UKLA ILCA 7 National Championships at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy - Overall

The much anticipated 2021 UKLA Nationals took place from the 13th-18th August at the 2012 Olympic sailing venue, WPNSA. A record (for the past few years anyway) of 51 ILCA 7s gathered in Weymouth, bringing total numbers across all rigs to 270 boats - a pretty impressive feat considering.

The week started with a bang (literally) with a tech talk by British Sailing Team sailor Micky Beckett, who successfully demonstrated how to pull so much downhaul on that your ropes explode.

Jake Farren-Price has reported on the first three days, so we start with day 4...

50 year old boat (with wooden foils and original sail) leads the fleet out to start line for UKLA UK National Championships - photo © Georgie Altham / www.facebook.com/galthamphotography

Tuesday, day 4, brought sunnier and gustier conditions. Micky Beckett had a great first run to lead, followed by Norman Struthers. Sam Whaley managed to pull himself back into contention up the second beat and stole second place off Norman, who was again having a blinder of a race.

In the second race of the day the wind increased significantly and there were many tired bodies in the fleet. Sam Whaley led around every mark apart from, crucially, the final one, after being overhauled by Micky Beckett on the last run. Jake Farren Price sailed a stellar race to take third with Norman Struthers fourth and James Juhasz fifth.

Tuesday evening brought an incredible Gala Dinner with special guest Ian Percy. The dinner was held to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Laser/ILCA and to raise money for the Andrew Simpson Foundation. With huge prizes and a great performance by Tim Hulse (MC) the group managed to raise over £10,000. To cap it all Sir Ben Ainslie sent the sailors a message of thanks via WhatsApp.

The fifth and final day brought lighter (but still fully hiking) winds. With the windward mark set just off the famous Nothe course, the winds were incredibly flukey, with the jammy sailors of the fleet licking their lips in anticipation.

Micky Beckett had a good start to lead around the windward mark, whilst Sam Whaley and Norman Struthers were both flagged by a mysterious jury boat without a jury flag (something not allowed according to the sailing instructions). Both did turns anyway and went away bewildered at the experience.

UKLA UK National Championships for ILCA 7 (formerly Laser standard rig) - photo © Georgie Altham / www.facebook.com/galthamphotography

Jake Farren Price sailed an awesome race to challenge Micky and take second place, whilst James Juhasz was consistently fast to seal third.

Coming into the final race of the championship and Norman Struthers and masters sailor Nick Harrison had a brilliant first beat to be first and second to the windward mark. Micky Beckett's speed was soon apparent as he took the lead down the run, with Sam Whaley moving into third place. These positions stayed the same all the way to the finish, with Jake Farren Price stealing fourth place from Ben Flower and Nick Harrison.

Overall Micky Beckett easily took the title, winning nine out of ten races, with Sam Whaley taking second and Jake Farren Price third. First master was Mark Lyttle in eighth and first U21 was Gordon Cogan Sivarajan in tenth.

Many thanks to the UKLA for organising and WPNSA for hosting such a brilliant event and we hope to see everyone next year!

The 100-strong force of volunteers helped make this happen but our class secretary has to be one of the most able, resilient and long suffering in the business. Thank You Ellie Ratusniak - without all your work we'd be running around like headless chickens.

Of course the sponsors provided the oil that made the wheels go round...

Sponsors

Sailingfast - Duncan brings his battle bus down from Scotland for most the big events, which is so ridiculously well equipped, you could replace everything on your boat. Although based in Scotland they will get anything to you super fast. He also supplied many of the prizes for the draw on Saturday evening.

SouthEast Sailboats - Max brings bespoke quality at affordable prices to the class. His passion for detail has made his products a must have for anyone who wants quality. He also supplied many great prizes for the event.

Ovington Boats - Chris Turner lives dinghies and has been a significance presence in the boat building world for decades. OB are now the official UK builders of ILCAs. A very smart new Ovington ILCA Dinghy was on display at the Masters event.

Vaikobi - a brand born on the waters of Sydney Harbour, out of a passion for all ocean sports. Across the team, we paddle, Surfski, SUP, Wing Foil and Sail. Sailing has been a passion within the business right from the start. The senior management team at Vaikobi comprise more than fifty years of marine industry and sailing experience between them.

Noble Marine - Ian MacManus (the man behind the name) has crafted a very competitive and excellent insurance product for all Laser/ILCA sailors. A very personal service and a extremely useful website help make this the 'go to' company.

Fernhurst Books - Jeremy Atkins has put together an incredible list of the most useful dinghy racing books. If you have books on racing you've probably got at least one Fernhurst book.

UKLA UK National Championships prizewinners - photo © UKLA

Overall Results:

1st Master - Mark Lyttle

UKLA UK National Championships for ILCA 7 (formerly Laser standard rig) - photo © Georgie Altham / www.facebook.com/galthamphotography