ILCA NSW & ACT

The 2025 ILCA NSW & ACT Masters is coming up 1-2 February at South Lake Macquarie ASC at Sunshine on Lake Macquarie.

This is one of our favourite venues with a great friendly club, heaps of rigging area and terrific uncrowded sailing waters. At this time of year sailing conditions on the lake are excellent.

We have always had well over 100 boats competing in the several times that we have run our State Masters at South Lakes.

The Notice of Race is Here.

Entries can be placed online Here  or at the club up until 11.30am on Saturday 1 February.

The State Masters Golf Tournament returns this season in the new hands of Northbridge SC’s Peter Doyle.

Peter has gone a little upmarket and booked the beautiful Kooindah Waters Golf Club in Wyong for Friday 31 January 2025. So plan your trip to South Lake Macquarie with a stopover around midday for a light lunch and team selection before a 1:00pm first tee time.

It might sound grand to play in a Masters Golf Tournament but for ours  you don’t have to be a good golfer, just come for fun. It will be an Ambrose style format. Cost will be $100 per head with cart.

Please let Peter know if you are a likely starter by text (0413 872 787) or email (peterdoylenorthbridge@gmail.com).

The 2025 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships will be held at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly Queensland  between 1-8 January 2025.

Racing will start on Thursday 2nd  January with the practice race. From Friday 3rd until Wednesday 8th January two races back to back are scheduled 12 races in all. The ILCA 4 (91 entries) and the ILCA 6 (87 entries) will both be sailed with split fleets. The ILCA 7s (44 entries) will sail as a single fleet.

The Regatta Competitor Page with links to all information is Here

You can joint the Whatsapp Group Here to receive notification on your mobile when a notice is posted

Competitor List is Here

Sailing Instructions are Here

Notice of Race is Here

RQYS Video will be posted Here

RQYS Weather and rigging area webcam are Here

BoM MetEye (Peel Island) 7 day 3 hourly forecasts are Here

AusILCA AGM will be held at 0900 on 5 January at RQYS Agenda is Here

Entries are now open Here for the 2025 Oceania & Australian Masters Championships 21–24 February at Westernport Yacht Club Balnarring Beach, Victoria.

To encourage growth in the ILCA4 division, a special entry fee of AUD120 is provided.

This is the Australian ranking event for the 2025 ILCA World Masters 19-28 September Formia, Italy.

The Notice of Race is Here.

The 2025 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships will be held at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly Queensland  between 1-8 January 2025.

The Notice of Race for this event is Here.

Entries prior to 14 December $450 can be placed Here. After this date entries may be lodged with a $100 late fee.

The Regatta Competitor Page with links to race documents, entry, venue information and WhatsApp Chat Group for notifications of new information is Here.

Charters are available from NB Sailsports Performance Sailcraft Australia and Devoti Sailing.

This event is the qualifying event for Australian sailors applying for entry to any 2025 ILCA World Open and Youth Championships.

78 sailors enjoyed the sailing and two day workout at the State Championships at Georges River Sailing Club over the weekend 16-17 November.

On both days there were good NE 13-20 knot breezes which have been somewhat absent this season. On Sunday the forecast was for over 30 knots NE with a maximum runout tide in the afternoon so it was wisely decided to make a 0900 start to the proceedings.

The small but very competitive ILCA 7  fleet was lead by Campbell Patton DBSC/RSYS/RBYC by a single point from Daniel Costandi GRSC/DBSC. Julian Taylor DBSC/WSC was third and first Under 21.

The ILCA 6s saw some fabulous sailing and close competition. At the end of the day it was Mara Stransky RQYS 2021 Australian Olympic representative who prevailed posting three bullets on Sunday to match 2nd placed Healy Ryan’s DBSC/HHSC three wins on Saturday.  Third was up and coming Victorian sailors Casey Imeneo McCYC & SSCBC. Frances Beebe RQYS 4th and Sylvie Stannage HHSC 5th rounded out the cube winners. Singapore sailor Isaac Goh CSC SGP was first Under 19 and Healy Ryan won the first Under 17 cube.

There was a good fleet of 24 ILCA 4s showing great skill in some testing conditions with wind against tide generating some steep seas many would not have experienced before. Jago Tucker WSC dominated the fleet counting 5 wins. Jago is a star sailor from the WSC squad under Rob McMillan. 2nd was Zac Howell HHSC with Raphael McLachlan DBSC/RSYS and Isabella Taylor WSC completing the cube awards. Jago also won the first Under 18 and Zac won the Under 16 cube.

Thanks to our RO Andrew McLachlan for some fine officiating and judgement and the fabulous volunteers who help sailors with parking, sand and dolly management and on the water tasks in the lumpy conditions. Much appreciated.

Final results of State Championships 2024 are Here.

ILCA 6 Winner Mara Stransky in Action at Previous States

Ahoy the Annual General Meeting of NSW & ACT ILCA Inc which was to be held held 9.00am 17 November at Georges River Sailing Club had to be deferred due to sailing activities being brought forward as dictated by the weather.

The AGM will now be run at the State Masters at South Lakes Sailing Club 9.00am 2 February 2025.

Please come along have your say and hear how we are travelling. Please consider joining our small band of enthusiastic volunteers who keep the ship afloat.

This year we have a Special Resolution which the ATO through the Australian Business Register requires of all us not for profit bodies and which needs a new clause to be added to our constitution.

The Agenda for the meeting along with reports and details of the Special Resolution are Here.

The Open & Youth State Championships are 16-17 November at Georges River Sailing Club.

This is our cube event for Open & Youth categories however as always we will have prizes for these and Masters.

GRSC provides a great open water venue. It is a great club for sailing amenities and for socialising.

This event will be great lead up to the busy ILCA east coast program of State Championships here and Victoria, Sail Melbourne, Sydney and Bribane then the Open & Youth Nationals at RQYS Brisbane.

The Notice of Race is Here and the Sailing Instructions are Here.

Venue information with parking & rigging information and parking permit is Here.

You can enter for the event online Here or up until 11.30am on Saturday 16th at the club.

This season we are including membership with our race entry. If you sail in this event you will be eligible to enter any or all of the follow on regattas.

ILCA Oceania is delighted to announce the following sailors have been selected by their district as the Solidarity representative for 2025 program run during the 2025 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships at RQYS 1-8 January.

This program encourages young female sailors (ages 13-16) to participate in a world-class sailing championship and aims to foster a lasting love for sailing among young girls and support their development within the sport.

This is the third year of the program and already some participants have transitioned to the ILCA 6 and participated in subsequent State & National events.

This year local builder PSA have come on board and very generously will provide charter boats and merchandise for all the sailors. Australian Sailing are also providing much appreciated support for the program.

Thanks to the ILCA districts for their support and for managing the selection process.

The full ILCA Oceania Press Release is Here.

Australian ILCA builder Performance Sailcraft Australia PSA has been purchased from long term owner the Spencer family of New Zealand.

The new owner is Jersey domiciled fintech entrepreneur Nick Ogden. Nick has a team busy re-establishing production and distribution having been approved by ILCA International as an ILCA builder. One of now nine worldwide.

We understand that under new owner PSA is in the process of;

• Setting up a new factory at Morisset on the Central Coast of NSW
• Obtaining new ILCA standard molds and joining jig so all world builders will have molds from the same master
• Retaining experienced PSA ILCA building skilled staff
• Establishing a state based dealer network to support sales and the class

It will take time for fabrication, stocking and normal service to be establish following the sale of stock and closure of the old factory at Fountaindale.

The 2025 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships will be held at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly Queensland  between 1-8 January 2025. This will be a terrific event with great conditions at a super club – what’s not to like.

The Notice of Race for this event is Here.

Entries prior to 14 December $450 can be placed Here. After this date entries may be lodged with a $100 late fee.

The Regatta Competitor Page with links to race documents, entry, venue information and WhatsApp Chat Group for notifications of new information is Here.

Charters are available from NB Sailsports Performance Sailcraft Australia. and Devoti Sailing.

This event is the qualifying event for Australian sailors applying for entry to any 2025 ILCA World Open and Youth Championships.

The RRS are very comprehensive and can be difficult to navigate let alone memorise.

Stuart Holdsworth has created a Chat GPT to help out sailors, race committees and protest committees. In this free AI driven rules sailing assistant you just ask it questions and give it scenarios and it gives an analysis of the relevant rules.

Its purpose is to educate sailors and help avoid unnecessary protests or disputes.

Many, even expert sailors have been blown away by it and it is now the first point of reference for many when facing rules based incidents.

The link to the Chat GPT is

https://chatgpt.com/g/g-7FhRw3LWg-racing-rules-of-sailing-assistant

You need to sign into Chat GPT with Google, Apple or Microsoft IDs or create a GPT account. This is free to use.

Winners are grinners – Top ILCA 6 sailors at Mannering Park – Overall winner was Sylvie Stannage

48 ILCAs entered for the Coast Championships held at Mannering Park Amateur Sailing Club 12-13 October.

On Saturday 3 races were completed with a 16-25kt southerly testing all the sailors. On Sunday RO Andrew McLachlan AP’ed the fleets ashore until a nice 10-14 knot NE breeze kicked in around 1300. Conditions were then ideal and allowed the first away ILCA 4s to complete 3 races with the 6s and 7s managing 2 races before the 3.30pm time limit.

In the ILCA 4s DBSC sailors Raphael McLachlan and Charlotte Jenkins won all the races between them with Raphael finishing ahead by 2 points overall. Sophie Borner Harrison from Hunters Hill SC was third. Raphael was first Under 16 and Charlotte first under 18 with Lawrence Crew from MHASC winning first Master.

In the ILCA 6s Sylvie Stannage HHSC and Healy Ryan HHSC/DBSC shared the wins with Sylvie winning overall by a single point. Healy who in August won Under 16 European Championship in Bangor, Northern Ireland was first under 16. GGM Jeff Loosemore MHASC was third.

In the ILCA 7s Brett Beyer Woollahra SC won with a consistent series of 3 wins and 2 seconds. Tom Farley Belmont 16s/Newcastle CYC was second a point ahead of Alexander Bijkerk RPAYC/DBSC.

Mannering Park Amateur Sailing Club is a great little club and did a terrific job running this event for us. The southern end of Lake Macquarie offers great clear, uncongested sailing waters which was much appreciated.

The final results for the event are Here.

Our NSW & ACT events kick off with the Coast Championships at Mannering Park Sailing Club 12-13 October.

Mannering Park SC is a great small club at the very southern end of Lake Macquarie. It provides great uncrowded sailing water with terrific shore vantage points. The club is at 27 Grace Street Mannering Park – Mrs Google knows the way.

The Notice of Race for the event is Here. Sailing Instructions are Here.

Entries can be placed Here or up until 11.30am on Saturday at the club.

This season we are bundling association membership with race entry so if you enter any of our events you will be registered as a financial member which allows you to compete at any ILCA district, national, regional or World championship.

For planning our district and all known national and World events are listed on our Events Page.

The 2025 ILCA Oceania Youth Solidarity Program applications will close on 1 October 2024.

John d’Helin the Program Director promises the program will be better than ever with support now added from Australian Sailing for the coach and coach boat.

The program objective is to actively promote the ILCA 4 class to clubs as the logical transition class for junior and youth sailors. ILCA Oceania aims to grow participation in the ILCA 4 class at the Oceania & Australian Open and Youth ILCA Championships and in ILCA sponsored youth regattas.

Each ILCA Oceania and Australian District will select one youth female sailor, who will receive the benefit of the following support at the 2025 Oceania & Australian Open and Youth ILCA Championships to be held from 1-8 January 2024 at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Brisbane, Queensland.

• Free event and functions entry.
• An ILCA 4 charter boat in race condition.
• Squad coaching during the regatta.
• Youth Solidarity program merchandise.

Applicants must be;
• A citizen of an Oceania country.
• A member of an ILCA District.
• A ILCA 4 female sailor aged 13-16 years as at 1 January 2025 with a minimum body weight of 50kg.

Applications are open here These must be completed on or before 1 October 2024. The selected applicants (one per district) will be chosen by their ILCA district. Selections will be announced in mid October .

More information including the selection criteria is here.

See YouTube videos from 2023 Solidarity participant Maddy English and Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron sailor Abby Young who participated in 2024 in South Australia.