ILCA NSW & ACT

The Metros are on 14-15 March at Manly Yacht Club.

Manly YC are running this event for us on Manly Cove and the Sound so some of the best waters on Sydney Harbour.

NoR, Entry, SI, Sign On/Off  and Event Information links are listed below.

The Event Information document will be helpful for sailors planning to rig at Manly.

It will be convenient for many to stage from other clubs around the harbour so for this event if you have entered online there will be no need to register at the club – just sign on and off online each day.

The club will be providing a BBQ and drinks on the Manly Yacht Club Deck after sailing on Saturday and Sunday. This will be free for all competitors. The presentation will be held at the Manly Yacht Club as soon as possible after racing on Sunday.

Notice of Race

Online Entry

Sailing Instructions

Event Information Document

Sign On/Off

ILCA Victoria Masters States are on the 21^st & 22^nd of February at Mordialloc Sailing Club.

Mordialloc is towards the top of Port Phillip Bay, and they expect to have typical Port Phillip sea breeze conditions with warm sunny weather.

Details available on the Mordialloc web site Here. You can enter Here.

180 sailors from all mainland states and territories and some sailors from overseas enjoyed Australian Masters Championships at the fabulous regatta venue at Soldiers Point, Port Stephens. With beautiful clear water, good breezes, a traffic-free bay and lots of user-friendly rigging areas adjacent to accommodation what was not to like about the event.

The event was run for us by Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club who manage the Bay Sailing Centre and run major sailing events on Port Stephens. NCYC did a terrific job with 20 volunteers from Newcastle and tireless Sailing Manager Jack Buchan and Australian Sailing’s RO of the year Ken Semple calling the shots. Thanks to the NCYC and Bay Sailing Centre staff and volunteers for their efforts in delivering a great event.

On Sunday night 200 sailors and supporters enjoyed the event dinner at the Soldiers Point Bowling Club across the road from the Bay Sailing Centre. There Martin White hosted an Q & A session with Brett Beyer, Rob Lowndes, Lyndall Patterson and Christine Bridge who were Australian winners of World Masters categories at the 2025 World Masters in Italy. Australia won the ILCA trophy for most successful nation at the 2025 World Masters. The trophy is now on proud display at Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club.

The racing was held with three fleets ILCA 7, ILCA 6 Masters & GM, ILCA 6 Apprentices, GGMs and Legends each around 60 boats.

The first 2 days had solid afternoon sea breezes of 15 knots plus. Day 3 was lighter and saw delays due to shifting breeze and many general recalls. On Day 4 the fleets were APed ashore and just one light wind race was completed so seven of the eight scheduled races for the series with one drop.

There were 25 ILCA cubes awarded at this event and the first three placegetters in each category are listed below.

The full results are Here.

ILCA has announced the upcoming launch of a redesigned ILCA 4 sail.

The new ILCA 4 MkII sail was developed to improve cloth supply and improve durability without changing the ILCA 4 rig or compromising the ILCA one-design principle. For many years, the ILCA 4 sail has depended on a 3.8 oz sailcloth that is no longer produced at scale. The ILCA 6 also uses the same 3.8 oz material, and so work has commenced on the development of a future ILCA 6 MkII sail as well.

The new ILCA 4 sail will be available in limited supply from April 2026 and will be class legal from August 2026 in time for our events next season. The existing ILCA 6 sail will continue to be used through to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games with the new model to be released afterwards.

There is more information in the ILCA post Here.

There are 170 entries so far for the 2026 Australian Masters Championships 6-9 February 2026 at Bay Sailing Centre Soldiers Point, Port Stephens NSW. Entries are still open Here.

This is our favourite Masters venue. It offers great open sailing conditions, easy access on and off the water and ample accommodation in the Port Stephens area.

There are three current World Masters Champions competing so expect some high level competition. The Entry List is Here.

This is the Australian ranking event for the 2026 ILCA World Masters 2-10 June Skiathos, Greece.

The Notice of Race is Here.

The Sailing Instructions are Here.

Brett Beyer and Christine Bridge Current GM Australian and World Champions

The 2026 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships were very successfully run at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania with racing 3-8 January.

There were over 190 boats competing in the three classes with sailors from all Australian states and from 11 other countries. This was the largest ILCA/Laser Championship ever run in Tasmania and the largest Nationals of any class in Australia this season.

The ILCA 4 and ILCA 6 classes were sailed in two fleets using qualifying and finals series format. The largest class with 77 boats was the fast growing ILCA 4 which sailed on its own course area. Again this year there were more girls than boys in the ILCA 4. The two ILCA 6 and one ILCA 7 fleets sailed in the second course area.

The sailing conditions for the event varied from light and variable to moderate sea breeze with some full on breeze races thrown in for good measure. PRO Colin Dods and the two CROs managed to complete all 12 races two per day as scheduled though one day was a super long one allowed by the sunset in Hobart being at 2100. There is a perspective on the event by ILCA 6 sailors  Charlie Byford Here which details more on the variable conditions of the event.

As always the racing was close and competitive especially in the ILCA 4 class where the quality and skill exhibited by the young sailors was exceptional. In the LCA 4s Thomas Cooper WA RFBYC/FSC and Callum Simmons Vic SSCBC/IHYC went head to head. By winning the last race Thomas took first place on a countback. Thomas was also first U18. Callum was also runner up in this event in 2025 in Queensland. Third was RQYS sailor Harry “Houdini” Hogan. First female also from RQYS was Ruby Carter. First U16 was Seth Till FSC/SoPYC WA.

In the ILCA 6 the women filled nine of the top ten places with the two Olympians Emma Plasschaert from Belgium and Hungarian Maria Erdi going head to head finishing in that order. Third placed and first Australian was Paris Olympian sailor Zoe Thomson RFBYC from WA. 5th placed Jasper Stay also from RFBYC was the first male and the first U19. First U17 was Jackson Black from RQYS.

Recently returned to competitive ILCA sailing Matt Wearn RPYC showed he has lost none of his form. He was dominant in the ILCA 7s winning six races and winning without needing to sail in the final race. Fellow WA sailors Zac Littlewood RFBYC and Ethan McAullay RPYC filled the other podium places with Zac winning three races. First U19 was Australia’s World Sailing World Youth Championship sailor Healy Ryan DBSC NSW. First U21 was New Zealander Zach Stibbe OYC.

The full results for the event are Here.

It must be something in the water in WA as five of the top ten ILCA 7 places were filled by WA sailors and they comfortably won the Battens Trophy for the best performing state over all classes at the Nationals.

A very large team of volunteers worked under the able direction of ILCA Tasmania President Ed Fader to make this event run smoothly. Congratulations to ILCA Tasmania and RYCT for running this event for us and thanks to or sponsors for making it all possible.

The 2027 event will be held at Sandringham YC Vic 1-8 January 2027 which will be followed at the same club by the ILCA U21 World Championship 10-17 January.

ILCA has announced that 2026 ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 World Masters will not be held in Skiathos, Greece due to the termination of the contract by the Club.

These evens will proceed three days earlier than originally scheduled at a new venue Nautical Club of Kalamaki, Athens, Greece.

Entries remain open for ILCA 6 until 2 February Here and ILCA 7 until 11 February Here. New ILCA 6 NoR is Here and ILCA 7 Here.

The ranking event for these World Masters Championships is the 2026 Australia Masters at Port Stephens 6-9 February. NoR for this event is Here and entries can be placed Here.

Newly elected ILCA President Mark Lyttle has posted a message outlining the state of the ILCA nation which you can see Here.

Mark has covered the substantial issues and upcoming changes for the class including.

• Off the shelf equal performance boats and equipment from now 10 world builders
• New focus and resource for class promotion and communications
• Steady 13,000 ILCA membership with Youth & Masters World Championships having over 400 sailors
• New ILCA4 and post LA Olympics ILCA6 sail for improved longevity
• Possible adoption of new World Sailing event format and OCS technology for Senior ILCA World Championships
• Creation of an World Council advisory athlete panel for input of elite sailor views to decision makers
• President vice President and some region World Council representatives have changed
• ILCA are seeking a volunteer treasurer to replace greatly successful and now retiring New Zealander Nick Page

The governing body ILCA World Council WC comprises 9 voting and 4 non voting members. The current WC members are listed Here.

Congratulations to Healy Ryan DBSC and Caterina Meyer RQYS who represented Australian in the 2025 World Sailing World Youth Championships at Vilamoura, Portugal from 12-20 December.

Conditions were fruity at times as the Reels Video Here shows.

In the hot fleets comprising the best Under 18 ILCA sailors in the world Healy finished 7th in the 57 ILCA6 boys fleet and Caterina 20th in the ILCA6 girls. Full results are Here.

Some tough conditions in Vilamoura WS Youth Worlds – No Australians are featured in this WS photo

Fredrik Westman and Rod Barnes ILCA7 Close Racing

The 2025 ILCA NSW & ACT State Championships at Wangi Amateur Sailing Club attracted 124 entries from 27 clubs from 5 states and 3 international sailors. Wangi is a terrific club with lots of rigging area and open lake sailing water. Some 20 volunteers were involved in running the event with Wangi ASC doing a great job on the water and off.

The event was sailed in three fleets with the ILCA6 being the largest with 57 boats. The event had cube awards for all Youth and Masters age categories and overall fleet performance. A total of 28 cubes were awarded across all fleets and age divisions.

Saturday provided great sailing conditions in the open water on Lake Macquarie with a NE breeze mostly 15-18 knots. Sunday was a vastly different story. Basically every where along the coast there was virtually no breeze and what little there was continually boxed the compass. Three hours after start time AP over H was raised. As happens not 20 minutes later a useful sailing breeze arrived however it was judged impractical to relaunch all fleets and race official boats to perhaps run a race at this stage.

Some terrific close racing was enjoyed on Saturday in all fleets. In the 20 boat ILCA4 fleet Zac Howell HHSC posted 2,1,1 for a clear win from Seb Behrens from RQYS and Harper Spacey DBSC who finished level on points but in that order. Zac was first U16.

Sylvie Stannage HHSC/DBSC/WSC was most consistent in the ILCA6 winning with 2,1,2 places. GM Owen McMahon from Royal Brighton YC and Charles Byford DBSC/RPAYC were even on points with Owen taking second on a countback. Charles was first U19 and 4th placed Wilbur Bright RQYS was first U17. 5th place was the Shark Jeff Loosemore MHASC. Jeff was also first GGM. First Legend was Tim Alexander NSC.

In the 45 boat ILCA7 fleet current State Champion Campbell Patton Royal Bermuda YC/DBSC/RSYS was far too consistent posting 2,1,1 to win from current World GM Champion Brett Beyer WSC with 3,3,4. Third was Fredrik Westman whose home club is Hangö Segelförening in Finnland. Fredrik was also 1st Master. First GGM was Victorian and a great supporter of our events Steve Gunther from Royal Brighton YC.

The full results of the event are here.

There are lots of photos of Saturday’s races courtesy of Craig Ryan Here. Just click the thumbnail to see and download the full sized image.

ILCA4 Winner Zac Howell HHSC

If too much ILCA Masters sailing is never enough for longer term planning we have the 2026 ILCA Oceania Masters Championships running 18-26 September at Darwin Sailing Club.

This is a fabulous venue and at a great time of year. ILCA NT has run this event at the same time a few years ago and it was a great success. In 2026 they have included a parallel event for the all under 30 sailors so that local youth and sailing families  can have everyone enjoying sailing in the tropics. The Masters will be a regional cube award event.

The web site for NoR and information is https://www.revolutionise.com.au/ntlaser/home. Entries will open on 30 November.

A limited number of charter boats will be available and may be booked via charter company website – details of which will be posted on the
Official Noticeboard.

The Oceania Masters Championships are mostly run in conjunction with the Australian Masters but in 2026 the Australian Masters at Port Stephens will be a stand alone event as is the ranking event for 2026 World Masters in Skiathos, Greece.

Our next big event the Youth Open & Masters States is coming up 15-16 November at Wangi RSL Amateur Sailing Club.

Wangi is a great club with spacious rigging adjacent to some of the best Lake Macquarie sailing waters and with nearby RSL and pub for post sailing revival. We last ran this event very successfully at Wangi in 2022 with 130 sailors enjoying great sailing.

These State Championships are cube events for all categories (open, youth and masters) and great tune up events for sailors for the Oceania & Australian Open & Youth event 1-8 January in Hobart and the Australian Masters 6-9 February at Port Stephens next year.

The Notice of Race for the event is Here.

Entries can be placed online Here or at Wangi up until 11.30 am on Saturday 15 November.

Sailing Instructions are Here.

Arrival and Venue Information for Wangi RSL Sailing Club is Here.

Campbell Patton and Sylvie Stannage winners of States at Wangi  in 2022 enjoying the conditions

The ILCA NSW & ACT Annual General Meeting will be held at the State Championships venue Wangi RSLASC on Sunday 16 November at 9.00am.

The Meeting Agenda with tabled reports is Here.

All positions are open and we are looking for fresh ideas and initiatives and people to bring them to life. Come along and have your say.

Congratulation to Caterina Meyer RQYS and Healy Ryan DBSC who have been selected by Australian Sailing (AS) to represent Australia in the 2025 World Sailing World Youth Championships at Vilamoura, Portugal from 12-20 December.

Caterina and Healy will be sailing ILCA 6s as members of the 15 sailor Australian team with 2 coaches and 2 AS support staff. Other classes in the event are iQFOIL, Formula Kite, 29er, 420 and NACRA 15. See the Australian Sailing post for more information .  This year AS resumed nominating and partly financially supporting sailors for this event.

Up to 450 youth sailors from 70 countries are expected to compete in Vilamoura.

We wish the Australian team fair winds and good sailing.

Production underway in PSA’s new factory in Morisset NSW

In the New Zealand High Court case, Performance Sailcraft Australia (PSA) sought and was granted an interim injunction against the International Laser Class Association (ILCA) after ILCA terminated PSA’s builder agreement. The 30 October court order prevents ILCA from implementing the termination and requires it to reinstate PSA as an approved builder while the underlying contract dispute is resolved.

The case concerns a disagreement over new moulds supplied by ILCA that PSA claims are inconsistent with the one-design principle, though the final decision has not yet been made.

The matter will proceed toward a final decision by the court, and PSA will continue as an approved builder in the interim. ILCA’s confirmation of this is here. There is more information on the subject Here.