UKLA Chair Blog #85

As we enter a quieter period for UKLA organised activities, there’s still lots going on and to look forward to. Firstly please check out the calendar for lots of upcoming Grands Prix and Open meetings.

We have a UKLA Masters event at WPNSA on 6/7 July with all three fleets. We welcome sailors with all levels of experience so if you are a regular club racer, this may be a great opportunity for racing at National level in the Olympic venue. With the Masters Europeans at Hayling Island in June 2025, this event would be a good place to start your preparation. UKLA is also recommending doing at least one of our Masters events in 2024 (ideally all three) to improve your chances of getting a place at the Euros if the event is oversubscribed (the other ones are the Masters Nationals at Hayling in Sept and the Inlands in Grafham in October). More information when this opens in next few weeks.

One event open is the Women’s ILCA Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club on 13/14 July. This event is open to all levels of experience including sailors thinking of transitioning to the ILCA. If you are a regular at UKLA Nationals events and training, please come along and support this event.

Finally, Skills Week in both Plas Heli and WPNSA opens tomorrow. Below is the information already sent by email to members. This year we planning to return somewhat to our roots by providing as many places as possible to those coming the class for he first time

What is this SKILLS WEEK you may ask?

Skills week was born in 2021 as a Transition Week. Due to covid and ILCA U21 World Championships being cancelled at WPNSA, we grabbed dates set aside for this event to run a 5 days training event.

It started as training offered to newcomers to the ILCA class and those moving to another ILCA fleet. In 2022 we opened this event to all class members and feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

To keep in line with the original intention of giving new members of the class a boost to start to racing an ILCA, we offered a percentage of available spaces to that group of members, whilst catering for all our members.

Transition sailors are those who have not at the time of application raced in a UKLA regatta (such as Nationals/Qualifiers/Inlands/Youth Winters) or trained in a UKLA event. They can book a space in the general release or apply to attend Skills Week up to the end of June by sending an email to events@ilca.uk setting out their sailing experience - please put Transition Sailor in the email subject so we can easily identify it.

Objective of the week is to support any sailor transitioning into the ICA from another class, support and develop any sailor moving between/new to ILCA rigs and offer an opportunity to train at a world class venue with fantastic coaches to all class members, of any experience, any ability and any age!

This year we offer an opportunity to train at TWO different locations:

• Plas Heli 22-26th July

• WPNSA (Weymouth & Portland) 26-30th August

You may have already trained or raced at WPNSA, so we encourage you to try another location. Don't forget that one of the qualifiers this Autumn will be held at Plas Heli as well as the Nationals next year so why not get ahead of the game and get to know the location?

Entries to both events open next week (Tuesday, 9th April 2024 at 6pm BST).

We strongly recommend that you get your profile in order ahead of the release times. Tickets are likely to sell in under 1/2 hour.

Practical advice:

• Become a member ahead of the release date (Join UKLA, Renew membership)

• Complete your profile (address, DOB, emergency and medical information etc)

• Add a boat to your profile (You MUST have a boat listed in your profile to enter. If you don't know details of a boat yet, you still need to add something we can amend it later).

• Do it all in good time before release time to speed up your booking process.

PLEASE READ INFORMATION ON ENTRY PAGES

SKILLS WEEK PLAS HELI

SKILLS WEEK WPNSA

 If you are a coach and would like to be part of the coaching team across the country, please register your details with us through a short form

UKLA Chair Blog #84

As part of the transition to ILCA, there are now nine builders approved by ILCA and World Sailing to manufacture class-legal equipment, including hulls, and are licensed to sell ILCA-labeled equipment anywhere in the world. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of ILCA’s technical team and these builders, boat and equipment quality and consistency has improved significantly. Here we look behind the scenes.

An Inside Look at the ILCA Technical Team

PRODUCTION AUDITS

The goal of the ILCA Technical Team is to maintain the ILCA dinghy as the premiere one-design sailboat in the world. We want all ILCA dinghies to be built to the same high standards so that sailors can have confidence in the equipment that they purchase.

 Read Article

Introducing Chris Tunstall, ILCA Chief Technical Officer

I thought I was approaching retirement when I was made aware that the ILCA Chief Technical Officer role was being advertised. After a 40-year career in the marine industry and five years in automotive, I joined ILCA in October 2022. 

 Read Article

Introducing the ILCA Technical Team

The ILCA Technical team is responsible for protecting the one design of the class. They audit boat production on-site to ensure builder compliance and quality, and they develop tools for continuous improvement.

 Read Article

Snippets

Women ILCA Regatta - Rutland Sailing Club - 13th - 14 July open this evening

UKLA Chair Blog #83

We all have different reasons for wanting to race and it is important we respect those.

I was talking with Guy Noble at breakfast on the Sunday of the recent Qualifier at WPSNA and he said he had listened to a sailing podcast in the car on the way to the event. His motivation is to continually improve with a goal of getting better results over time, which fascinated me as we had both competed in the Worlds in Adelaide a few weeks prior and here he was still super motivated. I had a clear goal in Adelaide, but I had not yet taken the time to readjust or adapt to the “flat time” after the event.

I have known Guy since 2017 and back then he was super keen to learn and improve. He raced most Sundays at Queen Mary as well as all the UK Masters events and many of the Masters Worlds and Europeans. I know he reads a lot of sailing books . It has not been a short commitment – not a couple of weekends training and racing with the expectation of immediate improvement - learning takes much longer than this. But over those years, he has improved dramatically, and so have the results (with the ups and downs of competition along the way. What’s also interesting is that Guy is not a teenager – he has just joined the Great Grand Master fleet (aged 65). His motivation has been around wanting to continually improve.

I think back to myself as a teenager and that’s exactly how I thought, but since coming back to Masters sailing in 2017, I have realised I think less like that now. For me now the motivation is around short “projects” targeting results in specific events. Prior to the 2018 Masters Worlds, I did 40 days sailing, where it was all about “relearning” or remembering how to do things. It was also around a fitness program. And after that event it took me some years (partly due to Covid) to target another event in the same way and four years before I really felt motivated to do another Worlds (in Mexico in 2022). Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed racing but to be really motivated and get the adrenaline going, I need a clear target. That provides the motivation rather than aspiring to learn more. It also has a downside, in that it comes to end with the resulting flat or down time. So that Sunday talking to Guy, I realised it was too soon after Adelaide to be racing.

Another issue with an outcome focus is that you can only assume responsibility for things in your direct control and you should not assess your performance based on things you can’t control. For the avoidance of doubt, once you get near the start, no focus should be on outcomes, but rather tasks or routines (or to use the well-known quote “at critical moments in sport there was absolutely nothing going through my mind”)

 No matter what age we are, we all have different reasons for racing. Some enjoy being out there free and independent, others just love racing and the competitive angle, many just want to acquire new skills and keep improving. A small number are incredibly passionate and given the opportunity want to train and race non-stop. Talking to Guy at breakfast allowed me to reflect on that.

Snippets

There are some spaces let at open club training at Queen Mary on 6th April - https://www.queenmary.org.uk/book/add/p/409

UKLA Chair Blog # 82

What tribe are you in?  If a tribe is a community which has shared interests and provides support to its members and you are getting this email, then you are probably in the tribe of ILCA sailors in the UK. Or it could also be club-based tribe or even a group of ex-university sailing friends.

I wrote some weeks go about the selection of Micky Beckett and Hannah Snellgrove as the men’s and women’s single-handed sailing representatives of TeamGB at the Paris Olympics this summer. I said of course, their selection is mostly down to individual dedication with the support of their coaches, but we all have had a part to play. These sailors have come up through our class over many years and competed and trained in many of our clubs around the country and many of us will have raced against them. We should consider ourselves part of their team and we need to think how we can support them at the Games. So we are all in this same tribe – we have some common interests, we try to share those through the umbrella of the UKLA and also provide support to those just joining to the tribe.

The way ILCA sailing works is that you become a member of the District where you normally sail (in our case the District is Great Britain) but this has nothing to do with nationality or residency and in fact some Districts are not based on country boundaries at all. In essence we are all one community that sails together. This came to a head for me at the 2018 Masters Worlds in Dun Laoghaire. In the previous 15 years, almost all my sailing was club based at Queen Mary (in fact my Laser never left the club for 13 years) until I went to Hayling Island for the Masters Nationals in 2017 and started doing some UKLA events in the build up to 2018. Then off I went to the Worlds in Dublin with a bunch of friends and fellow sailors from Queen Mary and around the UK. As a member of UKLA, I had GBR on my sail (they are the rules) and that’s when the fun started, after all there I was racing on the waters where I had spent the first 25 years of my sailing and where many of the volunteers at the event were people I knew – why was I sailing under GBR?  Of course, my UKLA friends couldn’t understand why I was being claimed by the Irish as I was entered under GBR. Luckily at the prizing-giving Jeff Martin has the sense to announce the results as “Mark Lyttle – GBR…and Ireland” otherwise there might have been a riot! The reality is that I happen to be in both tribes.

Our UKLA community is bound by who normally sails here and we have diaspora from around the world. Last weekend David Surkov was racing, and he is well known for his Ukrainian heritage but off the top of head we have sailors from Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Canada, Ireland, Thailand amongst others who sail regularly with us. In the nineties, Nik Burfoot entered and won the World Championship in New Zealand as a GBR sailor as he was living and sailing in our fleet but he is most definitely a New Zealander (he also won the Nationals) – subsequently he won the Worlds again with NZL on his sail after he returned to New Zealand! We welcome sailors who come to work or study here as it adds to the inclusive nature of our class but of course they need to conform to the rules of the tribe!

While entry to international ILCA events is really based on District membership (where you normally sail) rather than country representation (i.e. there is no nationality check), many sports wrestle with this the issue, rugby being one example. At the 2015 World Cup, it was reported, Argentina was the only team where the full squad was born in Argentina. Rules on representing your country in sport can be complex and vary by sport. Your nationality, where you were born, where you live and whether you have represented another country before are often factors. Indeed, rules may even differ by competition with the Olympic Games often have different criteria than for example the World Championship in a sport – this is certainly true of ILCA racing.

Some say your right to represent your country should be driven by your nationality. But that’s not so easy – does it also apply if you were born somewhere else and have gained nationality by living in that country for a long time? Or what if you are a national of one country but emigrated to another country when you were a baby or even born in another country but entitled to nationality because of your parents or even grandparents, when you may never have even visited that country? Or are we really saying you must be born and bred in a country and be a national to “qualify”?  Nationality, it seems, is a course criterion.

But so is residency. For example, if you have lived in a country for a long time and are a permanent resident, surely you should be allowed represent your country. But how long is a long time? 10 years or 3 years? Any length of time you pick is going to have people on the wrong side of threshold.

Luckily for ILCA sailing in the UK we don’t need to wrestle with this, but in any case, for me what really defines your identity is (guess what) what you identify with. So I have (at least) two tribes, one associated with the group of sailors I grew up with and represented at the Olympics but another tribe around ILCA sailing in the UK and the UKLA where I have been for 25 years. And as part of that community where Micky and Hannah have grown and developed, we will all be doing our best to support them at Paris 24.

UKLA Chair Blog #81

A quick blog this week with some observations from the weekend that I hope are relevant to all ILCA sailors, whether you were at the Qualifier in WPNSA or not (entry closes today for the last spring Q).

• It was great to see Elliot Hanson, TeamGB in Tokyo, racing (and winning quite easily) at the weekend. At the short Q&A at the prize-giving, commenting on windy conditions on Saturday he said sailing conservatively is sometimes needed.

• In talking to a younger ILCA4 sailor at the event, I said that sometimes it was better to sail safe on the run in over 20knots, rather than working the boat hard. You can do this by only letting the boom out three-quarters way (the leech of the sail will be at 90 degrees) and sail slightly by the lee.

• Same at the gate in those conditions, why not luff up around the right mark rather than try to gybe at the left mark?

• In the ILCA7 in the windy races on Saturday, on the water first to fourth was the same in all three races – while major mistakes like capsizing, early starts (me again !) or tactical blunders were to be avoided, it is safe to say that boat speed was key. Sailing fast in windy conditions is often a better guarantee of results than light winds, which are often shiftier and gustier.

• But not on Sunday which produced a fairly steady 5knots where steering was critical (like a sea breeze).  Winners get good lanes and sail fast(er), and as high as possible without losing speed. Tactics won’t make up for slow boat speed in these conditions (better boat speed makes sailors look like tactical geniuses),  unlike like lake sailing with big shifts and gusts.

• It is sometimes hard to see the wind pressure. One way of judging it is by the speed of other boats - above you, below you and on the run by looking behind

• Setting your expectations before racing or an event can be important – are you there for fun, experience or results?  Are you proud to get around the course in windy weather or getting a great start? Everyone is there for the own reasons!

• We don’t always get champagne conditions in the UK – we are dependant on the weather – that’s just the way it is. With patience we got some fair races on Sunday.

 Snippets

UKLA Events

• Q3 WPNSA - entry open

• ILCA 4 International Event Support - open

UKLA Training

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry open

• UKLA National Training 23/24th March - entry open

UKLA Chair Blog #80

How often do we consider – who is organising and running racing today? Who answers my email query on training or membership? Most often the answer is a volunteer. Modern society is most definitely a service-provider culture. We expect our services promptly and accurately, often online from our desks. And complaining is now so easy – send an email and you don’t even have to deal with an issue face to face. While not quite keyboard warrior territory where identities are kept hidden, it does see us sometimes send messages which are more aggressive or abusive then they should be. Volunteers do not work full-time and are not available 7 days a week. They are giving up some of their valuable time to help us.

It is important that people are prepared give something back, otherwise one of the consequences in the long run is higher prices and the exclusion of some who can’t afford it (or in society in general some people just don’t get the services they need).

But studies also show that there is a correlation between those who volunteer and their mental well-being.

I think we all recognise that volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport (most sports in fact) in clubs and classes up and down the country. UKLA is not a service-provider but an association of members that have come together to provide services to their members. Of course, we want to provide those services competently and efficiently, but it is mostly members doing that on behalf of members. I certainly appreciate all the time our volunteers commit to the UKLA, and there are very many of them. As well as the UKLA Committee of fifteen members, we have five sub-committees with additional members and many of us on those committees are helped, supported and advised by others who give up their time.  And this is all before the volunteers on and off water at our events and training.

It goes without saying that our volunteers should be treated with respect (and mostly they are) and good relationships between volunteers matters a lot. Providing two-way feedback in the right way both helps to achieve this, while improving the way we do things.  Race officers and Jury members don’t always get it right and it is reasonable to provide this feedback in a respectful way, bearing in mind that emotions often run high amongst us competitors when results have not gone the way we want!

Of course, there is no expectation that everyone will agree with all of our policies, whether they are a volunteer or not, but it is important to stress that policy comes from the UKLA Committee and its sub-committees not individual volunteers. Where there are concerns about policy these should be raised with UKLA committee members. We are always open to refining our policies in the interests of the class as a whole.  

NOW for the ask - we need a volunteer to help organise our next Masters event at WPNSA in July. The race management documents and prize-giving are already accounted for (my thanks to Alan Davis and Guy Noble) so the effort is not significant and it is a one-off. I look forward to hearing for you.

Snippets

UKLA Events

• Q2 - closes tonight (4th March)

• Q3 WPNSA - entry open

• ILCA 4 International Event Support - open

UKLA Training

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry open

• UKLA National Training 23/24th March - entry open

UKLA Chair Blog #79

Quite a lot to cover today but first the news that Hannah Snellgrove has been selected for TeamGB in the Paris Olympics this summer. Congratulations to her on behalf of all ILCA sailors in the UK.  The journey to get there is never easy so it is great for her to see all the hard work over many years pay off. Her results last summer and this winter in the two World Championships and the Paris Test event showed consistent, world class performances and she can now focus on the Games this summer. Now that both ILCA7 and ILCA6 reps have been selected, I have been reflecting on what that means for us. Of course, their selection is mostly down to individual dedication with the support of their coaches, but we all have had a part to play. These sailors have come up through our class over many years and competed and trained in many of our clubs around the country and many of us will have raced against them. We should consider ourselves part of their team and we need to think how we can support them at the Games.

We had the Dinghy Show at the weekend and our stand was very busy all weekend. There is a “buzz” around the class and I would like to thank everyone who helped out, led by Ellie, including the Youth sailors. Super work – thank you ! I picked out several themes that epitomise our class. Firstly our increased focus on the GP circuit in around 70 clubs across 10 regions,  led by John Ling – we will continue to develop and refine over the next few years (see poster above). We also have our Women’s ILCA regatta in July, led by Fiona Atwell. Finally we had the incomparable Stick Daring talking at the show and promoting his book.

With our first Qualifiers in Brightingsea this coming weekend (entries close this evening) and the season upcoming, I wanted to emphasize the need for good behaviour from all our sailors and their supporters. Last year I brought attention to our Misconduct policy and I repeat what I said then

UKLA members want our class to be a welcoming place for all involved with UKLA events, no matter their age or level of experience. We want to encourage a culture where we can all enjoy the sport and display sportsmanship on and off the water. We should show each other respect. Happily, misconduct at UKLA events is rare. But examples have arisen. UKLA hopes, by publicising the expected standards of behaviour and the applicable rules, to further improve standards of behaviour in relation to our events and in our sport more widely.

We also mentioned rules observance in a recent blog:

At most of our national events, UKLA appoint a jury that acts independently of the class. On the water, the main role of jury is to police rule 42 (illegal pumping, rocking etc) and they use a yellow flag and whistle when indicating to a sailor that they have broken rule 42. It is not usual for the jury to protest for boat-on-boat incidents as sailors are expected to do this and the same applies to mark-hitting. There is an exception to this where the jury feels a sailor has broken rule 2 – sportsmanship and fair sailing. This could apply when a sailor knowingly hits a mark and then does not take a penalty and it often results in a non-discardable disqualification. This coming season expect our juries to act a lot tougher on this – if you hit a mark, take your penalty turn.

Whether you are planning coming to Nationals events, our flagship Nationals at WPNSA, our Masters events, our GPs, our training (see calendar below for all of these) or sailing your ILCA at your club, I wish you an enjoyable season.

Snippets

UKLA Events

• Q1 Brightlingsea SC 2nd/3rd March - open - closing date 29/02/2024

• Q2 & Q3 WPNSA - entry open

• ILCA 4 International Event Support - open

UKLA Training

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry open

• UKLA National Training 23/24th March - entry open

UKLA Chair Blog #78

I was in Weymouth this weekend for some UKLA training with my son and while the weather was perhaps unseasonably warm, I didn’t really compare with my racing the previous Saturday in Adelaide on the last day of the Masters World Championship. Let me share some thoughts on the event.

222 masters from 20 countries gathered a couple of days after the Seniors finished at the same venue and my overall feeling was one of privilege. Of course, having the opportunity to do an event like this is super but it is mostly the opportunity to compete against sailors of a similar age on the world stage in my fifth decade of sailing. When I tell that the ILCA6 Legends (that’s 75 and older) had a fleet of 19 of whom around ten were 80 or older, it is really amazing. Of course there is a mental and physical benefit of racing at those ages especially given the conditions. We may not get there but we can aspire to it!

And the conditions were brilliant with a strong sea breeze getting up to 25 knots most days combined with steep waves, making for exhilarating conditions. There were plenty of capsizes in those conditions and one of my abiding memories will be approaching the last leeward gate in fourth but vying for second. As I was on the outside I knew a good gybe would take me past the other two but that’s not easy in 30knots. As I went for it, I stared down the face of a monster wave and while the surfing speed means hardly any pressure on the sail, turning sidewards on a steep wave just flips the boat over. So I had to surf down the wave and execute the gybe once it was a bit flatter. I was proud of what I had done until I realised I had surfed 10 boat lengths past the gate and was consigned to fourth. I think we will all keep memories of those downwinds for years to come.

In a six day regatta in those conditions is it also a game managing the attrition. I was nursing a back strain during the regatta and had to visit a chiropractor twice during the event. For me, there was lots of stretching early and late in the day and before and after sailing. Surprisingly, My back, along with my results (not necessarily connected) improved as the week went on but it needed constant attention. Even without that, recovery when you combine the wind with the sun is key. Arriving in the boat park at 11am, allows for maximum recovery in an air-conditioned room before that, followed by minimal time in the boat park. After racing it is about quick food and drink and some socialising, followed by a quick nap, before dinner with fellow sailors and in bed well before 10pm – it makes for quite a therapeutic week – sail, eat, sleep, repeat with some social activities thrown in. But it is needed as it is impossible to recover fully each day and it is about slowing the decline during the week as much as possible.

As for the racing, it is hard against southern hemisphere sailors at the end of their summer and we are just not race fit in the same way. As the start OF the week my starting was awful, second row on the first day and then first row on second day but no lane. At 85kg or so, I am normally as quick as any master upwind in a breeze, but a lot of the ILCA7 sailors were 90kg and more which meant they were very quick off the line (quite of few of the ILCA6 sailors were over 80kg anticipating the strong winds) and once you lose your line, the flexibility to tack on shifts goes too. So I started adjusting my starting strategy to start nearer the committee boat so making it easier to tack on the first shift even if I lost my lane. Also that speed off the line is essential in a southern hemisphere sea breeze that clocks left later in the day (the opposite to us). My downwind speed keep me competitive as in the first eight races, I didn’t have a first mark rounding in the top six yet had seven top six finishes (lucky for those big waves 😉). Generally though that sort of starting and first beats will limit your results.

Although I would say it wasn’t a hugely tactical regatta (more boat speed) , the sea breeze was very interesting. You could not see land to upwind but 20km or more away, there was land which caused shifts in the sea breeze you would not normally see. On one of the windy sea-breeze days when it blew 25 knots all day, you didn’t expect regular shifts but on the second beat I was tacking perhaps 5 or 6 times in response to shifts. Other beats you could head hard left and not worry about shifts.

Brett Bayer, who some of you will remember from our Master Nationals in Hayling Island last summer, won easily (much more easily than last summer). Why? He was just a bit quicker upwind and very fast downwind. I got close to him at the end of the first downwind of the last race after I managed to get to the windward mark in second but he generally used his boat speed very wisely – conservative starts in the middle, tacking ahead and to leeward of the fleet, never in a corner. Here are some quotes in the blog from last summer.

Anyway that’s a snapshot of the event for you. We were also lucky to be there for the medal race in the seniors where Micky was third overall. That race was in 25 knots too and those sailors are true athletes!

 To close out though I did talk to some of you younger masters in Weymouth this weekend, with the Europeans in Hayling Island in June 2025, it is time to start planning and getting on the water. What could be better than a European Championship in home waters.

Snippets

UKLA Events

• Q1 Brightlingsea SC 2nd/3rd March - open - closing date 29/02/2024

• Q2 & Q3 WPNSA - entry open

• ILCA 4 International Event Support - open

UKLA Training

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry open

• UKLA National Training 23/24th March - entry open

 RYA Dinghy Show 2024 (24-25th February)

Dinghy Show is coming up at the end of this month. As every year, there are some great talks and events lined up for the the weekend.

Need some downwind speed tips? You can find British Sailing Team Sam Whaley in the knowledge zone talking about this very subject on both days (15:30).

Stick Daring will be talking about his round Britain adventure in a £50 laser at a main stage (14:15) followed by book signing at our stand afterwards. You will have an opportunity to buy his book at a show or you can get it ahead of the show here.

Our stand will be located near “the clubhouse” and immediately next to Sailingfast. Pop in to see us! Come to find out more about our world class racing and training events, Grand Prix circuit & club training, get tips on what to look for when buying a new or second-hand boat and how to rig it for speed and performance.

Several of our sponsors will also be at the show - be sure to visit them and grab a bargain or two. Visit Sailingfast, Ovington, Rooster & Fernhurst Books stands and see us to see Southeast Sailboats rigging up close and find out more about Wildwind Holidays.

Buy Tickets HERE

Full Schedule HERE

See you there

UKLA Chair Blog # 77

ILCA Masters World Championships

Whilst Mark is enjoying his time in Australia, I hijacked his blog this week.

Mark, along with several of our masters ventured out to Adelaide to compete at the ILCA Masters Worlds. It was a tough event with big swells and strong winds, however our masters did quite well - let me mention a few of them:

In ILCA 6 Jon Emmett came 3rd in the Master category whilst Terry Scutcher was 2nd in Great Grand Master fleet with Jeff Loosemore in 4th. Jeff is a regular visitor to the UK and competes in the UK and European circuit.

In ILCA 7 Tim Law was 2nd in Great Grand Master category and Mark Lyttle bagged 3rd in Grand Masters category.

19 amazing legends (age 75+) entered the event! WOW!

You can check all results here

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RYA Dinghy Show 2024 (24-25th February)

Dinghy Show is coming up at the end of this month. As every year, there are some great talks and events lined up for the the weekend.

Need some downwind speed tips? You can find British Sailing Team Sam Whaley in the knowledge zone talking about this very subject on both days (15:30).

Stick Daring will be talking about his round Britain adventure in a £50 laser at a main stage (14:15) followed by book signing at our stand afterwards. You will have an opportunity to buy his book at a show or you can get it ahead of the show here.

Our stand will be located near “the clubhouse” and immediately next to Sailingfast. Pop in to see us! Come to find out more about our world class racing and training events, Grand Prix circuit & club training, get tips on what to look for when buying a new or second-hand boat and how to rig it for speed and performance.

Several of our sponsors will also be at the show - be sure to visit them and grab a bargain or two. Visit Sailingfast, Ovington, Rooster & Fernhurst Books stands and see us to see Southeast Sailboats rigging up close and find out more about Wildwind Holidays.

Buy Tickets HERE

Full Schedule HERE

See you there

Ellie

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Snippets

UKLA Events

• Queen Mary on 3rd/4th February - Results

• Q1 Brightlingsea SC 2nd/3rd March - entry open - book now to help us manage planning

• Q2 & Q3 WPNSA - entry opens 19:00hrs 14/02/2024

• ILCA 4 International Event Support - opens tonight 20:00hrs 12/02/2024

UKLA Training

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry open

• UKLA National Training 23/24th March - entry open

UKLA Chair Blog # 76

Calling female ILCA sailors of all ages

Just over a year ago we launched our survey on female participation in the ILCA (blog #26) and I have provided various updates since then (blog #59 as an example). Our working group led by Fiona Atwell continues to plan for the year ahead and specifically the Female ILCA Regatta on 13/14th July at Rutland. We are welcoming female sailors in all rigs, no matter their experience – new to the class, those transitioning from junior / youth classes like the Optimist, Tera or Topper and Masters coming back to the sport.

The plan is to provide a day of training on the Saturday with female coaches, followed by racing on Sunday with a female race management team. Sailing will be combined with fun activities and socials.

 ILCA4 is the ideal single-hander for those transitioning that I have written about before (of course we welcome those transitioning directly into the ILCA4 as well 😉):

• Have you been looking for single hander to suit a lighter sailor with a National circuit of events? 

• Do you feel the ILCA6 is a bit too powerful for you or you are not quite a competitive size for it? 

• Are you a Masters sailor looking for a smaller rig than the ILCA6? 

• Are you under 18 and want to go to a Worlds or Europeans with over 400 other sailors?

If the answer to any of these is yes, then read on…..

The ILCA4 (formerly 4.7) provides super racing for those boys and girls wishing to transition out of other junior classes like the Optimist or Topper. There is a ready supply of affordable second-hand boats and of course many sailors (and their parents) love the easy logistics and ease of access of single-hander sailing. Of course there a ready movement in time to the ILCA6 and ILCA7 as well if that what a sailor wants.

The ILCA4 has 7 or 8 UKLA National events each year that are open to sailors of any age and all are welcome. That means our Qualifiers (really high-quality open meetings) and Inland championship are open to anyone. Our National Championship attracted over 100 in 2022.

I know many people consider the ILCA4 to be a “transition” class but it doesn’t have to be. If you are getting great racing and you are not big enough for a ILCA6 then why move? I know in the past women /girls in particular have been encouraged to move to the ILCA6 but if it doesn’t suit you, UKLA is quite happy to support that. While I know many of sailors are around 15 or 16 there is no reason why you can’t stay in the class with your friends. Internationally the Worlds and Europeans are U18 so you can still go to these events until the year you turn 18. And remember there is no selection for these events and GBR usually have more than enough places to have all entries accepted.

We also want to encourage more women masters back into the sport or single-handed sailing in either with ILCA6 or the ILCA4 (last year we added the ILCA4 to the Masters Nationals with a separate start). Isn’t it time for a weekend away with the girls? There’s a WhatsApp group – see email. The masters fleet is a mixed fleet with club sailors as well former international sailors coming back after decades.

The women’s single-handed event has been in the Olympics for over 30 years now (four times in the Europe class and five times in the ILCA6 at Paris) and in that time, many women raced those boats or indeed campaigned them and we would love to see some of them come back and sail our masters events. Why not come to Rutland in July as a starter and the masters nationals in Hayling Island in September?  Who knows then on to the Europeans in Hayling Island in June 2025?

Snippets

UKLA Events

• Queen Mary on 3rd/4th February - Results

• Q1 Brightlingsea SC 2nd/3rd March - entry open - book now to help us manage planning

UKLA Training

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry open

• UKLA National Training 23/24th March - entry opens tonight 19:00hrs 05/02/2024

UKLA Chair Blog # 75

What is it about competitive sport that is so attractive?

Some would say it is the winning, others the taking part. But I am not so sure it is that simple as I think it is more about the uncertainty of the outcome, the risk and reward, the putting yourself on trial to be judged by yourself and others. For this we need rules for conducting ourselves so that we all start equal and complete on equal terms.  Winning, losing or taking part, whatever it is, we want everyone to play within the rules that we all know and understand. You have to sail an ILCA not something that looks like one, you can’t start early and must sail around the course and you have to manoeuvre against other boats according to the rules. This is the essence of competitive sport.

As a self-policing sport, there is no referees and no VAR! It is up to us to ensure that the sport is played by the rules. And sometimes that means protesting.

At most of our national events, UKLA appoint a jury that acts independently of the class. On the water, the main role of jury is to police rule 42 (illegal pumping, rocking etc) and they use a yellow flag and whistle when indicating to a sailor that they have broken rule 42. It is not usual for the jury to protest for boat-on-boat incidents as sailors are expected to do this and the same applies to mark-hitting. There is an exception to this where the jury feels a sailor has broken rule 2 – sportsmanship and fair sailing. This could apply when a sailor knowingly hits a mark and then does not take a penalty and it often results in a non-discardable disqualification. This coming season expect our juries to act a lot tougher on this – if you hit a mark, take your penalty turn.

It is worth reflecting on how we conduct ourselves on the racecourse as there’s a distinction between being “ruthless” and being “hostile”. Sometimes to win you must do what is right for you. For example, tacking exactly when it suits you to get the right lane upwind, even it is means tacking on your best mate. Experienced racers understand this. It is not an action against another sailor but making the best decision for you. This also sometimes means taking calculated risks in boat-to-boat situations – coming in on port at crowded mark, carries those risks. The downside is that you must take your penalty if it doesn’t work. And indeed, when another boat in that port tack approach fails and doesn’t take the penalty, they gain an advantage from the risk. But they aren’t playing by the rules and should be protested.  (As an aside you allowed to approach on port inside three boat lengths and indeed tack underneath a starboard tacker, but you mustn’t force them above close hauled). This is all about racing hard.

On the other hand,  hostility gets you into trouble. ILCA racing is often a game of small margins and boat to boat situation arise all the time. I find the best approach is a bit of “give and take”, creating some goodwill for the future. Port and starboard crossing up the first beat is a great example. If you are on starboard and don’t want a port tacker to cross (for tactical reasons) then hail. If they want to cross and it makes no difference to you, let them go. I don’t want someone to take advantage but I am happy to forgive minor misjudgements that have no real effect on anyone (by avoiding contact for example). In reality, to a greater or lesser extent, this is how ILCA sailing works at every level of the sport (and I include the Olympics). No one wants a hostile approach nor a pedantic or purist implementation of the rules as a method of winning. But we want people to win without breaking the rules to their advantage.

 Snippets

UKLA Events

• Queen Mary on 3rd/4th February - entry closes tomorrow (31/01/2024)

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry open

• UKLA Open Training at Plas Heli 13/14th February - entry closes 03/02/2024

• UKLA National Training 23/24th March - entry opens 19:00hrs 05/02/2024 (after QM event)

• Q1 Brightlingsea SC 2nd/3rd March - entry open

UKLA Training

Winter training dates for Jan, Feb and Mar - UKLA Calendar 

UKLA Chair Blog # 74

Several pieces of information to share this week….

ILCA Open Club training

Today we are opening access to ILCA Open Club training to allow clubs to promote ILCA training in their clubs that is open to ILCA sailors from other clubs. This training is organised and managed locally by the club who set their own pricing and conditions. So long as the training is open to non-club members, we will promote in our UKLA calendar. Later in the year, as UKLA develops a coach register, this can be used to help club organisers. Beyond the calendar and register, UKLA is not involved in any way. This replaces the UKLA program of supported club training that become too time complex to run from the centre. You will see some examples of this in our Calendar.

So if you want your ILCA Open Club training in our calendar, simply send the date and club website (anything else you want to add) to the address in the email and we will get it live within one week.

RYA Dinghy Show

Show and see us at the RYA Dinghy Show on 24th/25th Feb at Farnborough!

UKLA Youth Event at Queen Mary for ILCA4s and ILCA6s

There are 40 entries for this with entry still open for another 8 days.

Master volunteer

Since Alison retired in July, we have a masters sub-committee of Alan Davis, Guy Noble, Peter Young, Keith Videlo, Ellie and myself sharing the workload but many of us are already doing other UKLA work and we need some additional help. It is not a matter of taking on a big role, just helping out.  In particular there are no ILCA6 volunteers! Please help us.

UKLA Grand Prix Series

Some of you will recall that we had an open forum late year to discuss the GP series with the aim of improving co-ordination and building on the successful platform that we already have. As a result, John Ling has stepped forward to co-ordinate this. The UKLA’s objective is the encourage and increase participation in club racing and open meetings to the extent we can influence this. In particular, we would like to see more youth activity, more racing in ILCA4s and ILCA6s and more women. There are 10 regions and we would like each of these to have a strong GP series and John has prepared updated guidelines to help support this.

We would like all ILCA sailors to be UKLA members and would certainly encourage that as the membership, at just over £3 per month, is a small part of each sailor’s annual budget. While we are working to increase the tangible benefits for UKLA members, we all benefit indirectly by ensuring the class remains strictly one-design. With nine builders across the globe the measurement differences between boats is negligible but the effort is sustaining this is not free and membership fees help fund this, both here in the UK and in the international class. Of course, individual open meetings are run by local clubs and while membership is a class rule, UKLA don’t enforce this at these open meetings as our primary focus is the encourage participation.

As similar argument can be applied to class legal equipment where there is a strict rule at National events. For club racing and open meetings, there tends to be a more relaxed approach, driven by improving participation, but most clubs seem to operate an informal approach where those at the front or in the top half of the fleet are expected to sail with class legal equipment. Winning with replica kits underlines the whole ethos of the ILCA class!

We want to improve the promotion of the GP series’ this year and John would like to get a full list of GPs by the end of the month – details to the address in the email.

Snippets

UKLA Events

• Queen Mary on 3rd/4th February - entry opened 19:00hrs 15/01/2024

• UKLA Open Training 23/24th March - entry opens 19:00hrs 22/01/2024

• Q1 Brightlingsea SC 2nd/3rd March - entry opens 19:00hrs 23/01/2024

UKLA Training

Winter training dates for Jan, Feb and Mar - UKLA Calendar

UKLA Announcements

• UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm

UKLA Chair Blog #73

It is amazing how much is going on in January, which is hopefully a sign of a booming class. Last night I got the race report from Queen Mary where, according to Marshall King, they had a cracking morning of winter racing followed by a nice hot shower and a good chin wag and I am sure this was repeated in many clubs over the weekend. There was UKLA training at WPNSA with over 30 ILCAs and a very active schedule over the coming weeks in all regions. I have also been reading reports from the British Sailing Team in Argentina at the ILCA6 Women’s World Championship while the men at warming up for their Worlds in Adeliade. The ILCA6 Youth Worlds are underway now (also in Argentina) and I was lucky enough to continue my preparation for the Masters Worlds in Adelaide in early February with six days in Malta with a healthy contingent of 11 other GBR Masters. And it’s only January.

At the Masters Nationals in 2021 at Pevensey I talked with Mike Kinnear, a very active ILCA Legend (over 75) who was returning following a heart procedure, and I thought his story was inspiring but also indicative of the inclusive nature of our class. I asked him to share his thoughts below. I will try and repeat from the youth end of the fleet in coming blogs.

Ancient Mariner

 Mike Kinnear ‘Legend’

So how did I get started Sailing?

I blame Ruth, my girlfriend at the time and now my wife of some fifty-four years.  Her brother James was building an Enterprise in his father’s garage and persuaded me to crew for him when it was ready for the water.  I had never been in a sailing dinghy before, so joined the local Newtownards Sailing Club (that’s in N. Ireland) and was offered a trial crewing in a GP 14 - I was immediately ‘hooked’. I was a relatively late starter to sailing, being in my early 20’s, so it was a steep learning curve.

James and I took this sailing business quite seriously because neither of us were interested in just mucking about in boats, we wanted competition and to win. We quickly got started racing the Enterprise at the Club and took part in as many Regattas as possible.  We divided up helming and crewing taking turn and turnabout.  There was also a great traveller circuit in Ireland for Enterprises which we made use of to hone our skills and soon became a very competent team.  This naturally led to taking part in Enterprise World Championships, mostly held in England and Scotland but with the odd one held at home in Ireland.

This partnership wasn’t to last as James disappeared to university, so I was crew less and my wife Ruth refused to show that burning desire to win at any cost.  Trevor Millar (Mark – Trevor’s Sailcoach was hosting us in Malta last week) came to my rescue, and we had a couple of years doing the circuit.  If my memory serves me right, it was Trevor who directed me to this ‘new Racing Dinghy on the block’ – “The Laser”.  He seemed quite keen to get a Laser so, as I was in the process of losing my crew, I purchased my first Laser.  This was in the early 1970’s so it heralded in an era of worldwide ownership of an affordable racing machine. Yes, it had all the original wooden foils and tiller and the minimum of controllable tackle.  It even had a central mainsheet block jammer which could be a source of numerous capsizes.  It was a racing machine that didn’t suffer fools gladly and you either quickly learned how to control it or you did a lot of swimming.  The Laser had to go through several iterations in the form of control systems and the modern systems now in vogue make sailing the Laser (sorry, the ILCA - still can’t get used to the new name) so much easier to sail.  In the old days you had to develop the technique of bringing the boat head to wind and leaning down on the boom to tighten the kicker, as the old kicker format had the minimum purchases. I sailed my ILCA in numerous events around Ireland with some success and eventually changed my allegiance in sailing clubs to Ballyholme.  Being a much larger club with a sizeable ILCA fleet there was greater competition which I thrived on, competing against sailors like a young bloke called Bill O’Hara (I like to pretend that I taught him all he knew!). I worked for British Petroleum at the time and got the opportunity to transfer from Belfast Refinery to the Shetland Islands where they were constructing the large Oil Terminal.  My pal from Ballyholme, Ron Hutchinson, managed to get my ILCA transferred on a construction material supply ship to the Oil Terminal.  I like to think that I introduced the ILCA to the Shetland Islands (Mark – are there any ILCAs there now?) as it was the first one to make an appearance there and it has grown from strength to strength since then.  Whilst on Shetland I missed out on the mainstream ILCA activities on the mainland, namely, the Master category.

It wasn’t until I got back to working in England in 1984 that I got involved with this form of competition.  This format is not only very competitive but is also very socially minded and you get to travel extensively.  I’ve lost count of the number of different countries I have visited taking part in European and World Championships, with the added bonus of taking my wife with me to enjoy the company of sailors and spouses from all over the world and who we still keep in touch with on a regular basis.

Of course, as I get older (80 this month) the body starts to wear out and one tends to end up swopping updates on our ailments.  About 7 years ago I started to experience a tightening in my chest, and this seemed to happen during racing and training I suppose because I was exerting myself excessively.  After various checks on my heart, I was packed off to hospital and had open heart surgery to renew my Aortic valve and an additional single bypass.  I think because I was quite fit to start off with, that I made a rapid recovery and was back sailing 6 months later with no adverse effects.  That is until about a year later when I was diagnosed with late onset type 1 diabetes.  I thought that this must herald the end of my sailing mania, but the diabetes team at the Kings Lynn hospital worked with me on dietary matters and introduced me to a new constant glucose monitoring system.  It consisted of a sensor I attached to my arm and a reader that I could put into a phone waterproof pouch.  I could then swipe the sensor at any time on the water, usually between races, and give me the confidence that my blood sugars were within the limits to ensure I didn’t suffer a hypo (dangerously low blood sugar levels).  The diabetes team was thrilled when I came back from the European Masters with a GGM Gold medal. Of course, that wasn’t the end of my health problems.  One evening at home I started to pass-out several times and stopped breathing.  This turned out to be a heart block called Bradycardia where the heart stops beating for a few seconds at a time.  Back to hospital to have a Pacemaker fitted.  I lost another 6 weeks sailing as I was not allowed to drive for that period.

 How much longer am I going to keep racing?

I still get a great buzz from racing and I shall keep going as long as my health lets me and as long as I am still competitive. I don’t believe in just taking part, I am still driven to win and that is my drug of choice.

Snippets

UKLA Events

• Queen Mary on 3rd/4th February - entry opens 19:00hrs 15/01/2024

• Q1 Brightlingsea SC 2nd/3rd March - entry details shortly

UKLA Training

Winter training dates for Jan, Feb and Mar - UKLA Calendar

UKLA Announcements

• UKLA core working hours over winter are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 1-6pm

UKLA Chair Blog #72

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

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

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

ILCA7 Masters Inlands

ILCA6 and 4 Masters Inlands

Bartley Open

Derwent Open

Paignton Qualifier

U21 Worlds

WPNSA Q5 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA7s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA4s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Girls

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Boys

WPNSA Q6 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA7

UKLA Chair blog #69

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

ILCA7 Masters Inlands

ILCA6 and 4 Masters Inlands

Bartley Open

Derwent Open

Paignton Qualifier

U21 Worlds

WPNSA Q5 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA7s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA4s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Girls

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Boys

WPNSA Q6 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA7

UKLA Chair Blog #68

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

ILCA7 Masters Inlands

ILCA6 and 4 Masters Inlands

Bartley Open

Derwent Open

Paignton Qualifier

U21 Worlds

WPNSA Q5 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA7s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA4s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Girls

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Boys

WPNSA Q6 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA7

UKLA Chair blog #67

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

ILCA7 Masters Inlands

ILCA6 and 4 Masters Inlands

Bartley Open

Derwent Open

Paignton Qualifier

U21 Worlds

WPNSA Q5 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA7s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA4s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Girls

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Boys

WPNSA Q6 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA7

UKLA Chair blog #66

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

• Poole Yacht Club and ILCA racing

Race reports

ILCA7 Masters Inlands

ILCA6 and 4 Masters Inlands

Bartley Open

Derwent Open

Paignton Qualifier

U21 Worlds

WPNSA Q5 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA7s

WPNSA Q5 ILCA4s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Girls

WPNSA Q6 ILCA4 Boys

WPNSA Q6 ILCA6s

WPNSA Q6 ILCA7s