ILCA NSW & ACT

Following on from the changes in ILCA boats & equipment supply with now nine approved licensed builders around the world  we are advised that PSA has reviewed its operations here and plans to move to a smaller factory where they will deploy new world standard moulds and hull/deck joining jig.

In the interim they are still building boats and supplying equipment from their Fountaindale NSW site but have reduced staff and staffing to three days per week.

PSA say they are looking forward to the future in their overhead reduced form.

Qualification for 2024 Olympics Sailing is now finalised with 330 sailors from 66 Olympic nations set to compete in 252 boats spread across the 10 Olympic sailing events in Marseilles starting on 26th July. The nations set to compete and how they qualified are tabulated in a detailed Wiki here. There is a post on the ILCA web site on ILCAs in the Olympics which describes the qualification process and some of the history.

Australia will compete in 9 of the 10 events (missing out in the Men’s Kites). In the ILCAs Zoe Thomson and Matt Wearn have been selected as reported Here.  In the ILCAs from our Oceania Region four nations Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa each have qualified and will send sailors in both ILCA 6 and 7.

It is a great honour to be chosen to represent your country in an Olympics and we wish the sailors and their support teams all the best for their events. Behind their success all these sailors have coach and sport professionals and especially supportive families to sustain, motivate and improve them. We thank them one and all.

One special Oceania qualification we would like to highlight is that of Samoa in the ILCA 6. There Vaimo’oi’a (Vai) Ripley achieved her lifelong ambition of competing in the Olympics. Via won one of two of the IOC’s Universality Places which are a lifeline to athletes from underrepresented Olympics nations.

Vai has been sailing and training at Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club in Sydney while competing in all the ILCA local and many international events and fully deserves her coveted place. There is a great post on MHASC web site Here on Vai’s quest.

Need a charter boat for Nationals in Brisbane or Sail Sydney or Melbourne then PSA has offers on their web site.

Charter Offers Here
Phone: 02 9371 7475
Mobile: 0432 823 872
Email: info@nbsailsports.com.au

Zoe Thomson has been selected by Australian Sailing to represent in the ILCA 6 in Paris Olympics with sailing between 28 July and 8 August in Marseilles. Matt Wearn was announced as the Australian representative in the ILCA 7 in February.

Zoe’s selection followed her great 2nd place in the Princesa Sofia World Cup Series Regatta in Palma Mallorca. Mara Stransky was leading early on in the Mallorca event and finished 9th after a UFD and 34 in the final two fleet races. It must have been a tough decision for AS to make however great that we have such great strength in the ILCA Australian Sailing Teams.

In Olympics speak the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7s are the “equipment” for the events termed respectively Women & Men’s Dinghy.

The Australian Olympic sailing representatives  now total 12.

Australian Olympic Team manager “Chef de Mission” Anna Meares congratulated the athletes on their selection. ‘‘ Their passion, commitment and talent have got them to this point,’’ Meares said. ‘‘ I have no doubt they will make Australia proud.’’

The NSW & ACT States Youth, Open and Masters are on the weekend 18 and 19th November at Canberra Yacht Club.
 

This is our first fresh water regatta for a while on iconic Lake Burley Griffin this is a cube regatta for all age divisions.
 

Event entry is Here. You can enter right up until 11.30am on Saturday at the club.
 

The NoR is Here. The Sailing Instructions are Here.
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The ILCA NSW & ACT AGM is on at CYC on Sunday 1t 9.00am. The Agenda is Here.

Manly Yacht Club have extended their very successful Manly Cup Youth event this year to include ILCA 4 and ILCA 6 Youth (age 17 and under). The event will be held 2-3 December.
 

Over the past four years MYC have run this event they have had 60 boats competing.
 
The Notice of Race is Here. Entries can be placed online Here. MYC web site for more information is https://www.myc.org.au/

Sylvie Stannage & Miles Greenwood in Action at Coasts – Photo by Jon West

The Coasts at Gosford Sailing Club saw 64 ILCAs enjoying beautiful sunshine and some challenging breezes. On Saturday there was a westerly at 12 gusting to 18 knots varying from SW to NW so plenty to keep the sailors and RO Andrew McLachlan on their toes. On Sunday the scheduled 1100 start was delayed to 1300 waiting for the easterly sea breeze to push through. In the end it did come in at 9 knots gusting occasionally to 12 knots varying towards the top of the course by 45 degrees giving the sailors plenty to think about. All six scheduled races were completed with the third race on the last day started with 15 minutes to spare to the 1530 cut-off time.
 
The top sailors seemed as always to emerge in front despite the variable wind further proof if needed that skill trumps luck.
 
In the 31 boat ILCA 6 fleet Sunday’s  21st birthday girl Sylvie Stannage HHSC had three bullets for a comfortable win. Fellow HHSC (and DBSC) sailor Healy Ryan was a close third behind Sara Bruce DBSC. The training regimes at both HHSC and DBSC are certainly paying dividends.
 
Colin Beashel was the first Master and fourth overall. He is a Grand Master in ILCA parlance but also in sailing having been on Australia II winning the Americas cup in 1983 and competing in six Olympics for Australia between 1984 and 2004. Great to see him back in the class.
 
In the ILCA 7 Will Sargent who hails from Derwent Sailing Squadron in Tasmania and now sails from CYC and MHASC was the run away winner with six bullets and a second. Will Sargent was a nominee for Australian Sailing’s 2023 Australian Male Sailor of the Year award. Mike Leigh twice Canadian Olympic representative from Royal Victoria Yacht Club in British Colombia was second from Alexander Bijkerk from RPAYC.
 
It was a photo finish in the ILCA 4s with Ben Costandi DBSC/GRSC and Miles Greenwood  GSC/DBSC finishing on 9 points with Ben taking the win on a count back three wins to two. Harriet McLachlan DBSC/RSYS was close behind on third.
 
Final results for the event are Here.
 
Sunday photos from Jon West which you can purchase are Here.
 
Thanks to GSC and the many volunteers who ran this event for us. The facilities of the club, the great grass rigging area and uncrowded waters were much appreciated.
 

ILCA 7 Action and Winner Will Sargent – Photo by Jon West

The Coasts are on the weekend 14 and 15th October at Gosford Sailing Club. Tom Slingsby started his sailing here and he turned out pretty well.
Take the short trip up the M1 and enjoy the racing on the Brisbane Waters. The club has all facilities bistro, bar, great grassy rigging area and uncrowded (except for ILCAs) sailing waters.
Event entry Here is only $60 ($30 for U21s) so if you can only do one day that won’t dent the pocket too much. You can enter right up until 11.30am on Saturday at the club.
The NoR is Here and Sailing Instructions are Here.

The ILCA Fleet Comprised 42 Boats With Clase Starts and Close Racing
 

The Zhik Lake Mac Youth Sail NSW event 27 – 2 October this year comprised a three day coaching clinic and a three day regatta. Zhik and Lake Macquarie City Council were the major sponsors for this the largest junior and youth regatta in NSW.
 

The host club was Teralba Amateur Sailing Club who partenered with nearby lake clubs Speers Point Amateur Sailing Club, Toronto Amateur Sailing Club & Wangi Amateur Sailing Club to run the event for 11 classes and 156 boats.
 

Everyone was a winner however results for the racing side are Here.
 

The Lake Macquarie clubs are to be congratulated for running 2023 Youth Sail NSW and also Australian Sailing who stage these events in every state each year.

Evie Saunders CREDIT Beau Outteridge
 
NSW & ACT sailors Evie Saunders and Tom Farley have been selected by Australian Sailing as part of the eight sailor team to represent Australia in the Pacific Games to be held in Honiara, Solomon Islands from 19 November 2023.
 

These games held every four years include Men’s and Women’s ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 and Sailboard competition among 24 sports.
 

Evie from Manly Yacht Club won Silver at the 2022 World Youth Championships and was awarded Australian Youth Sailor of the Year last year. Tom sails from Belmont 16s and is a strong supporter of our NSW & ACT events. He is always near the top of the ILCA 7 fleet.
 

We wish them all the best for the Pacific Games event.

Bendigo Yacht Club and ILCA Victoria are running this event on Lake Eppalock 4-5 November. Entries are now open Here.
 

All ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 entries received prior to 30th September 2023 are eligible for a discounted entry fee of $90.
 

The NoR is Here.

 
Congratulations to Brooke Wilson for being named a finalist in Australian Sailing’s NSW Female Sailor of the Year award.

 
Brooke has had an amazing year with fantastic results in the ILCA 6 both domestically and internationally, as well as a string of successes in the Elliot 7s Match Racing here in Australia, America and Europe.
 
Best of luck to Brooke at the awards night on September 16th

Following lobbying by Ken Hurling ILCA have increased to entry limit for the 2024 ILCA World Masters 2-10 February in Adelaide from 250 to 400. Given that for the 2020 World Masters in Geelong there were 297 entries the 400 limit should ensure that all sailors who want to sail in the event will get a start.
 
The 2024 Masters at Adelaide Sailing Club will be a great event. Entries will be open on 2 August until 26 September Here.
 
Sailors who did not compete in the ranking event (2023 Australian Masters – Port Stephens) will be ranked in the order in which they apply for entry after all those who sailed at Port Stephens. The ranking will determine the order that places are offered by ILCA.

Applications are now open for the 2024 Solidarity Program for ILCA 4 female sailors for the 2024 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships.
 

Following the successful running of the Solidarity Program in 2023 for girls from Australian Districts ILCA Australia have launched the expanded 2024 program which will support ten ILCA 4 sailors.
 

• One from each Australian district excluding NT
• One from New Zealand
• Three from Oceania small islands
 

The program will provide free entry for the event and functions, a supplied boat, merchandise and coach but more importantly entry to a team of like keen sailors for the duration of the championships.
You can see examples of the experience of sailors in the 2023 Solidarity Program in our post Here.
 

There is further information on the eligibility and selection for this program in the document Here.
 

Online applications Here will close on 1 October 2023. Each Oceania District will select their sailor by 31 October and applicants will be advised of the selections on 1 November.

The ILCA 6 Women’s Open World Championships 3-10 January and ILCA 6 Men’s Worlds 12-19 January in Mar del Plata, Argentina entry applications are now open. The ranking event for these championships is the 2023 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships Georges River.
 

Entries for the ILCA 7 Men’s Worlds 24-31 January in Adelaide will open on 2 August. Their ranking event will also be 2023 O&A Open & Youth Championship.
 

Applications for entry for the 2024 World Masters (ILCA 6 and 7) 2-10 February in Adelaide will also open on 2 August. Its ranking event is the 2023 Australian Masters Championships Port Stephens.
 

Sailors who wish to apply for entry and who did not compete in the ranking event for these (and any) ILCA World Championship will be ranked after all the sailors who did sail in the ranking event and in the order in which they apply for entry.
 

Entry offers will be made by ILCA in the order of ranking however we are hopeful of gaining sufficient places for all Masters who want to compete in Adelaide.
 

The ILCA World Championships web site pages with all the information and application links are Here.