Volunteering is part of our sport.

We welcome and encourage parents and supporters to actively participate in our events. There is a variety of choices; on the water or on shore. Have a peek on our entry page and volunteer through there or ping us an email with what you can bring to the table and when! On shore we would like some support during the day/evening with a couple of hours of commitment. No special skills required for shore tasks - just your lovely self and a bit of your time. We also need a few people to “dismantle and pack down” the superb set up that we have planned for all sailors and supporters on site.

Brett Lewis (ILCA UK Safety Officer) says:

“If you have ever wanted to make a difference, now is the time to consider how you can support our amazing sailors and our amazing class. 

ILCA UK has a unique position, we are a class not a club, we do not have a club house or have any tangible assets. But as a class we are bigger than most of the UK clubs. Our major events attract more sailors than even the biggest UK clubs and our training events successfully attract hundreds of sailors monthly.

None of this would happen without the amazing teamwork, skill, and determination of volunteers. Sailing, like many sports is a volunteer run, volunteer organised and volunteer governed sport. 

None of this would happen without volunteers.

For us to provide safe racing at each of our major events, every day we require a team of at least 60 volunteers. We require everything from the beach and tally team, the race management team, the safety team, the prize giving team and the event admin team. Very few other classes or clubs require this amount of event resource to safely run our racing events.

Our on-water safety team operates on a policy of 12:1, that is for every 12 sailors on the water, they require at least one crewed safety rib. (…)

The on-water team that supports the racing is made up of the Race Committee, the Mark Layers, the Safety team and the Jury team. On the shoreside we have the Tally, Beach, Bridge, Results, Prize and Admin team. 

(…) if you are new to the class or have considered how you can offer support and would like to talk to us, please get in touch with Brett for on water support or Keith for Race Committee or simply volunteer through the event page. We are particularly keen to speak to members who feel they want to offer support but do think they may yet not have the necessary experience. 

If you're passionate about sailing and wish to contribute to the success of our ILCA UK sailors and want to give back to your community, then volunteering is the perfect opportunity for you. We can offer training, advice, mentoring and support for Mark Layers, the Safety team and the Race Committee.”

Mark Lyttle (ILCA UK Chair) supports Brett in his blog:

“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.(…) 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 (…)”