ILCA NSW & ACT

The Women’s Regatta will be held on Saturday 3 December 2022 at Double Bay Sailing Club, an integral event for female ILCA / Laser sailors around Australia.

The one-day event will include races on Sydney Harbour, great food, entertainment, and activities aimed at women of all ages who currently sail an ILCA / Laser dinghy, or are looking to return to racing.

Double Bay Sailing Club will also run a series of small-group training clinics in the weeks leading up to the event, focusing on improving sailing skills such as race starts, upwind technique, and downwind technique.

After the disruption of the past two years DBSC are looking forward to running this fantastic Regatta again and restoring it as an annual event.

Sign up to receive news and updates Here  or watch out for entry and further details at the following;

thewomensregatta.com.au
instagram.com/thewomensregatta 
facebook.com/thewomensregatta
#thewomensregatta

About The Women’s Regatta

The Women’s Regatta was first held in September 2018, planned and run by members of Double Bay Sailing Club. The regatta weekend incorporated yoga, coaching, racing, group dinner, and guest speakers; fostering competition, education, camaraderie, and fun.

The Women’s Regatta raises awareness and encourages participation for women and girls in ILCA Laser sailing. The event brings together current female sailors; those who have sailed in the past; those wanting to get into sailing; friends and family of sailors; as well as an immense show of support from sponsors and volunteers. You can see some of their smiling faces and hear commentary Here.

Australian Sailing has just released its Club Participation Programs guide which it says gives clubs and class associations a valuable resource to assist in delivery of sailing programs aimed at attracting and keeping members (and potentional members) engaged with the sport.

This guide AS say will help sailors and coaches through their sailing journey in delivering coaching and programs specific to the various skill levels (beginner/learn to race, intermediate and advanced).

While the guide is written generally to cover participation in all manner of sailing craft from Optis to foiling boards the principles should be useful for club and class participation & training programs.

The guide is Here.

Evie Saunders at the Youth Worlds The Hague, Netherlands – Photo Sailing Energy

Evie Saunders from Manly Yacht Club after a very strong start finished second in the 56 boat ILCA 6 fleet in the World Sailing run 2022 Allianz Youth World Sailing Championships July 10-14 off the coast of Scheveningen in The Hague, Netherlands.

Evie said that her motto throughout the week was; “start well, go the right way with speed and keep it simple,” She said. “l was in a super tight position but knew l had to trust in the training that l had done to prepare for the regatta.”

Seven of the scheduled nine races were completed in the ILCA 6 event. In the Youth World Championships this year there were  431 youth sailors from 67 countries competing in 11 separate events.

Information and results for the event are Here.

Australian Sailing have re-negotiated the personal accident and public liability insurance which they hold.

Personal Accident Insurance

The policy covers all AS members and now also volunteers of AS affiliated clubs.

In summary the policy;

• Covers all members and volunteers of AS affiliated clubs
• Covers sailors when racing and training or practicing for races
• Covers delivering a yacht to and from a race
• Covers travelling directly between home and a club
• No longer covers travelling to or competing in overseas events
• Does not cover persons when on the club premises in a personal capacity (having a meal/ drink, working on boat etc).
• Does not cover persons when engaged in recreational boating activities (going for an afternoon cruise, coastal journeys etc)

Full details including changes from previous arrangements, coverage, benefits and claims are on the AS web site Here.

Many personal travel insurance policies provide broad coverage overseas including for competition. If competition is excluded from your policy then AS say that this coverage can be arranged for clubs and individuals by contacting the AS insurance broker Stedfast IRS Pty Ltd trading as Network Insurance Group.

Public Liability Insurance

The definition of insured persons under this policy now reads:

• All Australian Sailing accredited Officials and Volunteers, only whilst working for or conducting activities on behalf of Australian Sailing or affiliated clubs;
• All Australian Sailing accredited Instructors, only whilst working for or conducting activities on behalf of Australian Sailing or accredited Discover Sailing Centres;
• All Australian Sailing accredited Coaches while working for or conducting activities for Australian Sailing or an affiliated club or an affiliated class association;

and only if not otherwise insured.

If you require assistance with additional insurance needs please contact AS brokers, Network Insurance Group as listed below.

Network Insurance Group | 1300 655 037 | sailing@networksteadfast.com.au | https://networksteadfast.com.au
02 9957 2544 | Level 12, 122 Arthur Street North Sydney NSW 2060 | PO Box 84 North Sydney 2059

The ILCA 6 World Masters sailed from the Vallarta Yacht Club in Mexico has concluded with an emphatic win for Jeff Loosemore in the GGM Division. Jeff won nine of the 12 races and had three seconds to win by 25 points.

MHASC club mate Rob Lowndes was eighth in the GGM division. Rob’s commented on Jeff’s win “Jeff is the GGM World Champion, his third world masters championship. His sailing today was as always meticulously planned and executed. He got a conservative start in the third row and sailed slow downwind to avoid any hint of a yellow flag to the extent that I was sailing at about the same speed! Having got that over and the overall win in the bag he let fly in the last race winning by at least a minute. Congratulations Jeff”.

WA sailor David Luketina lead for most of the series in the GM Division but was pipped at the post by three points by Canadian Allan Clark.

Hard luck story of the final day was in the Legends Division where Bill Symes USA had 8 wins and a second with two races to go and so only had to finish both races to win. Instead he got a UFD (over start line early) in Race 11 and was disqualified letting “Boomer” Chris Boome win overall by one point. Rob Lowndes recalls that Chris was about the only sailor who started in Lasers 50 years ago and was ecstatic about his win. He was 3rd in the very first worlds in Bermuda in 1974.

The full event results are Here and photos and reports are on the event web site Here.

Jeff Loosemore on his way to his emphatic win in GGMs in Mexico – Photo by John Pounder

Brett Beyer was a clear winner in the Grand Masters division of the ILCA 7 World Masters just concluded in Mexico.

Brett finished with eight bullets in the 12 race series for a convincing win. Mark Little (GBR) and ILCA North America President Andy Roy were runners up. There were 24 in the GM fleet and 61 in the event in total. Steve Gunther was a creditable 7th. He, like Brett showed the benefit of lots of practice, often together, leading up to the series.

This was Brett’s 14 Laser/ILCA World Masters win and he has now won sufficient cubes at all levels to build a moderate sized bungalow.

Jeff Loosemore was 6th in the GGMs won by Tim Law (GBR). Too much sailing is never enough for Jeff. He is also competing in the ILCA 6 GGMs which start at the same Riviera Nayarit, Mexico venue on Saturday 11 June. Follow this event at the web site Here.

The full results of the ILCA 7 World Masters are Here.

ILCA 7 World Masters GM Podium – Photo  John Pounder

The 2022 Oceania Laser Masters Championship will be held 20-26 August from the Darwin Sailing Club Fannie Bay, Northern Territory.

The Notice of Race is Here. Entries/Registration are open until 20th June 2022 Here. After this date a $100 late entry fee applies.

It is a long drive so most sailors will prefer to fly and charter. A limited number of charters are available from PSA Here.

There is a flyer with more information Here and web information and links Here.

NT Laser District have put a lot of work into the regatta and are looking forward to a great championship at in Darwin Sailing Club. Entry places and charters are still available so place your entry and come to compete in one of the best places you will sail at.

Contact NT Laser District at ntlaser22@gmail.com or Darwin Sailing Club admin@dwnsail.com.au if you need more more information.

The ILCA 7 Worlds have just concluded in Vallarta, Mexico. 126 boats competed.

Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (France) by finishing 7th in the last race secured the position he held for most of the regatta to become the new ILCA 7 World Champion. This is the first time that France has won the ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship. Cypriot Pavlos Kontides took Silver and Filip Jurišic from Croatia Bronze. 2021 World Champion, New Zealander Tom Saunders finished two points off the podium in 4th place.

Matt Wearn had to withdraw at the outset of the competition and is now recovering from an illness contracted last month.

Finn Alexander was the best-placed Australian in 13th equalling his best-ever World Championship result.

Finn commented to Mysailing, “It was a good regatta but I lacked a bit of consistency throughout the week and especially in qualifying. I had lots of good races and lots of positives to take away but there were a lot of points wasted, it’s a little bit frustrating but still not a bad overall result.”

Finn has had consistent places in the circuit events so far with a 15th in Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, Spain, 12th at the French Olympic Regatta in Hyeres, France and now 13th in the Worlds.

Finn Alexander in 2022 Worlds Action – Photo John Pounder

Other Australian team places were, 29th – Luke Elliott, 41st – Ethan McAullay, 46th – Sam King and 72nd – Zac Littlewood

Iain Brambell Australian Sailing Team’s new High Performance Director said, “The 2022 ILCA 7 World Championships was an ever-challenging test for the young Australian team’s fighting spirit. The Australian ILCA 7 squad will depart Mexico with lessons they will continue to build from in their pursuit of next year’s World Championship in The Hague and the first opportunity for 2024 Olympic Qualification.”

Most of the squad will now head home for a break, before returning for a training block on the Paris 2024 racetrack in July.

Full results of the event are Here. News from the Worlds is on the event web site Here.

The ILCA 7 World Masters is underway at the same Vallarta venue (30 May-7 June) followed by the ILCA 6 Masters (9-17 June). There are seven Australians competing in the ILCA 7 Worlds and six in the ILCA 6. The respective event web sites are ILCA7 Worlds ILCA 6 Worlds

The ILCA 7 World Championships are underway at Vallarta, Mexico. The opening day under the hot Mexican sun on the Banderas Bay, saw 126 sailors began their hard road for the gold. Racing is due to take place every day until 28 May 2022. The fleet is split into the two fleets, where 63 sailors in each fleet will sail the first 3 days the Qualification series, followed by the Final series where the best half of the fleet will compete in Gold fleet and other part in Silver fleet.

As usual for this time of the year on Banderas Bay, the best wind comes around noon so the races are scheduled to start at 1300 every day. Nice and stable breeze today with 12 knots of wind allowing the fleets to start their first race without any recalls and delays.

Matt Wearn had to return back ashore before the first start as he did not feel well. With only one drop allowed from the qualifying series the current Olympic champion has put himself in a difficult position. Luke Elliott took the first win in the regatta in front of Jonatan Vadnai from Hungary and George Gautrey from New Zealand in Yellow fleet.

The results of the series are Here. The event web site is Here

Event Photos

Facebook

Swifto Elliott in Action ILCA 7 Worlds Mexico

The ILCA 6 Women’s and Men’s World Championship were to be held in Qingdao, China on 10-17 October 2022. Due to the deepening COVID situation in China and its very strict quarantine regulations and restrictions, ILCA can’t run the event there.

ILCA have announced that the event will now be 9-16 October 2022 at the Texas Corinthian Yacht Club Kemah, Texas.

Entry Applications are now open at the following links:

• Women
• Men

The Event website for any further information is Here.

The Opti run East Coast Championship is on at Georges River Sailing Club over the June long weekend 11-13 June 2022.

The event includes Optis, 4.7 and Radials with other invited classes 29er, Techno293, Techno293+, IQFoil and Windfoil.

The Notice of race is Here. Entries can be placed Here.  Web page for the event is Here.

There will be lots of sailing action at the regatta and a chance to test the waters for the Laser Oceania and National Championships at the venue 1-8 Januray 2023.

Double Bay Sailing Club’s winter series kicks off on 8 May.

Each week races will count for both a championship and pointscore series. There will be a total of 30 races over 10 weeks to 24 July 2022 (that is, 3 races each Sunday). There will be no racing during the school holidays. (3 Jul, 10 Jul, 17 Jul).

You can subscribe to the calendar on DBSC website. Either sail over or rig at Double Bay, Sign on and off links are on the web site.

Starts will be at 08:30 (weather permitting) and there will be no start after 11:30. For further information, please read the Sailing Instructions.

If you want to improve your sailing over winter then Brett Beyer is offering his Winter Program at DBSC (BBWP) for 6 weeks (18 races) on 8 May, 15 May, 12 Jun, 19 Jun, 26 Jun, 24 Jul.  The cost of the program is $360 for all 6 weeks.

BBWP subscribers will carry a GPS during each race and will later receive a report and animation showing their GPS tracks vs the fleet, together with fleet-level commentary on each leg. Subscribers will also have access to Brett to ask questions on the water (not during the races) and can later ask questions on the weekly report. The terms of the program are available on DBSC website.

If any other clubs have winter racing open to visitors let us know and we will publicise it.

The 2022 South Pacific Laser Masters in on 29 April to 2 May at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly.

This is always a great event and sadly missed during COVID.

The event web site with links to enter, and for the Notice of Race is Here.

Lots of sailing action coming up. The Laser District events we have scheduled or are aware of are listed below. If you have local events you would like us to include please let us know.

There is a complete list of events in Australia, Oceania and ILCA World Championships listed on our Events Page Here.

States action from Georges River 2021 – Next season States (Open Youth & Masters) will be at Wangi – Photos by Jon West

EurILCA Chairman Jean-Luc Michon has announced a crowdfunding action to support the 17 ILCA sailors from the ILCA Ukrainian team and their coaches.

Jean-Luc said “The 17 Ukrainian sailors were outside of Ukraine, training or racing, when the war started. They can’t go back home as most of them are from Kiev or Odessa. They are looking desperately for help and support in order to keep sailing and competing.

The money we are collecting will solely go to the ILCA Ukrainian Team to support travelling, training, and racing.”

To get more information and contribute go to the GoFundMe page HERE.