ILCA open meeting at Bough Beech Sailing Club
by Sam Boniface 4 Jun 16:43 BST
30 May 2026
ILCA open meeting at Bough Beech © Sarah Seddon
Bough Beech held their annual ILCA open event on the 30th May 2026 and as had
been forecast, a gloriously sunny May day greeted the 21 enthusiastic sailors as did
a distinct lack of wind. This was clearly going to be a day for patience.
With what little wind there was forecast expected to do a full 180 over the course of
the day, Richard Southern and his race team decided a simple windward leeward
without any spreader would be the best course for the days sailing.
As the 21 boats took to the water, 15 ILCA 7s and six ILCA 6s, the wind was already
dropping off. Undeterred the first race started only slightly behind schedule and the
ILCA 7s battled fiercely for the pin end of the line with Port the favoured tack to
reach the windward mark. David Goddard and Rob Gorrod made the best of the light
winds to have a closely fought dual for much of the two lap race with David getting the
better of Rob up the last beat to hold on for the win.
With the 6s starting 5 mins after the 7s the wind had dropped even further, with three
boats circling the pin end and the others spread almost equidistant along the line.
Joe Warwicker and Charlie Weatheritt made the best start at the pin with Sam
Boniface following as the boats crawled down what had become a broad reach
rather than a beat. The second leg had become a beat and some rather dubious roll
tacks later Charlie and Joe went into the second mark separated by nothing. This
would continue down the next run and the final beat back to the line, yes the 6s did
1.5 laps, and Charlie came out victorious.
Rather than trying to get a second race in before lunch it was decided to head
ashore and hope the wind filled in.
Following lunch which was superbly put on by Jess and her team in the galley, a
short delay followed as the race officer and fleet captain canvassed opinion on
whether it was worth trying a second race. It was eventually concluded that to not try
would be a waste so just after 1:30pm, the boats launched, although a few had
decided the cramp caused by sitting at the front of an ILCA in the morning was
enough.
Race 2 brought similarly frustrating winds and again the pin end was favoured. In the
7s again it was David and Robert leading the way with Duncan Lawson chasing
hard in third. In the 6s it was once more a match race between Joe and Charlie while further back Tessa, Sam and Scarlett were busy trading gusts of wind for third place.
Charlie managed to out gybe Joe on the run to the line to take a second bullet and
Tessa found more breeze to take a well deserved third place. Scarlett appeared to
have a nailed on fourth before a rather poorly timed swim at mark 2 let Sam and Ian
sneak past.
Richard and his team bravely tried to move the marks to try and get race 3 under
way but the wind just wouldn't play ball and it was eventually decided to call the
event after two races.
In the 7s David took a well deserved win with a brace of first places with Rob and
Duncan following suit with second and third place respectively.
In the 6s Charlie took the plaudits with a couple of first places and Joe second with two second places. Tessa took a well deserved third on count back having tied with Sam on 7 points.
Whilst a frustrating event wind wise, everyone had fun and a great day was had.
Hopefully next year the wind turns up too.