Noble Marine / Sailingfast ILCA 7 Qualifier 3 at the WPNSA

by Jake Farren-Price 6 Apr 2022 16:08 BST 26-27 March 2022

For the final qualifier of the back-to-back spring series, once again 180 ILCAs descended upon the dolphin hunting grounds of Portland Harbour to claim back their territory. A promising forecast on both days allowed 3 swift races to be completed each day in slightly warmer conditions than the previous week. The wind still strong from the east meant everyone who had sailed the previous weekend knew the strategy for the racing, or at least thought they did...

The first race rolled through on time with about 15-18 knots, it wasn't the only one doing the rolling; Sam Whaley and James Percival-Cooke came off the pin-end leaving no prisoners caffeine flowing through their veins. This grudge match had been brewing all week after the hotly contested previous weekend, it was set to be a nail-biter. With both sailors claiming one of the Spring qualifiers each, there was no easing of the sheets off the line in race 1. Percival-Cooke lead Whaley around mark 1 but clipped the windward mark on the way round resulting in a penalty spin. Whaley capitalised on this and sailed away into the lead. Fighting for 3rd down the run was quite tight, and the pressure can get to some people. A veteran of the ILCA 7, Jack Hopkins, found the limits of what the Jury would allow got a yellow flag which sucked him out of contention with the top few. Finishing order for race 1: Whaley, Percival-Cooke, Jake Farren-Price.

Hopkins used this yellow flag as fuel for the fire, no I don't mean he followed in Ainslie's footsteps and mounted the Jury boat to have a stern word, but come the second beat of the second race the gels started to kick in and he sailed around everyone bar Whaley, screaming up the left side of the track. The race finished, Whaley, Hopkins, Percival-Cooke.

The final race of the day and Whaley was now very much in the swing of it, leading from start to finish with Percival-Cooke on his heels. The battle for third was a tough one down the final run as Farren-Price attempted to keep Finley Dickinson, the current youth national champion at bay. Dickinson pushed hard trying to suck the power from Farren-Price's sails and slowly reeling him in, but on the final approach Farren-Price caught some tasty waves off the back of the Jury boat to open the gap back up.

The second day of racing was again in the harbour, forecast looking slightly lighter but the wind gods don't care what the forecast says and they do what they want anyway. Towards the end of the second race the wind shut off down to a couple knots and swung right 30 degrees before building up again. Southampton Uni's James Foster came off the middle of the line and sailed an impeccable first beat hiking most of the time while the majority of the fleet had to just sit back and watch. Unfortunately, after the race it was evident, he was just a little too eager so was called over by Paul Jackson and his team. Sam Whaley managed to wiggle his way back through the fleet on the first downwind and keep everyone else at bay up the second beat to keep his string of bullets. Stokes Bay's Nick Welbourn, who some say, was a passenger to his new rocket ship of an Element 6 ILCA sniffed out some pressure up the second beat to get up into 2nd and held it to the finish.

After 30 mins of waiting for the wind to stop fighting with itself it settled down to a nice 12-16 knots and racing was once again under way. With this new wind it was hard to know how to play it but British Sailing Team's Sam Whaley still managed to sail fast and in the right direction to lead at mark 1 and control the race from there. With a change of starting sequence, we had the radials joining us on the outer loop, in the first race that day it meant we sailed our final downwind with them which made for some mighty holes of no wind which you wouldn't want to find yourself in. However, in this race they had approached the downwind before we got there meaning there was a big split in the fleet, Farren-Price took a bold approach splitting from the group but finding some nice pressure on the right of the second beat to get back up to 2nd but unfortunately Dickinson had some unfinished business and, on the run, covered Farren-Price to steal second from him.

The final race of the day saw a long hold by the leaders off the line as the wind shifted slightly right throughout, Percival-Cooke managed to piece together the first beat the best and by the top mark lead Whaley and the chasing bunch. On the final downwind Whaley was close enough to have the DRS in affect down the final run but unlike the proceedings in the Formula 1 that weekend Percival-Cooke in his Ferrari sailed an impenetrable race keeping Whaley behind to put a stop to the string of bullets from what would have been a perfect series. Hopkins sailed away nicely on the final downwind to secure third ahead of Farren-Price. Another great qualifier completed, the next UKLA event will be the nationals in Hayling Island in the summer, see you all there.

The ILCA7 fleet would like to thank WPSNA for once again putting on a great event and all the volunteers for making it possible and a special thank you to the officer Paul Jackson and team.

Thanks to all those who support the ILCA fleets:

• Noble Marine - has crafted a very competitive and excellent insurance product for all Laser/ILCA sailors. A very personal service and an extremely useful website help make this the 'go to' company. www.noblemarine.co.uk
• 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. Check out his website: sailingfast.co.uk
• 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. Visit www.vaikobi.com
• 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. Visit www.ovingtonboats.com