sure many are not receiving it (please email around and suggest subscribing here). Our Facebook channel has 3,800 followers. Even with so much activity going on and despite our impressive reach, we are still not talking to many of you.
Why is this important? Because our members are telling us we should do more to support grassroots ILCA sailing across the country. For example, many believe we should do more to promote the ILCA4 as a great boat for lighter sailors, especially boys and girls. You also want us support women ILCA sailing at club level and to support club training. How do we in UKLA support, encourage and educate clubs when we have limited resources? How do we better promote Grands Prix?
We have scheduled a forum to get your input and to hear your views on Monday 6th Nov at 7pm. Click here to register.
UKLA Events
4-5/11/2023 - Inland Championships at Draycote Water SC - (entries close 31st October 2023)
UKLA Training
Winter open training dates released - UKLA Calendar
UKLA Announcements
GP and club on Monday 6th Nov at 7pm. Click here to register and give your views
Upcoming open meetings and club events
Thames Valley GP - Queen Mary on 12th Nov UKLA Calendar
Race reports
UKLA Chair blog #62
ILCA4 girls, volunteers and injuries
This weekend at WPNSA, UKLA ran its first women/girls only racing in the ILCA4s at our Qualifier, with 19 competitors representing 33% of the total ILCA4 fleet. I know Fiona (as Chair of the Female ILCA Sailors group) will be reviewing the feedback she has collected and that will help us inform future direction. As I have consistently said, we trialled this because of our survey earlier in the year where we had 108 responses (with many detailed comments), mostly from sailors active at UKLA events. A small majority wanted to “sometimes” race on women only starts – until this weekend it has never happened. It is a subject with strong feelings on both sides of the argument, probably reflecting a broader debate in society. Many women want to race in bigger fleets against men to maximise the opportunity to improve although it is also pointed out that international events have women only starts. But many women also find men are too aggressive on the start line. I understand both sides of the argument and I am simply reflecting the messages we have received as a class. We remain committed to any initiatives that will help increase participation levels for women.
One of the things I often hear is about the high quality of race management at UKLA events and we should thank the volunteer teams that make this happen. As someone who has raced in most UKLA events in recent years and has for decades raced in all types of competition, all over the UK and on most continents of the world, I can vouch that this praise is both well-earned and very well-deserved. We have to remember that sailing conditions can be very difficult and are outside the control of the race management team. It is easy for sailors (or a supporter back ashore) to criticise individual decisions of the race officer without understanding the full context. The race officer has many sources of input from very experienced sailors to those with local knowledge and has to make the best judgements they can based on all that information. So, we all need to respect this. This of course applies to open meetings and club racing as well. We are lucky to have race management volunteers that run racing for us.
At the weekend, the racing took place in Weymouth Bay on Saturday and I walked up above Portland to look out over the harbour and bay. A northern westerly In Weymouth is always very gusty and shifty but this was made worse by the big rain clouds moving through the course during the day (and the ship anchored in the wrong place). The race officer did a great job getting the races done in these conditions, but it made for a long day. In the last year or two we have made a real effort to race the Bay based on sailor feedback but of course the downside is the much longer sail in and out. On Sunday, racing was in the harbour in a south-westerly with the race officer (wisely in my view) concluding that conditions in the Bay would be no better and would have been followed by a very long sail in after racing. The result was great racing, according to those I talked to, with all fleets ashore by about 2pm.
On a slightly different note, I was unable to sail at the weekend because of a sore back and I was surprised I didn’t get the usual comment “what do you suspect from sailing an ILCA”. Yes, I recognise that the hiking position may not be ideal for backs and knees but I have never supported the view that back pain (or other ailments) is caused by ILCA sailing. Before giving up my job to sail full time in the early nineties, I had my back checked out as I had had regular back pain in the previous decade. The finding was “wear and tear” but also that I had a weak “core” and back muscles. It was a big lesson and why I have worked to build and sustain back strength since then and it is probably something all of us should be doing to prevent injury. While visiting a consultant about my hip recently, we started talking about the impact on knees of continued running as we get older. To my surprise, he said he had done research on this and pointed me to his website. It turns out that running may be good for your knees, the hypotheses being that we evolved (as humans) to run and running builds strength in the bones and joints reducing the risk of injury. And it turns out that there is some research to indicate that 95% of people who don’t run (or exercise) at all have knees problems (some latent) that are clearly not caused by running. Most of the population, whether they exercise or not have back pain or injuries at some stage, and while I have not come across a research study on it, it appears support my hunch that back problems are generally not caused by ILCA sailing or sport in general and the best thing you can do to prevent these problems is exercise. (For the avoidance of doubt, I am not medically trained so consult your own doctor 😉).
Snippets:
28-29/10/2023 - Masters Inalnds at Grafham SC. Inland Championships for sailors over 30 years old (entries close 25th October 2023)
4-5/11/2023 - Inland Championships at Draycote Water SC - (entries close 30th October 2023)
Winter open training dates released - UKLA Calendar
Two more GPs this year - Hunts on 28th Oct and Queen Mary on 12th Nov
UKLA Chair blog #61
Micky Beckett - a role model
Last week, Micky Beckett was announced as the TeamGB representative in the single-handed (ILCA7) sailing event at the Paris 24 Olympics. It reflects his superb performances this season - silver medal at both the Worlds and Paris test event, winner in Palma and 2nd place at Hyeres (behind his teammate Elliott Hanson). Of course, we know Micky well. He is a regular competitor at UKLA events, most recently in September in Paignton, always happy to share his knowledge and provide support. He has coached regularly for UKLA and even did some club training at Queen Mary a couple of weekends ago. He did one of our virtual training sessions last winter and is always ready to contribute. A group of seven ILCA7 Masters were lucky enough to be coached by Micky at the Master Worlds in Mexico, where we got to know him well and our consensus is that he is a super role model.
Last week I also attended an event where Theodore Roosevelt was quoted "to educate a (person) in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society". I thought about this in the context of UKLA - is it our role to create brilliant sailors? The answer is clearly no. We support an inclusive class with a wide range of competencies and skills where each sailor is on their own journey, whether that is a youth sailor enjoying club racing or aspiring to an Olympic medal or a master returning to sailing or wanting to go the Masters Worlds. Yes we need to provide a supportive and encouraging environment at the high-performance end but also make club sailors welcome alongside this, giving them the opportunity to improve. Indeed there is more to do on inclusivity especially along gender, ethnicity and socio-economic lines, but that's another topic (see blog #59 on improving female participation).
But there is more than supporting and encouraging high-performance. We want to see our top sailors (whether youth, senior or master) to compete fairly and with integrity. We want them to be role models and give something back. We don't condone cheating and we challenge poor behaviour and foul language. This includes misogynistic behaviour (again blog #59 on calling out this behaviour). We also want a safe environment for all our participants - sailors, coaches, parents and volunteers. Don't get me wrong, top sailors often compete "with an edge" and I am certainly no angel in this regard, but we must stay the right side of the line.
We have seen a change in strategy from UK Sport, who provide the funding for most Olympic sports including sailing. After a series of controversies around athlete welfare and selection (not in sailing), possibly arising from a win at all costs approach, their updated strategy still has winning at its core alongside "winning well" or with integrity, using that to inspire the next generation of athletes. Our winners need to be capable of being admired.
This is what UKLA and all of us need to support. But it is why we should congratulate Micky, not just for his brilliant performances, but because he wins well.
Snippets:
21-22/10/2023 - The final qualifer at WPNSA will feature a separate series and start for girls/women in the ILCA4 - it is an open event (entries close 16th October 2023)
Half term UKLA open training - calendar
28-29/10/2023 - Masters Inalnds at Grafham SC. Inland Championships for sailors over 30 years old (entries close 25th October 2023)
4-5/11/2023 - Inland Championships at Draycote Water SC - entries are now open
November training sessions entries will open tonight
UKLA Chair blog #60
Gulfport and lessons learnt
40 years ago this month I went to the World Championships in Gulfport, Mississippi and it was only after this regatta that I would learn some important lessons for my future sailing and more broadly in life.
Firstly, a little bit of background. In 1983, I was a 20-year-old University student heading into a summer of non-stop sailing (and some instructing to help pay for it). As well as lots of domestic competitions, I went to the Europeans in Norway. I also won most of the big Irish regional regattas that summer and in the lead up to the Irish National championships in August, I felt I was in a good position to win that event for the first time.
As often happens in sailing, the weather didn't play ball and we had a very light wind regatta and in fact only had three races sailed up until the last day. But going into the fourth and final race I still had a good chance of becoming National Champion by finishing the race in first place with my nearest competitor in eighth place. The winds were very light and I led around the first triangle (as it was then) and on the final beat the wind started to die to nothing as a sea breeze filled slowly from behind. I drifted across the line in first place as did the next ten boats, however by then a couple of knots of wind had filled in in the opposite direction and the rest of the fleet ended up crossing the finishing line in a big bunch making it difficult for the race committee to record numbers. Having already taken the winning gun, the race committee abandoned the race. It meant that a few minutes earlier I had been National Champion and now this had been taken away.
I sought redress from the Protest Committee on the grounds that my finishing position had been materially prejudiced through no fault of my own and the Protest Committee found as fact that this was the case however they did not award any redress and the results stood. As you can imagine I was not happy with this, to put it lightly!
My subsequent appeal to the National Authority was unsuccessful and I then decided to write to Gerald Sambrooke Sturgess who was perhaps the leading rules authority at the time. He very kindly wrote back to me (sadly I can’t find the letter) and said that he thought I had been unfairly treated but that I needed to accept the result as a “rub of the green”, in other words sport sometimes throws up these unfair results.
Luckily fom me, the World Championships was taking place two months after this and I was able to spend the six weeks training in Dun Laoghaire with a great group of sailors including Frank Glynn (a future commodore of the California Yacht Club), Marshall King (a future Soling Olympian and team-mate who was racing last week at Queen Mary) and Bill O'Hara, who at the time was a real mentor for me as he had finished second in the 1982 European Championships (he then finished 13th in the Finn at the 1984 LA Games). It was first time perhaps that I could see the purity of a training camp, sailing daily, with few other distractions (in those days there wasn’t even a coach insight).
Those Worlds in Mississippi produced excellent sailing conditions with 12 to 15 knots of wind in the Gulf of Mexico and I sailed my boots off finishing 19th out of the fleet of 250.
After this regatta, I was able to reflect on the setback at the Irish Nationals in August. Firstly, it provided me with massive amount of motivation to do well at the World Championships. I learnt that it's not enough to turn up at a regatta even if you've done the training if you're not highly motivated to achieve your objectives (whatever they are). I know other people may be different but that's what I learned about myself at that regatta. The second thing was about building resilience. Two months before I was rock bottom and now I felt almost on top of the world. Sport has a habit of producing highlights and lowlights, often very close to each other and often out of your control and it’s something we need to accept and be able to rebound from the lowlights. Boucing back from setbacks is an important skill in sport and life.
Snippets:
14-15/10/2023 - The second autumn Qualifer is at WPNSA which is also Masters event (entries close TONIGHT 9th October 2023)
21-22/10/2023 - The final qualifer at WPNSA will feature a separate series and start for girls/women in the ILCA4 - it is an open event (entries close 16th October 2023)
Half term UKLA open training - calendar
28-29/10/2023 - Masters Inalnds at Grafham SC. Inland Championships for sailors over 30 years old (entries close 25th October 2023)
4-5/11/2023 - Inland Championships at Draycote Water SC - entries are now open
UKLA Chair blog #59
Women sailing
Calling all women interested in single-handed sailing. UKLA have an exciting trial at our open meeting / Qualifier on 21st/22nd Oct at WPNSA (calendar) with a separate start and race series for ILCA4 women / girls. ILCA4 is an open age class in the UK. Even if you are over 18 come and join us or if you race an ILCA6, why not drop down for the weekend?
This trial follows feedback from the Female Participation survey earlier in 2023. When introducing the survey in the blog (read it again here) I mentioned that lots of progress had been made around female participation but there was also a lot more to do. The women’s single-handed event at the Olympics in ILCA6s is highly competitive and contributes to a high standard of racing our mixed ILCA6 fleet in the UK. In the ILCA4 we also have a highly competitive fleet where the smaller rig opens the opportunity to a wider group of sailors. But as I said back in January surely we should be aspiring to having equal numbers of boys and girls in this fleet?
The same can be said of our Masters events. While these are super events that we aim to make as inclusive as possible, it is glaring how few female masters we have.
The survey provided some excellent feedback and I reported on this at the time (read it again here) but it is worth emphasizing some of the main points and the progress we have made. We have now formed a sub-committee called FIS (Female ILCA Sailiors), headed by Fiona Atwell, that is now meeting regularly (my thanks to Sarah Stephens who co-chaired its start-up and drove the initial survey activities with others).
A sizable number in the survey, although a minority, reported direct unfavourable gender-based discrimination (through words or actions) with plenty of examples reported. This includes misogynistic and derogatory comments. I said at the time that this has no place in our class or sport. As we head into a busy period of regattas, winter training and frostbiting, we need to reflect on this as a community and call out this behaviour. I know the FIS is looking at some “education” to help get this message out but we can all do our bit.
A small majority said they would support separate racing and regattas “sometimes”, with comments stressing the value of females racing together from time to time. That’s why we are trialling the separate ILCA4 start in Oct. We have also introduced an ILCA4 masters category that should encourage more women sailors. There is also a Whatapp group run by Jo West for women masters. You can join though the ILCA UK whatsapp group (link in the mailing).
Also Save the date for Female ILCA Regatta on 13-14 July 2024 at Rutland Sailing Club. It will feature a female race team, training on Saturday, racing on Sunday with all fleets, all ages, all abilities, lots of fun! Camping available and Saturday night social.
The FIS team is also moving thy towards ILCA 4 and 6 results being published three ways as overall, then split out to females and males for each event and the ladders. Thanks to the volunteers who are helping with extra work. We are also creating a media guide for our volunteers to ensure Yachts and Yachting reports have the right balance.
Some of you will be interested in the results of our survey from the Nationals , the summary of which is very pleasing. Overall 93% of respondents felt the organisation was excellent or very good versus 74% last year, race management was 89% (excellent or very good) and onshore activities was also 93% versus 63% last year. Overall, 80% thought HISC was a very good or excellent venue. We are reviewing the detailed comments to extract themes. Our updated mentoring programme worked well with some suggestions for improvements. Fiona and the rest of UKLA would like to thank all mentors who did a superb job in any way they helped, encouraged or even coached their mentees; it is very much appreciated and all ongoing support across the year to each other or others only strengthens the class and our enjoyment of all events.
Just to mention another great initiative from Brett Lewis - National Mark Layers Course on 20th October. It is an innovative and unique new course run for UKLA for Mark Layers designed by Mark Layers. The course consists of a work book and a one day practical session to consolidate the work book theory. No previous mark laying experience required but candidates must be either PB2 qualified or have relevant experience.
Snippets:
14-15/10/2023 - The second autumn Qualifer is at WPNSA which is also Masters event (entries close 9th October 2023)
21-22/10/2023 - The final qualifer at WPNSA will feature a separate series and start for girls/women in the ILCA4 - it is an open event (entries close 16th October 2023)
27-28/10/2023 - North Region Open training at Plas Heli opens tonight at 8pm
28-29/10/2023 - Masters Inalnds at Grafham SC. Inland Championships for sailors over 30 years old (entries close 25th October 2023)
4-5/11/2023 - Inland Championships at Draycote Water SC - entries open soon
UKLA Chair blog #58
Masters sailing and schedule
Some years ago the Laser class (as it was then) ran some ads selling the virtues of Masters sailing. These emphasise the inclusivity and simplicity of ILCA sailing, attracting a wide range of experience and competency. Today masters or veterans sport is booming with older athletes coming back to sport or staying in it longer, whether running, cycling or a plethora of other sports. Sailing is no exception. While many masters are doing club racing or going to Grands Prix across the country, the numbers coming to UKLA events have been strong and growing. At the Masters Nationals we had 117 sailors sailing in at least one race (ILCA 6 – 53, ILCA 7 – 61 and 3 in the newly created ILCA4 division) although with 130 entries some were somewhat put off by the strong wind forecast. This made it the biggest event of the year of Euro Masters series. And of course we had almost 80 entries at Parkstone in late April. Over the last year we had over 200 different masters at our events.
The benefits of masters sailing whether at club level or beyond are obvious – the physical exercise, the mental stimulation of competition and trying to improve and perhaps most importantly the opportunity to socialise. Recently at Queen Mary we had Ninian Eadie “retire” from ILCA sailing in his mid-eighties and it was pleasing and maybe surprising how many of us took him as a role model or inspiration to keep racing ILCAs.
So this is a call out of all sailors over 30, whether you have raced an ILCA or not, to consider a return to club sailing this winter. Or perhaps you want a bit of a challenge - Hayling Island are hosting the 2025 Masters Europeans – why not start a campaign with autumn? Or just come and have some good racing. UKLA can offer a number of opportunities to get started.
14th/15th Oct at WPNSA - a Masters event combined with a main Qualifier
28th/29th Oct at Grafham is the Masters inlands (this opens on Wed 27th Sept). This is a great venue for everyone – no big waves to deal with and the opportunity to enter one of three rigs – ILCA7, ILCA6 and ILCA4. Further, there will be an opportunity downsize or upsize your rig up to the Saturday morning based on the forecast (this may be limited in numbers and there may be a small admin fee).
Remember these events are open to any competent club sailors - it is not all ex-Olympian trialists or ex-Youth Squad sailors!
Next year we already have Masters events scheduled at Rutland, Hayling Island and Weymouth – three super venues.
I look forward to seeing you on the water.
Snippets:
The RYA and British Sailing Team are looking for an ILCA6 coach. See here for more information
There are 13 Grands Prix in 6 regions in Sept and Oct
The second autumn Qualifer is at WPNSA which is also Masters event (entries will open 20th September 2023)
The final qualifer at WPNSA will feature a separate series and start for girls/women in the ILCA4 - it is an open event (entries will open 20th September 2023)
There’s open training in Wales and WPNSA at Oct half term and then the Inlands at Draycote and the Masters Inlands at Grafham.
Nationals Youtube report ILCA6 and ILCA4/ILCA7
UKLA Chair blog #57
Distraction management with Micky and Hannah ………..
A couple of things to call out at the start. First for ILCA4s, there are two open meetings this weekend that are part of the RYA RTG selection process – a two-day event at Carsington for the North and Midlands RTGs and a one day event at Datchet for the East, South East and London regions. UKLA calendar
Secondly, would you like to see British Sailing Team and Squad sailors racing at your club? Well more than 10 of them were racing last weekend at Paignton Sailing Club in the ILCA6 and ILCA7. Now the UKLA is looking for venues for our weekend national events (Qualifiers) in 2024 and beyond. These should be sea venues anywhere in UK but we would like to hear from more away from the south coast. You will need to be able to cater for 150 to 200 sailors both on the racecourse and the boat park. We can support and compliment you with UKLA race management and safety as well as a great team of volunteers. These events normally take place in March and September/October. We would love to hear from you.
Talking about Paignton, we had a great Q&A with Micky Beckett and Hannah Snellgrove on the Saturday evening. These are two of the top sailors in the world talking openly about their highlights and lowlights from the season. It was fascinating to hear from them about their processes when things don’t go perfectly. One theme was around refocussing on “little” successes, for instance getting a good start in the next race, and then building on those successes. Hannah talked about the need to keep doing the “right” things as you can’t control what you can’t control including what other competitors do and routines have a big role to play in this. Micky talked about how he learns from mistakes by talking in depth with his coaches about situations on the water.
Sailing is such a multi-faceted sports with the need for, among other things, boat handling and boat speed, fitness and skills in strategy and tactics, but mental preparation and training is often underrated. After a poor start, it is easy to get distracted and as we all know, often it is difficult to recover especially in certain conditions (a 10 knot non-shifting sea-breeze?), but thinking about how you blew the start or losing your cool will certainly not help. Our response to these situations is a learned one that needs practising – it doesn’t happen automatically (at least for most of us). As well as distraction management during a race, we need to manage expectations between races. Most top athletes will try to focus on performance rather results, but we need to know ourselves. For me, I know I have a natural tendency to do well after a poor performance, but less well after a good performance and I need to manage that. Others derive confidence from a good performance, finding it easier to replicate it.
Snippets:
The RYA and British Sailing Team are looking for an ILCA6 coach. See here for more information
There are 13 Grands Prix in 6 regions in Sept and Oct
The second autumn Qualifer is at WPNSA which is also Masters event (entries will open 20th September 2023)
The final qualifer at WPNSA will feature a separate series and start for girls/women in the ILCA4 - it is an open event (entries will open 20th September 2023)
There’s open training in Wales and WPNSA at Oct half term and then the Inlands at Draycote and the Masters Inlands at Grafham.
Nationals Youtube report ILCA6 and ILCA4/ILCA7
UKLA Chair blog#56
Annual report………
As ever at this time of year, we end the busy summer period with an even busier autumn period. See the Snippets below for more information. I have provided the annual UKLA Chair report below prior to the AGM this weekend in Paignton - it is open for last chance entries until midnight!
Later in the autmun I would like to have forum with regional co-ordinators of Grands Prix and anyone else interested to plan for next year and discuss suggestions and future ideas. Let me know if you are interested.
UKLA Chair report – July 22 to August 23
The class remains in robust health, attracting ILCA sailors across the rigs and age groups. Our inclusive approach is leading to growth in many areas. Let’s look at the numbers.
Our membership continues to be strong, ending 2022 with 1,027 members. Through to early September our 2023 membership total is 988 so with the autumn schedule attracting more new members we are likely to end up at around 1,050.
These figures though don’t tell the full story. Our weekly Chair blog goes to about 2,200 people and our main Facebook channel has 3,700 followers. Our three 2023 Winter virtual training sessions have had almost 15,000 views.
Around the country there are around 50 Grands Prix every year and our Super Sunday in June attracted over 500 participants from 42 clubs, despite the weather and probably a significant under-recording.
Looking at UKLA run event numbers, the Master Nationals had 130 entries compared to 102 in 2022 and the Nationals had around 245 entries despite a clash with Poole Week. Our Qualifiers and Inlands in the autumn attracted almost 700 entries while the three Qualifiers in Spring 2023 had almost 400 entries, this latter being down by about 20 on 2022 mainly because of a clash with the Senior Europeans.
UKLA Training continues to be popular. In 2022 we did almost 2,000 sailor training days and Spring 2023 continued to attract significant numbers, up 25% on the same period in 2022.
Below I have listed some of the initiatives and actions taken this year but I would like to mention our volunteers. Our activities need the support of volunteers both on the water and off the water and I would like to thank all of those that helped during the year. This includes our volunteer Race Management teams and Jury members as well as well parents and others attending events. We have had a thriving committee who have worked incredibly hard on your behalf during the year. We are also thankful for the commitment and passion of our part time class secretary Ellie.
UKLA Committee 22/23
· Chair – Mark Lyttle
· Vice-Chair /Youth Rep – Ben Nicholls
· Sailing Sec – Keith Videlo
· Training Officer – Tim Hulse
· Treasurer – Steve Taylor
· Measurer – Alan Davis
· Media and Sponsorship – Guy Noble
· Masters rep – Alison Stevens (finished in July)
· ILCA7 – Sam Whaley
· ILCA6- Jane Sunderland
· ILC44 – Pamela Cross
· Safeguarding and Female Rep – Fiona Attwell
· Governance – Gary Finkelstein
· Grand Prix co-ordinator – Richard Mason (finished in June)
· Nationals co-ordinator – Tony Woods
Sailing
• We produced a detailed survey on 2022 Nationals and implemented recommendations for the 2023 Nationals which was considered by many to be hugely successful and based on the proven model inspired by Tony Woods – Tony leaves the committee after the maximum six years with our thanks.
• We ran 11 National events sustaining or increasing numbers and making improvements including:- - Addressing behaviour issues at our events (with a new Misconduct policy in operation)
- Standardising our safety protocols and procedures so that all UKLA major events are run in the same way. This consistent approach allows us to
· Safely run events in multiple locations
· Integrate host club volunteers into our operation
· Increase our operational window so that events can safety run in 25knots and no sailors who want to sail are left on the beach.
· Encourage new volunteers to play an active role in UKLA events.
- Refining our overall volunteering strategy for both our events and running UKLA including promotion of roles and rewarding volunteers (although more work is needed on this)
• HISC and UKLA won a bid to host the 2025 Masters Europeans
• We are encouraging more adult women and older teenagers to sail the ILCA4 – we introduced the ILCA4 at the Masters Nationals, promoted the main Nationals for ILCA4s as an open event and one of our Qualifiers in autumn 2023 will have a separate women start for ILCA4s. In the UK it is an open class while internationally it is mostly an U18 class.
• We have also encouraged club ILCA7 sailors at our Qualifiers (with limited success so far) and Master events (with improved numbers)
• Alison Stevens stepped down as Masters rep after a number of years of great effort – many thanks for her efforts.
Training
• We have implemented and refined the National training programme for all rigs
• We have provided more volunteer administration support for training (thanks to Lisa, Jo and Lorna) to allow massive increase in training capacity
• We updated UKLA Training Terms and Conditions to address performance standards in National training, refunds and exclusions for poor behaviour
• We have better numbers attending ILCA7s National training and are investigating National Development Group working collaboratively with the RYA, although progress has stalled with the RYA review of their Pathway
• We implemented a UKLA led virtual winter education / training programme for club sailors – there were three sessions with Tim Hulse, Micky Beckett and Daisy Collingridge /Matilda Nicholls - these have had over 15,000 views in less than seven months!
Comms and Media
• We communicated with over 2,200 ILCA sailors weekly with over 55 Chair blogs
• We updated website ILCA.uk to improve access to information - underlying current views are up 26% on last year
• We posted about the success of British Sailing Team and others at international competitions through Facebook to our 3,700 followers
• We re-activated twitter feed for ILCA race reports on Y&Y
• We created a WhatsApp group of club class captains female masters and implemented and setup and managed UKLA WhatsApp groups for each rig and training
Sponsors
• We were delighted to add Rooster as a class sponsor to add to Ovington, Noble Marine, Sailingfast, Southeast sailboats, Harken, Fernhurst books.
• For those sponsoring the Nationals, we had our first sponsors village and my thanks go to Propverse and David Surkov in stepping forward to fund pizza night. And of course thanks go to Wildwind for the holiday at the Masters Nationals and Dinghy Show for Grand Prix participation.
Inclusivity
• We conducted a Female participation survey and received 108 responses which were summarised in Blog #35. We have now formed new working group (FIS – females in ILCA sailing) headed by Fiona Attwell and Sarah Stephens to help implement some of the actions identified. Our female membership has increased from 19% to 22%.
Clubs and Open Meetings
• For most of the year, our efforts were led by Richard Mason and I would like to thank him for his efforts and passion.
• Our GP circuit was up and running once again and we continued to run a number of Super Grands Prix and Club training sessions
• Our Super Sunday initiated by Richard had over 500 sailors on the water on 25th June despite near gale force conditions on the south coast
International
• GBR sailors continue to attend international events, mainly Worlds and Europeans, in large numbers and we provide support to them. We believe attendance helps with the development of younger sailors in building independence and resilience
• We updated our Senior Qualification document for international events
• We also participated in the RYA Pathway review that is currently underway
Snippets:
Last chance entries for Paignton here (to Monday evening). Please book Saturday meal in advance.
There are 13 Grands Prix in 6 regions in Sept and Oct
The second autumn Qualifer is at WPNSA whiich is also Masters event (entires will open soon)
The final qualifer at WPNSA will feature a seprate series and start for girls/women in the ILCA4 - it is an open event (entires will open soon)
There’s open training in Wales and WPNSA at Oct half term and then the Inlands at Draycote and the Masters Inland at Grafham
Nationals Youtube report ILCA6 and ILCA4/ILCA7
Club training in East this winter. If any clubs want their training posted please let me know (it should be open).
UKLA Chair blog #55
Post summer sailing …………
As many readers of this blog know, ILCA sailing in the UK is a broad church and one that I support wholeheartedly. I try to write things that appeal to many sailors so last week when I wrote about my exploits at the Nationals, it was not to report on that event (see Y&Y and FB for the event reports) but to relate to sailors across the country doing club racing and Grands Prix.
There’s a back to school feeling around sailing at this time of year where we have a couple of months before the winter closes in. It is a time of year to reconnect with club racing with the summer holidays over and our Nationals finished. Our calendar also shows many open meetings in that period – so why not re-energise your racing by going along to one of them? I can see Grands Prix in six regions in Sept and Oct and these provide the perfect opportunity for club sailors to head further afield. If you look back at previous blogs I have tried to provide a template for improving your ILCA sailing, in particular blog#37 and some follow-up ones.
I know many of you are Masters – so why not build up to the Masters Inlands at the end of Oct in Grafham? We welcome competent club sailors and of course it is an inland venue so a bit easier on the body than sea sailing! That event will feature ILCA4s again so we encourage lighter sailors to come along in that rig.
We will also be shortly publishing our open training schedule. We also have three Qualifiers (basically high quality open meetings) in the autumn and the Inlands in Draycote. I see most of the British Sailing Team have entered the Sept event in Paignton – why not come and sail against them?
We also have an exciting trial in the final Qualifier at WPNSA. The following feedback from the Female Participation survey (blogs #26 and #35), we plan separate starts for boys and girls in the ILCA4 fleet. So we want to encourage as many girls /women to come a race, remembering that the ILCA4 is an open age class in the UK. Even if you are over 18 come and join us or if you race an ILCA6, why not drop down for the weekend?
Finally following success of Super Sunday in June, what about a Super Sunday at the start of the frostbite season in November?
UKLA Chair blog #54
Thoughts on the Nationals
What a great week we had at the Nationals in Hayling Island !
It was sunny most of the week with decent light to moderate winds giving some glamorous days on the water (even though we lost one day). These events do not happen without super volunteering at the event both on and off the water and my thanks to everyone that helped both from HISC and UKLA. Not all participants fully understand the planning and complexity of almost 250 competitors and their supporters across two race courses and three fleets and I appreciate the efforts of those of you assisting for many months in the preparation of the event.
It is worth appreciating the diversity of our fleet. We have an age range from young teenagers to those in their seventies. We have club sailors to full time British sailing squad members. We had 60 female sailors including 42% of the ILCA4 fleet that also included some masters sailors. We had sailors from Scotland to Cornwall as well as a bunch of international visitors In the ILCA7 and we had 6 parents racing who had children in one of the fleets. That’s what makes our class so strong.
The standard seemed so much higher this year racing in the ILCA7 fleet (and I am sure in others) with an influx of experienced younger sailors and some of the elite sailors. So I thought I would share a couple personal observations on my racing.
I managed to get to the first mark in or around the top 10 in half the races. Why these and not more ? Well getting off the line and holding a lane was very hard and apart from a small number of the very fast sailors, a fluffed start meant even a top 20 at the first mark was hard. Boat handling to protect your position on the line is a core skill. I did notice a couple of other master sailors getting excellent top 3 first mark roundings - Nick Harrison won the pin in the light air race (although a foot over the line in the end) and he did it again at the Committee Boat in another race as did Stuart Hudson both heading right on the beat and holding off most of the fleet. They certainly showed what was possible with a good start.
However a good start was not sufficient ! As Ben Elvin said at one of the daily prize givings, boat speed was probably the main determinant especially in the first half of the regatta. The top sailors are able to keep the boat moving quickly upwind in the gusts and lulls, steering high in the flat bits and sustaining speed a bit lower on the bigger waves that can slow you down. This marginal speed difference over several minutes is enough to free them to make their own tactical decisions - the old adage that a bit of boat speed makes you look like a tactical genius !
For me the biggest speed difference was downwind in marginal surfing conditions - mastering the techniques requires lots of practice and time on the water and this is where the top sailors come into their own. I did find though that their advantage narrows once it is possible to surf most the waves and link them together.
After some good starts and some decent boat speed, avoiding major mistakes is imperative and I made a certainly made fair number of them ! First race, first mark, on port tack crossing the starboard lay line, I hailed to go past two starboard tackers (by calling me through they round the mark ahead) but failed to do the same with a third on starboard - result was a 720 and 15 or more places lost. I put this down to a lack of recent racing in a big fleet. Worse was to follow …. third race of the day in 13 to 15 knots, feeling tired but strong on the second beat and in the top 10, I dropped the mainsheet ducking a port tacker, capsizing to windward. I struggled to pull myself up inside the cockpit and then get my leg over the hull on to the daggerboard. When the boat did come up, I went over again and I found myself in the water a second time. A minute later I was back upright in the cockpit totally out of breathe having lost all will to continue. For us masters of a certain age staying in the boat rather than the water is essential as it was amazing to go from total control to zero control in a few minutes. (Talking about this afterwards it was suggested that it is best to release the kicker straightaway as it avoids a further capsize and this seems to me to be correct).
Of course, even with a good start and decent speed, heading the wrong way is certainly a major mistake! It happened to many of us who kept going left after the start of the second last race. The difference was profound as heading hard right out of the tide was way better.
Even though some of these lessons have been learnt before I have resolved to try and avoid making the same mistakes for the rest of this season!
Visit the event website to access all results and write ups which include all media content
Snippets:
Youth Open 2-3rd September (Royal Lymington YC)
This event is part of the Youth Ladder.
Available until Wednsday, 30/08/2023
UKLA Qualifier 4 - 16-17th September (Paignton SC)
Available until 11/09/2023
UKLA Chair blog #53
This week’s blog is fully dedicated to highlighting events that are happening in the next few months
ILCA SKILLS WEEK - 14-18th August (WPNSA)
All training places are sold out, but we have spaces left on Power Boat, Safety Boat and Mark Laying courses. BBQ tickets for sailors are included, but supporters/parents need to pre-book and pay online.
PB2, SB & ML - available until Saturday 12/08/2023
BBQ - available until Saturday 12/08/2023
Open and National Championships - 20 - 26th August (HISC)
Available until TOMORROW - Wednesday 09/08/2023 - No entries will be accept after the closing date.
We need more volunteers on shore and on water to make things run smoothly. Please contribute to the success of this event
Super Grand Prix - 12 - 13th August (Castle Cove SC)
Training is now sold out, but you can still join the social event on Saturday evening and racing on Sunday
Racing tickets - available until Thursday 10/08/2023
Youth Open 2-3rd September (Royal Lymington YC)
This event is part of the Youth Ladder.
Available until Wednsday, 30/08/2023
Super Grand Prix - 2-3rd September (Plas Heli SC)
Open to all - Available until 30/08/2023
UKLA Qualifier 4 - 16-17th September (Paignton SC)
Available until 11/09/2023
UKLA AGM 2023 - 16th September (Paignton SC)
Nominations to be sent by 19/08/2023
There are also many Grand Prix events happening across the country almost every week and we are slowly releasing dates for Autumn training.