ILCA NSW & ACT

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.

DBSC will be hosting the inaugural Double Bay Regatta a single day event which will be held on Saturday the 11^th October.

Prizes will be awarded in the ILCA 4, 6 and 7 divisions and winners will get their name on the Mark Bethwaite Trophy, named after their club legend.

The Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions will be issued shortly.  Until then, lock this date into your sailing calendar.

There is a link here to the event on the DBSC Website.

Hi female youth sailors. Applications close on September 1st for the 2026 ILCA 4 Solidarity Program, Hobart Tasmania.

If you are aged between 13 & 16 years on Jan 1st, 2026, then you may be eligible for your Australian State Solidarity spot. This is what’s on offer:

• Free entry to the 2026 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth championship in Hobart, including complementary tickets to all functions.
• An Ilca4 charter boat in race condition supplied by Performance Sailcraft Australia.
• Squad coaching for the whole regatta supplied by Australian Sailing.
• A team unform & merchandise supplied by Performance Sailcraft Australia.

You will join a squad comprising one girl from each Australian State plus one from NZ & a Pacific Island. The total package is worth more than $3000.00.

Successful applicants will fund their own travel & accommodation.

Details of the program, eligibility  and selection are in the document Here.

Applicants must submit the ILCA Oceania Youth Solidarity Program Application Form on or before 1 September 2025.

Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to sail in Hobart & make loads of new friends.

Over 90 current and past Laser sailors enjoyed a long lunch reunion at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club Newport NSW on Sunday 8 June.

The lunch was organised and MCed by Andrew York and concluded with a Q & A with hugely successful Olympic sailor, coach and six times Laser Australian Champion Michael Blackburn.

The guests at the lunch included many World and National Laser Champions in Open, Women’s and Master’s events dating back to the 1970′s. Most are still actively sailing all sorts of boats racing and recreational with many still seeking to add to (or start) their cube collections.

The day saw many a recollection of events around the country and the world competing and enjoying company and memorable experiences. Rob Lowndes’ compiled candid event photos screened on the day.

Photos from last century 
Photos from this century

For folks who want to recall and those merely interested in the detail our NSW & ACT Archive page Here has links to World Championship results and 1974 to 2007 Lasernews newsletters.

Australian Championships results are on our ILCA Australian Championships web site Results page Here.

Applications are now open for the 2026 ILCA Oceania Youth Solidarity Program for ILCA 4 girl sailors from Australia, New Zealand and some Pacific Island countries. The objective of the program is to actively promote the ILCA 4 class to clubs as the logical transition class for junior and youth sailors.

Each ILCA Oceania and Australian District will select one youth female sailor, who will receive free entry, a fully equipped charter boat and coaching at the 2026 Oceania & Australian Open and Youth ILCA Championships to be held from 1-8 January 2026 at Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in Hobart, Tasmania.

Details of the program, eligibility  and selection are in the document Here.

Applicants must submit the ILCA Oceania Youth Solidarity Program Application Form on or before 1 September 2025.

You can read Amelia Thorne NSW & ACT Solidarity sailor’s review of the the 2025 program Here.

Venues and dates for main 2025-26 events have been posted on our Events Page. The list includes all District, Australian, Oceania and World Championship events we are aware of. If you know of others let us know.

There will be four NSW & ACT run events  next season. NoR and entry links are linked below.

Production underway in new Morisset factory & new ILCAs ready to ship to a NZ customer

Performance Sailcraft Australia (PSA now a division of global Performance Marine Group) is back in production in their new purpose built factory at Morisset. They have ramped production including for a single order of 10 new boats for a New Zealand customer.

Under new ownership PSA has already provided charter boats for Oceania sailors selected for our Solidarity Program at 2025 Championships in Brisbane. New PSA owner Nick Ogden has agreed to ongoing support for this initiative.

Nick proudly showed his new facility to ICLA Australia & Oceania Chair and ILCA World Council member Ken Hurling at a visit in May.

On the visit Ken said he “We are very pleased to have PSA back in production in this world class facility. This is due to Nick and Jo Ogden’s vision, resources and persistence to overcome a number of hurdles in the transfer of ownership and continuation as an ILCA builder.”

Ken added “ILCA Australia & ILCA Oceania look forward to continued co-operation with PSA to advance the sailing of ILCAs in our region with a world class local builder.”

Shopfront at new PSA facility with some sample products on display

Zoe Thomson showing how it’s done in strong winds on Day 6 in Qingdao

19 of Australia’s top sailors (8 ILCA 6 and 11 ILCA 7) competed in the 2025 ILCA Open World Championships at the 2008 Olympic venue Qingdao, China. There are 99 women and 139 men sailing in the event which ran from 10 to 17 May.

No races were completed on any of the first four days. Reasonable winds were  forecast but no really sailable winds arrived until Day 5. The event finished will bang on Day 6 with 25 knot plus winds sweeping across the two course areas.

The ILCA 6 Women completed 6 races and the ILCA 7 Men just 5. All races were sailed as qualifying races with the split fleets (3 for ILCA 7 and 2 for ILCA 6). There were no gold and silver finals fleet races.

In the ILCA 6 event the winner Louise Cervera FRA posted two wins in the light wind races and then consistent places when the oysters were blowing off the rocks on the final day. Agata Barwinska POL and Eve Mcmahon IRL were separated by a tie break in second and third. The Australian team performed very well with Elyse Ainsworth 7th, Zoe Thomson 12th and Sylvie Stannage 16th.

In the ILCA 7s it all came down to the last race in a semi gale as all the top ranked sailors were very close on points and already had a bad race to drop. In the end there were just three points separating the top 6 sailors. In the last race Willem Wiersema NED and Pavlos Kontides CYP won their respective fleet races and finished one point apart in that order. WA’s Zac Littlewood after a great and consistent series had a 6th in the final race and finished two points away from Willem in third. Fellow WA sailors Ethan Mcaullay was next best Australian in 16th.

Full results are Here.

There is some great commentary on YouTube by Jon Emmett and Lily Xu over the live stream of Day 5 and Day 6 races. Well worth watching for the Olympic sailor and coach insights on the tactics and techniques of the competitors.

The Regatta Online Management System with links to results and all information is Here.

The event web site is Here and photos are Here.

The South Pacific Laser Masters is on again at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron,  Manly between 25th and 28th July.

The event will be preceded by the traditional ILCA Forum on the evening of Thursday 24th July.

RQYS, QILCA and Kerry Waraker always put on a great event and the weather is pretty well guaranteed  to be better than anywhere  further south.

NoR for the event is Here. You can enter online Here. The event web site is RQYS web site.