Noble Marine & Ovington ILCA Autumn Qualifier (Q5) at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy

by Hamish Collingridge 19 Oct 2023 05:28 BST 14-15 October 2023

ILCA sailors were met with a particularly cold chill on Saturday morning which for many seemed like the first signs of winter.

The ILCA 6 fleet had a slightly different format to normal qualifiers to cope with the impressive fleet size of 84 boats. Instead of racing in one fleet like usual, we had a qualifying series on Saturday which would be used to divide us into a gold and silver fleet on Sunday. After a cold reach out into Weymouth Bay, a very shifty 8-12 knot northerly greeted the sailors.

Race 1 was the lightest of the day - around 10 knots. It was a very tricky race with many opportunities to gain and lose huge amounts. Robin Phipps took a big lead up the first beat after being one of the few boats to spot the right shift which had come through during the Ilca 4's first beat. However, Matilda Nicholls had caught up on the downwind and took the lead at the gate as the two split. The race finished with Matilda in first, Jon Emmett in second and Henry Redmond in third.

In the Blue and Yellow fleet, the race was won by Daisy Collingridge with Ben Elvin in second and Alfie Noel in third, an impressive result having led for a large proportion of the race.

After race one, the wind built to around 12 knots and also shifted right which changed up the racecourse. After the race committee had promptly reset the course we were back under way. For this race, there was a bit more of a theme with port becoming the prominent long tack and a gain feature on the left as you appeared to be lifted coming in on the port lay line. Up the first beat, Toby Bush showed great speed and strategy in his new boat to round the windward mark in 3rd and was extremely unlucky up the second beat to miss out on the podium. Hannah Snellgrove took the honours in the blue and green fleet with Molly Sacker and Chloe Elvin taking 2nd and 3rd. In the other race, Ben Elvin was 1st with Matilda Nicholls in 2nd and Daisy Collingridge in 3rd, following an impressive comeback after getting stuck on the first mark.

Race 3 was much the same and in the yellow and green fleet Daisy Collingridge won with Ben Elvin in 2nd and Leo Yates in 3rd, having only just recently joined the six fleet. Hannah Snellgrove took a back-to-back win in the other flight with Matilda Nicholls and Jon Emmet in 2nd and 3rd. So that was day 1, a very exciting and interesting day. The points were ever so close with the top 3 all being on 5 points, only being separated by countback.

Day 2 saw us back in the harbour and an even colder breeze which was slightly stronger than expected. Today we were separated in to a gold and silver fleet and race 1 got away very quickly. It was even trickier than Sunday and sailors had to keep heads out of the boat to look for the huge pressure bands and shifts coming off the harbour wall as place changes were constantly happening.

Race 1 of the finals in the gold fleet was fantastically won by Archie Munro Price, another sailor who has only just moved into the ILCA6. Next was Matilda Nicholls and rounding off the podium was Molly Sacker. In the silver fleet, the girls dominated by locking out the podium. Ciara Murphy, another sailor just moving into the six won with Flo Tovey and Millie Lewis in 2nd and 3rd.

Race 2 was even harder to get right and again, being in phase with the pressure and shifts was the key. Freddie Sunderland and Joe Rowe, both sailors from Draycote Water rounded mark one 1st and 2nd and both managed to extend away from the fleet on the downwind impressively by staying in the pressure. Unfortunately, they were unable to hold onto this controlling position as a large shift caught them out on the starboard lay line which saw Jon Emmett and Leo Yates take 1st and 2nd. They held onto these positions until the finish and Freddie Sunderland took 3rd. Again Silver Fleet was won by Ciara Murphy with Ruariri Herrington in 2nd and Millie Lewis in 3rd. The wind had already been dropping throughout race 2 and sadly did not come back in enough consistency to race so that was when the event finished as AP over A was raised.

So, after a great event, Matilda Nicholls came out on top followed by Daisy Collingridge in 2nd and Ben Elvin in 3rd. Hannah Snellgrove was 3rd girl and Jon Emmett and Leo Yates rounded off the boy's podium in 2nd and 3rd, an extremely impressive performance by Leo who also was first under 17 at just his second ILCA6 event. Joe Rowe was 1st under 19 boy and Carrys Attwell was 1st under 19 girl. Charlotte Videlo rounded off the prizes by coming first under 21 girl. Also, a massive thanks to all the volunteers again this weekend, who without we simply would not have these events.

Also we must thank UKLA's terrific sponsors for their continuing support at the qualifiers. Many have been supporting us over a number of years through difficult times... thank you. Noble Marine, Ovington, Sailingfast and Rooster.

The final autumn qualifier is the same time and place next week!

Overall Results:

Pos	Flight	Nat	Sail No	Helm	Club	Q1	Q2	Q3	F1	R2	Pts
1	Red	GBR	219894	Matilda Nicholls	Aldeburgh Yacht Club	1	2	2	2	‑6	7
2	Yellow	GBR	221584	Daisy Collingridge	Waldringfield SC	1	3	1	4	‑7	9
3	Yellow	GBR	220042	Ben Elvin	Stokes Bay SC	2	1	2	‑17	5	10
4	Red	GBR	216115	Jon Emmett	Weir Wood SC	2	4	3	‑13	1	10
5	Blue	GBR	219908	Hannah Snellgrove	Lymington Town SC	4	1	1	‑9	9	15
6	Green	GBR	218694	Molly Sacker		5	2	9	3	‑20	19
7	Yellow	GBR	221490	Leo Yates	Island Barn SC	‑13	13	3	7	2	25
8	Red	GBR	223458	Joe Rowe	Draycote Academy	13	7	6	‑39	4	30
9	Blue	GBR	222470	Freddie Sunderland	Draycote Water	5	5	18	‑26	3	31
10	Green	GBR	220040	Chloe Elvin	Stokes Bay SC	7	3	4	20	‑24	34
11	Blue	GBR	221854	Charlotte Videlo	Frensham Pond SC / Stokes Bay SC	8	10	4	12	‑34	34
12	Green	GBR	221631	Hamish Collingridge	Waldringfield SC	15	4	5	‑29	12	36
13	Yellow	GBR	214203	Alfie Noel	Stokes Bay SC	3	12	8	‑16	15	38
14	Blue	GBR	221327	Tom Rawlings	Lyme Regis Sailing Club	6	14	‑24	10	10	40
15	Green	GBR	214007	Jack Graham‑Troll	Royal Lymington Yacht Club	6	15	6	14	‑19	41
16	Red	GBR	221585	Carys Attwell	Rutland SC	14	5	8	‑22	18	45
17	Green	GBR	223460	Henry Redmond	Covenham SC	3	11	13	19	‑38	46
18	Red	GBR	222775	Edwin Cross	Shoreham	12	18	12	5	‑22	47
19	Green	GBR	190471	Thommie Grit	Royal Hospital School	8	8	‑27	6	25	47
20	Blue	GBR	221501	Fred Salter	Gurnard Sailing Club	12	7	11	‑31	17	47
21	Blue	GBR	222281	Archie Munro‑Price	CCSC & RLYMYC	9	22	16	1	‑28	48
22	Red	HKG	209950	Wai Chak Tsui	Hong Kong Sports Institute	17	15	‑20	8	8	48
23	Green	GBR	221583	Freddie Maclaverty	RWBSWC	‑18	12	11	11	16	50
24	Green	GBR	215383	Thomas Bates	Yorkshire Dales SC	16	13	12	‑23	11	52
25	Red	GBR	221800	Robin Phipps	Parkstone Yacht Club	4	6	10	34	‑39	54
26	Blue	GBR	222776	Samson Cross	Shoreham	11	6	7	‑35	30	54
27	Yellow	GBR	206959	Toby Smith	Rutland SC / Royal Hospital School	16	8	17	‑18	13	54
28	Blue	GBR	171988	Toby bush		7	9	9	33	‑40	58
29	Yellow	GBR	223088	Iris Singleton	Draycote Water SC	10	16	14	‑28	23	63
30	Red	GBR	213678	Derin Can Soyer		19	9	14	‑38	26	68
31	Green	GBR	220041	Ian Gregory	Frensham Pond SC & Stokes Bay SC	10	17	15	27	‑31	69
32	Green	GBR	218115	Olly Mayo	Gurnard SC	‑27	16	16	24	14	70
33	Yellow	GBR	219833	Ralph Surguy	Corinthian Otters	18	10	22	21	‑32	71
34	Blue	GBR	212943	Monty Desforges	Guernsey Yacht Club	21	24	15	15	‑43	75
35	Green	GBR	214074	Samuel Osborne	Royal Victoria yacht club	11	19	7	‑41	41	78
36	Red	GBR	221502	Sam Grayton	Notts County SC / Draycote Academy	21	19	17	‑40	21	78
37	Yellow	GBR	220823	Spirit Alderson	Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club	14	23	18	30	‑33	85
38	Red	GBR	215206	Roo Purves	East Lothian Yacht Club	25	14	5	‑42	42	86
39	Red	GBR	214560	Amelie Hacker	Aldeburgh YC / Rutland SC	9	21	31	‑37	27	88
40	Blue	GBR	219660	Rhys Powell		20	21	13	‑43	36	90
41	Yellow	GBR	222770	Kaitlyn Wyatt	Shoreham SC / Papercourt SC	‑31	17	19	25	29	90
42	Green	GBR	210022	Julien Rohart		30	20	10	‑36	35	95
43	Yellow	GBR	221236	Archie Burton	Beaver	26	11	33	32	‑37	102