Rooster ILCA 6 National Open event 4 at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy

Rooster ILCA 6 National Open event 4 at Weymouth © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

ILCA's National Open events continue to draw huge entries: 186 for the first of consecutive weekends at WPNSA with six Irish sailors joining the action as well as entries from France, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

A light forecast presented Race Director James Hynes with a few challenges but, with the support of 60 volunteers, Race Management delivered a full schedule of racing across the two days with the podium places going to the wire.

Rooster ILCA 6 National Open event 4 at Weymouth - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Molly Sacker takes us through the action in the 83 strong ILCA 6 fleet:

"A somewhat chilly northeasterly promised a day of the unexpected conditions in Portland Harbour for the first of this seasons National Opens. True to form, and chomping at the bit to get racing, the ILCA 6's had a few general recalls to start the weekend but in the light 6-8knts Matilda Nicholls started strong with a race win, followed in hot pursuit by Carys Attwell who sailed a strong weekend in preparation for her U21 worlds next week!

"Race two again had a few attempts to start cleanly, not helped by the ever-increasing shift range but credit to the race committee for waiting until it somewhat settled before finishing the sequence. Taking full advantage of the conditions, Lewis Bacon stormed to a race win, with Jess Powell confidently racing to a secure second place. The third race of the day came much later, after a rather long 5 hours on the water, with the wind becoming evermore unstable.

"Despite the fleets best intention to create an everlasting starting drill, racing was under way to a substantial right-hand shift that paid dividends to Daisy Collingridge and Eve McMahon who battled out on the right to finish the top two.

"After a well-deserved return to shore at around 5pm, much talk centred on start line rule adherence, to which it would be generous to claim was well respected! Let's try not to require an on-site boat builder next weekend please!

Rooster ILCA 6 National Open event 4 at Weymouth - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

"Day two was very much a murky one with low cloud and a cold breeze but signalled a day in the bay! After a full migration of fleets out to the bay, the day of course started with some general recalls, both the excitement of being in the bay and some stray anchors contributing to the line pushing but with conditions ranging from 6 - 14knts and within a 40 shift range, anything can happen!

"One person who was very much switched on to the conditions was young gun Toby Waggett, our overnight leader, who raced brilliantly all weekend, highlights by his race win in race 5, holding back the charging Adriana Penruddocke who dominated the left hand side of the race track and cooly raced with Toby. In the previous race, Hannah Snellgrove and Eve McMahon finished top two after clean starts and boat speed through the tricky chop gave them the edge.

Rooster ILCA 6 National Open event 4 at Weymouth - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

"Going into the final race, points were pretty close between Eve and Toby and despite Hannah Snellgrove and Daisy Collingridge going all out for the final race, Eve crossed the line in 3rd to solidify herself at the top of the fleet. Toby had a remarkable weekend, and at just 15 years old truly gave the pros a run for their money, and overall, nearly got them all!"

The ILCA programme continues apace with National Open 5 at WPNSA on 18th/19th October before the Masters Inland Championships at Grafham Water on 25th/26th October and the National Inland Championships at Draycote Water on 1st/2nd November.

Making these events happen is only made possible by the tireless efforts of the Volunteers and ongoing support from our generous Class Sponsors:

• Rooster
• Sailingfast
• Ovington Boats
• Noble Marine
• Tideway Wealth Management
• Wildwind
• Southeast Sailboats

ILCA 6 Results: