ILCA NSW & ACT

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.

For the golfing enthusiasts event organiser Peter Doyle has booked Toronto Golf Club for tee off at 1.30pm on Friday 14th November for the famous ILCA Masters Golf Tournament.

Peter has booked for two groups already committed and says that there are currently vacancies.

If you would like to join Peter and the Northbridge, Middle Harbour and Georges River players please contact him preferably before Tuesday 28 October on the email copied below.

Always colourful – Sylvie Stannage in action at recent DBSC Regatta 2025 – Photo courtesy of DBSC

The NSW & ACT Coast Championships were held at Gosford Sailing Club over the weekend 18-19 October with 45 boats representing 15 sailing clubs competing. There were sailors from all the ILCA youth and masters age categories in the three fleets.

Conditions were very good with 8-10 knots SE on Saturday and a nice building 10-15 knots NNE breeze on Sunday.

In the small but very competitive ILCA 4 fleet Patrick McLachlan RSYS/DBSC won in a close tussle from Rory Miller RSYS/DBSC. Harper Spacey DBSC was third.

The ILCA 6s were dominated by Sylvie Stannage HHSC/DBSC/WSC who counted four wins and a second on her score to win from Sara Bruce DBSC. Sara won two of the lighter breeze races on Saturday and was first Under 19 winner. Third was very consistent GM sailor Bruce Savage. You can see the technique of these leading sailors on show in drone footage of Race 4 shot by local James Ellis approaching the top mark and the first reach.

The ILCA 7s were dominated by Alexander Bijkerk RPAYC/DBSC who won all six races to win from Tom Farley Belmont 16s who posted four seconds and a third. Under 21 sailor Quentin Burns WSC/DBSC was third on a countback from RPAYC GM sailor Stuart Holdsworth.

Gosford Sailing Club Etchells sailors (who stood down from their normal sailing) and volunteers who gave over their entire weekend did a great job working with ILCA Race Officer Andrew McLachlan  to deliver a very well run event. Buoy Zone software was used to good effect to set accurate two lap trapezoidal courses of 45 minute duration in the somewhat confined Brisbane Water at Gosford.

Final results for the event  are Here

Sylvie Stannage in 2025 Women’s World Championships will be in action at the Coasts

A reminder our first NSW & ACT event is the Coast Championships on the weekend of 18-19 October at a Gosford Sailing Club.

Weather forecasts look good and we will see some Australian Sailing elite level sailors competing including Sylvie Stannage who has won the event for the last two years.

The Notice of Race is at https://laser.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2025-ILCA-Coasts-GSC-NoR-Posted.pdf

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The Sailing Instructions are at  https://laser.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-ILCA-NSW-ACT-Coast-Championships-SI-Posted.pdf

You can enter online at INSW/ACT ILCA Coast Championship 2025 Tickets, Gosford Sailing Club, Gosford | TryBooking Australia or at GSC up until 11.30 on Saturday 18th October.

Sign On/Off Here

Smiling Winners in Formia 2025 World Masters

Well done all the 50 Australian masters sailors competing in the 2025 World Masters in Formia, Italy.

The event overall attracted 455 entries from 38 countries. Conditions were mostly light with some winds up to 13 knots late in the day. No racing was possible on two days but in the end all 12 races were completed for most fleets. The winds rotated right through the day making the sailor’s and officials tasks tricky.

Although there is no country ranking we are claiming a win for Australia with four first place cubes awarded to Brett Beyer ILCA 7 First GM, Christine Bridge ILCA 6 GM First Woman, Lyndall Patterson ILCA 6 GGM First Woman, Rob Lowndes ILCA 6 First Legend. None of the other competing countries had as many first place winners.

Full results for the event are at  Sailwave results for 2025 ILCA 6 & ILCA 7 Masters World Championships at Formia, ITALY · 19 – 28 September 2025<br>Circolo Nautico Caposele 2025

The Event Web Site with links to photos, media and information is at  2025 ILCA Masters ITA – ILCA Worlds website

ILCA Championship & Australian Open & Youth Championship - BOOK YOUR TRANSPORT NOW !! to Tasmania – protected space on Spirit of Tasmania for the 2026 ILCA Australian Open & Youth Championship is due to be released on 14/10/2025 - this date coincides with the event early bird entry.

Bookings can still be made for this event subject to passenger and vehicle availability.

https://www.spiritoftasmania.com.au/offers/2026-ilca

ILCA production underway at PSA’s new production facility at Morisset, NSW

On 27 August 2025 ILCA announced that it has withdrawn Australian ILCA builder PSA’s builder approval following what they say are contractual breaches by PSA.

To date under a transition agreement with ILCA PSA has been building using Kirby Laser moulds. The interim arrangement was to allow the new owners of PSA to continue production while establishing their new factory facilities and allow time to receive and commission the new ILCA supplied moulds and jigs. The time for this transition it seems has elapsed.

ILCA say that they will not be issuing any new World Sailing (WS) plaques to PSA but that all PSA boats already built carrying an official WS plaque are fully class legal. There is no suggestion that the PSA built boats are in any way defective.

Though ILCA does not elaborate in their post the contract breach is understood to relate to PSA’s reluctance to move to building ILCA boats using new ILCA supplied moulds and joining jigs. This equipment is made from a common source on the Isle or Wight UK and is the same as supplied to, and used by, all the other nine ILCA builders around the World.

PSA have posted here pointing to differences between the new ILCA supplied moulds as used by the other nine builders and their own moulds based on Kirby Laser tooling used by PSA since 1998. PSA present their view that the new ILCA tooling is “inconsistent with the one-design principle and the contractual technical documentation” of the ILCA class.

PSA further say that they “will continue as planned with its sponsorship of ILCA Oceania, including the 2026 solidarity program in Tasmania, and the ILCA Under 21 Worlds in Melbourne in 2027”. ILCA Australia is very appreciative of this ongoing support from PSA for our class and events.

We hope that a way can be found for PSA to resume building class legal boats in their now established fabulous factory at Morisset.