About Us

Mara Stransky & Matt Wearne 2021 Olympic Representatives

 

This is the web site of the NSW/ACT Laser Association. We are one of the districts which support Laser sailing in 120 countries around the world. We run Laser events and support our sailors through training and information exchange.

 

We run four regattas each season which are the State Championship, State Masters Championship, Coast Championship and Metropolitan Championship.

 

You can see our event calendar, race documents, results and photos as well as class news on this site. You can also enter our events from links on this site.

About the Laser/ILCA

The Laser was designed by Canadian Bruce Kirby. Over 200,000 Lasers have been built since it was first launched at the New York Boat Show in 1971. You can see all about the origins of the Laser here.

 

In 2019 the Laser was renamed ILCA as part of a strategy to introduce additional class builders necessary to retain Olympic class status under a World Sailing edict. The Laser Standard is now ILCA 7, Radial is ILCA 6 and 4.7 ILCA 4. There are now eight class builders distributed around the world using ILCA supplied moulds.

 

The hull is 4.23 metres long, with a waterline length of 3.81 m. The hull weight is 56.7 Kg and the Standard Laser has a sail area of 7.06 square metres.

 

The ILCA is a strict one design boat. All aspect of its design and construction are controlled by agreements between the licensed manufacturers, the International Laser Class Association ILCA and World Sailing.

 

The ILCA Class is administered by the ILCA which is headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA. The ILCA also manages the running of the many international Laser events.

 

ILCA Australia co-ordinates the activities of the seven state based ILCA districts in Australia. These activities include the running of the National Championship and National Masters Championship which are held annually at venues in each state in rotation.

 

ILCAs are included in national and state youth championships and are very actively sailed by men and women in all age brackets at club, district, national and international levels. The Laser/ILCA has been used in the Olympics for men in the Standard Rig/ILCA 7 from 1996 (Atlanta) and for women in the Radial/ILCA 6 from 2008 (Beijing).

 

All the information about the ILCA is in the ILCA Handbook which you can view online or download here.

 

The ILCA Formula

 

 

By changing only the sail and the lower mast the ILCA can be sailed comfortably in all wind conditions and provide exciting but controlled sailing for any sailor weighting as little as 45kg. The ILCA Formula has a 3 rig option that has been adopted by a number of sailing schools as a simple and economical way to keep sailing in all winds and reduce the amount of “down time”.

 

 

The ILCA 4 uses short pre-bent lower mast to maintain a balanced helm and a sail area that is 35% smaller than the ILCA 7 . It is ideal for learning to sail or for the lighter weight sailor graduating from a Optimist.

 

The ILCA 6 is the next step up. It uses a more flexible and slightly shorter lower mast together with a sail area 18% smaller than a ILCA 7 Standard.

 

The ILCA 6 has a large following with national and international regattas and World Open & Youth Championships attracting as many countries and competitors as the ILCA 7. As well as a strong following amongst lighter weight sailors the ILCA 6 is also used for youth, women & masters racing.

 

Many countries including Australia now support full ILCA Youth programs. The ILCA runs World Youth Championships in ILCA 4 and ILCA 6 often with over 400 competing in each class. World Sailing uses ILCA 6 for its World Youth Championships.

 

ILCAs can be sailed well over a wide range of body weights. The wind strength and skill and fitness of the sailor play a part in determining the most suitable rig for the ILCA. The table below gives an idea of the most suitable weight ranges.

ILCA Sailor Weight
Kgm	Ideal	Typical
ILCA 4	50-60	45-65
ILCA 6	65-75	60-80
ILCA 7	75-85	70-90