Summer update from ILCA-land

by Neil Collingridge 24 Aug 20:34 BST

It's easy in ILCA-land to focus mainly or entirely on the racing. Who's done what and where and with ILCA 4 and 6 Youth Worlds recently finished in Aarhus and ILCA 6 and 7 Senior Worlds about to kick off in Dun Laoghaire there has been and hopefully will be plenty to shout about both at home and abroad. Our sailing sub committee, race officers, recorders, finishers, mark layers, jurors, scorer, tally, beach and bridge all work super hard ensuring a great, competitive racing experience in the UK - it's important but we also care a lot about the culture of the Class and making our events welcoming, inclusive and fun.

With 246 ILCAs at our recent National Championships, it's self evident that the vast majority won't have stood on the podium, nor probably will many of them ever. So are they all sailing ILCAs in the vain hope that maybe one day their time will come or is the Class trying to do something else that brings them back for more? This is not to say we've gone all woke, sold off the playing fields and don't celebrate our champions - we do. But in a world where so many classes appear to struggle with declining numbers we are suffering the opposite; our growing numbers mean that there's a declining number of venues where we can fit our National events in.

We are seeing both the benefits and challenges of Scale. Better than expected numbers attending the Class Regional and National Training through the winter and spring meant the Class was running an unintented surplus and so could invest money back into the Nationals and Skills Week. The growth in numbers of ILCA4 sailors recently is particularly marked with their numbers challenging those in the 6s and pushing us close to the point when we will need to flight their starts.

Further support from our Class Sponsors - Fernhurst Books, Noble Marine, Ovington, Rooster, Sailingfast, Tideway Wealth and Wildwind - meant we were able to take our Nationals Hub to new heights. A massive, really massive screen allowed us to livestream from the racecourse. TracTrac debriefs whilst sailors lounged on beanbags in the sunshine were popular, as were the race management briefings with the wind forecast displayed in 6ft high colour graphics.

The shore team took the socials to new heights - paella night, hog roast night, line dancing, a live band, the outside band, table football - all of theses helped us create the festival atmosphere that we've been looking for. The results were obvious and impressive - gone the gentle drift away of tired sailors which in the past has left WPNSA feeling lacking in atmosphere and in came a vibe which caused sailors and supporters to hang out well into the evening. The proof? The academy ran out of beer and our continuing focus and reliance on an army of volunteers led us this year to host a Volunteers Drinks evening generously funded by Noble Marine.

Roll on a couple of weeks and it was ILCA-UKs Skills Week. This is a training week which started about 5 years ago seeking to help sailors transition smoothly, be it from Optimists and Toppers (or other junior classes - we'll happily help anyone) into ILCA4s, or those moving from 4s into 6s, or 6s into 7s. But over time as its grown so has its popularity for a wide range of ILCA sailors. In 2026 when entries opened we were sold out in minutes - more demand than for Oasis tickets and without the dynamic pricing - and once the team had worked super hard at upscaling our coach and ribs resources we welcomed 137 sailors across 18 coach groups for 5 days of training away from the pressure of a looming regatta or RYA squad selection. 34% of these were female which is also a key focus for the Class and encouragingly there were more girls than boys amongst the ILCA4s.

Two of the groups were specifically for Masters sailors showing how wide the popularity of the format has become. Once again the team was focused on making it all dawn to dusk fun. We had team racing in Zests form the Andrew Simpson Centre which ran after training until it got dark. Those coaches running the team racing were nearing revolt until takeaway pizzas were ferried out to their support boats. Meantime, Max Hunt from our former Class Sponsor, Southeast Sailboats was in residence and running splicing tutorials where he shared the knowledge he has of building first class ILCA rigging systems. These tutorials were a blowout success and Max found himself far busier than we'd ever imagined. It's not a stretch to say that Max has helped revolutionise rigging systems on ILCAs over the last few years so we are happy not to lose this knowledge now he claims he's retired! Our Mexican themed evening with the band Beato Burrito rearranging all the old classics to a Mexican vibe was great fun in the setting sun.

As a Class we are continuing to build upon the Women-only training which has run so successfully under ex-BST ILCA sailor, George Povall. With a significant grant from the RYA's Evolution fund to subsidise this we are looking to upscale this around the country with the aid of clubs where we already run ILCA-UK Regional training or other activities. We are keen to hear from other clubs who can put together a group of at least 5 women sailors to run a day's training. ILCA-UK will be able to help source ideally female coaches and help with funding. If anyone thinks they may have sufficient interest please contact . Similarly we are looking to develop more female coaches too so again please get in touch if that might be you.

National activity in the Class now moves on to the Autumn National Opens - the first at East Lothian Yacht Club in Scotland and then 2 at WPNSA followed by the Inland Championships at Grafham Water in November. The Masters, following a very successful Masters Nationals at Parkstone have their own Inlands at Draycote Water although as always the Class is keen to see Masters turn up for the National Opens and Inlands too.

We've not always been that great at telling the ILCA story in the UK but with a renewed focus on Social Media and a great story to tell we believe more and more sailors are being attracted to join the evergreen ILCA class - do come and join the fun.