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2025 Youth Solidarity Program Applications Close 1 October

The 2025 ILCA Oceania Youth Solidarity Program applications will close on 1 October 2024.

John d’Helin the Program Director promises the program will be better than ever with support now added from Australian Sailing for the coach and coach boat.

The program objective is to actively promote the ILCA 4 class to clubs as the logical transition class for junior and youth sailors. ILCA Oceania aims to grow participation in the ILCA 4 class at the Oceania & Australian Open and Youth ILCA Championships and in ILCA sponsored youth regattas.

Each ILCA Oceania and Australian District will select one youth female sailor, who will receive the benefit of the following support at the 2025 Oceania & Australian Open and Youth ILCA Championships to be held from 1-8 January 2024 at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Brisbane, Queensland.

• Free event and functions entry.
• An ILCA 4 charter boat in race condition.
• Squad coaching during the regatta.
• Youth Solidarity program merchandise.

Applicants must be;
• A citizen of an Oceania country.
• A member of an ILCA District.
• A ILCA 4 female sailor aged 13-16 years as at 1 January 2025 with a minimum body weight of 50kg.

Applications are open here These must be completed on or before 1 October 2024. The selected applicants (one per district) will be chosen by their ILCA district. Selections will be announced in mid October .

More information including the selection criteria is here.

See YouTube videos from 2023 Solidarity participant Maddy English and Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron sailor Abby Young who participated in 2024 in South Australia.

2024 ILCA 6 Youth European Championships – Bangor

ILCA 6 European Youth U17 Podium – Winner Healy Ryan

The 2024 ILCA 6 Youth European Championships & Open European Trophy have concluded in the waters off Bangor, Northern Ireland. The event ran from 27 July – 3 August 2024 in some excellent Irish summer weather, with sunlight from 4:30am to 10:30pm and maximum temperatures around 15-18 each day there was nothing missing,  every season made an appearance every day!

12 races were scheduled but 10 or 11 were held depending on the final fleet.

There were 7 Sailors representing from across the country: Ellen SAMPSON (SA), Edward ALEXANDER (ACT), Xavier BATES (WA), Riley CANTWELL (VIC), Luke CARRICK (WA), Hugo RALPH (QLD), Healy RYAN (NSW).

With the ILCA 6 worlds for female and male having been held in January (Argentina) the European championships was expected to be the youth event of the European summer and it delivered. The current ISAF Youth Worlds Champions (male and female), crowned just weeks earlier (Australia does not attend) and January’s ILCA 6 world champion Antonio Pascali was in attendance as was ILCA 4 world championship Carlos Charbati.

With 247 male sailors and 112 females from 28 countries it was a great competition to see how our sailors would fair alongside a world class fleet.

The Australian sailors all put in strong performances with moments of class along with some heartache through which they learned and grew as sailors. The wide variety of pressure and direction created some tricky conditions and all had moments when they picked great options and nailed a leg.

In the Male category Jacek Kalinowski from Poland had a fabulous last day for a come from behind overall victory while 15 year old Australian Healy Ryan won the U17 for the European Trophy and finished 2nd overall.

Australian results summary:
Ellen Sampson – 13th in Silver
Healy Ryan – 2nd (1st U17) in Gold
Riley Cantwell 53rd (17th U17) in Gold
Edward Alexander – 50th in Silver
Xavier Bates, 8th in Bronze
Hugo Ralph – 26th in Bronze
Luke Carrick – 55th in Bronze

Thanks to all the parents for getting the team to the event and working together to keep the sailors smiling and, for the most part, organised. Also a big thank you to the Ballyholme Yacht Club for putting on a fantastic regatta and the super friendly volunteers who were always up for a chat and met you with a smile.

Final results and links to news and photos can be found here.

Australian Team ILCA 6 Youth Europeans – Bangor Northern Ireland

Matt Wearn & Marit Bouwmeester Take ILCA Gold in Marseille

After a frustrating few days of light winds in Marseille in the Men’s Dinghy Matt Wearn went into the delayed medal race carrying a 14-point advantage over Cyprus’ Pavlos Kontides. Pavlos was the only sailor who could overtake him for gold.

At first, Matt attempted to match race the Pavlos until the opening attempt at the Medal Race was abandoned. In the second instalment, Matt decided to go all out and stormed to victory with Pavlos second. Peruvian Stefano Peschiera who gained his starting place through World Sailing’s Emerging Nations Program had a great regatta winning bronze after some hard fought medal race duelling with GBR’s Michael Beckett. Stefano’s medal was Peru’s first Olympic medal in 32 years.

Matt’s result means Australia has now won the last four Men’s Dinghy Olympic gold medals, beginning with Tom Slingsby in London and continuing with Tom Burton in Rio and Matt in Tokyo and Paris. Pavlos Kontides, was in his fifth Olympic Games, and this was his second silver medal. He was runner up to Tom Slingsby in London 2012.

Straight after the event Matt said: “It’s been quite hard to deal with the waiting at times, luckily we didn’t have to wait for another day and now we can celebrate and have some fun. My parents have helped me all the way. There have been times when I haven’t enjoyed the sport as much, but they’ve really helped, they’re incredible parents.

“The expectation has been tougher this time, being the reigning champion and winning the last two World Championships. I had that target on my back and that was new and different.”

Netherland’s Marit Bouwmeester had already wrapped up the Women’s Dinghy gold medal before the medal race. She finished in the top five on seven occasions during the Opening Series, but persistent light wind meant she had to wait an extra day before getting her long-awaited prize.

By winning gold, Bouwmeester became the most successful female Olympic sailor ever, overtaking Great Britain’s two-time Olympic champion Hannah Mills in the process. She has now won two golds in Paris and Rio, a silver in London and a bronze in Tokyo.

Anne-Marie Rindom was unable to defend her Olympic title from Tokyo but settled for a super silver, which she also had wrapped up prior to the Medal Race, in which she finished fifth.

The only medal up for grabs heading into the Medal Race was the bronze and it was Line Flem Hoest’s to lose. The Norwegian went into the finale sitting in third and held on to that spot, crossing the finish line in second behind Italy’s Chiara Benini Floriani to take home a bronze medal.

Marit Bouwmeester said: “In the build-up to the Medal Race I tried to stay focused, but I’m also a mum as well so I had to be there for Jessie Mae. I’ve been with her a lot, putting her to bed and being there when she wakes up. It’s nice to finally finish it off, it hasn’t sunk in yet.

“I think sometimes at the Olympics you can get too serious too quickly, so it’s nice to have a distraction with Jessie Mae. Then you also have the lack of sleep and the loss of energy, but I’m grateful to be a mum and an athlete.”

Final Results

Event Website

 

 

Follow 2024 Olympics


Olympic Sailing schedule is detailed by Sailor Girl Nic Douglass on her web site Here.

Three ways to follow the Paris Olympics action.

9HD or 9GemHD TV channels. Free to Air (advertising supported). Selected and highlight sports 24 hours a day.

9Now App TV, streaming devices, PC via browser, Android or Apple mobile or tablet. See here. Over 40 channels plus replays, highlights “minis” and event guides live and free (advertising supported).

Stan Sport App, TV, streaming devices, PCs, Android and Apple mobile or tablet. See here. 8 individual sport channels advertising free live and on demand. See here. Stan subscription is $16 per month plus $15 for sport.

The Australian Sailing Team social media accounts will be the place to go to follow everything happening with the Aussie sailors in Marseilles.

  • X @AusSailingTeam
  • Facebook @Australian Sailing Team
  • Instagram @AusSailingTeam

2024 ILCA Under 21 Worlds – Viana do Castelo, Portugal

The 2024 ILCA Under 21 World Championships have concluded  in the Atlantic Ocean waters off the historic city of  Viana do Castelo, Portugal which traces its history back to 1258.. The event ran from July 1st to 8th and was blessed with great sailing conditions. All 12 races were held as scheduled.

There were 13 Australian sailors Frances Beebe. Lili Mcaullay, Ellen Sampson, Evie Saunders, Jack Eickmeyer, Tom Holmes, Lawson Mcaullay, Edward Reid, Isaac Schotte, Max Sturman, Julian Taylor, Lachie Weber and Myles Wilson competing alongside 235 sailors (80 women and 155 men) from 41 countries.

The Australian sailors all put in strong performances with Evie Saunders leading the charge finishing second in the ILCA 6 to Ireland’s Eve McMahon who was dominant posting four wins for a 30 point winning margin.

In the ILCA 7s Theodor Middelthon from Norway had a comfortable win. Isaac Schotte was running 4th mid series but faded in the last days to finish 10th with Edward  Reid 12th and Jack Eickmeyer 13th. Well done all in a hot fleet.

Event links are.

Results
Event Photos
Event Videos 
Event Website
ILCA Facebook

Last Warmup Before Olympics Concludes in Kiel

Olympics sailing will run from July 28th to August 8th in Marseilles.

One of the last warmup regattas prior to the Olympics was Kiel Week 2024 which finished on June 30th. The conditions there were highly varied ranging from light winds to stormy gusts.

Top Australian results were Mara Stransky with a 2nd in the ILCA 6 which saw four Australians finish in the top ten. Zac Littlewood was 4th in the ILCA 7 and Caterina Meyer 14th out of 150 girls in the ILCA 4 fleet.

Detail results are here.

Queensland Winter ILCA Regatta 13-14 July

In place of the South Pacific Masters this year ILCA Queensland & RQYS are running an open event the Queensland Winter ILCA Regatta 13-14 July.

Local and pretty good Masters sailor Andrew Stransky has written the invitation below to all ILCA sailors and wannabees to come and enjoy the relatively mild Queensland winter.

Blow away those winter chills, dust off your trusty ILCA dinghy and set your sights on the Queensland Winter ILCA Regatta! Muster your energy and join the age old tradition of competing in the world’s most popular dinghy class.

Racing among friends, the thrilling competition is always tight, regardless of where you are in the flight. Tone up those begging muscles in this 2 day, 5 race series, all for a paltry $50 entry fee, a bargain for the taking.

NOR, information and Entry are at https://www.rqys.com.au/qwir/

This is you chance to avoid the frigid south for at least one weekend.

ILCA 4 Youth Worlds Viana do Castelo in Portugal

Australian Team at the Opening Ceremony at ILCA 4 Worlds Portugal

The ILCA 4 World Championship 2024, the largest junior sailing event in the world, is being held in Viana do Castelo, Portugal from 23rd to 30th June 2024. There are 51 countries being represented by 427 sailors, 108 coaches, and over 900 supporters.

Viana do Castelo provided some really great sailing conditions after a fog bound start on day 1.

There were six Australian sailors competing Olivia Aitken, Addison Heatley, Caterina Meyer, Molly Schotte, Henry Piggott and Jasper Stay.

The girls event came down to the wire with the two top Netherlands sailors Hieke Schraffordt and Feline Van Ede finishing only two points apart. First Australian Caterina Meyer had a win in the gold fleet in the finals series and showed great promise. U16 RQYS sailor Henry Piggott was 53 in the boys gold fleet which was won in a close contest by Canadian Carlos Charabati. The full series results are Here.

The Event Website with links to media is Here.

Olympic Sailing Qualification

Qualification for 2024 Olympics Sailing is now finalised with 330 sailors from 66 Olympic nations set to compete in 252 boats spread across the 10 Olympic sailing events in Marseilles starting on 26th July. The nations set to compete and how they qualified are tabulated in a detailed Wiki here. There is a post on the ILCA web site on ILCAs in the Olympics which describes the qualification process and some of the history.

Australia will compete in 9 of the 10 events (missing out in the Men’s Kites). In the ILCAs Zoe Thomson and Matt Wearn have been selected as reported Here.  In the ILCAs from our Oceania Region four nations Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa each have qualified and will send sailors in both ILCA 6 and 7.

It is a great honour to be chosen to represent your country in an Olympics and we wish the sailors and their support teams all the best for their events. Behind their success all these sailors have coach and sport professionals and especially supportive families to sustain, motivate and improve them. We thank them one and all.

One special Oceania qualification we would like to highlight is that of Samoa in the ILCA 6. There Vaimo’oi’a (Vai) Ripley achieved her lifelong ambition of competing in the Olympics. Via won one of two of the IOC’s Universality Places which are a lifeline to athletes from underrepresented Olympics nations.

Vai has been sailing and training at Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club in Sydney while competing in all the ILCA local and many international events and fully deserves her coveted place. There is a great post on MHASC web site Here on Vai’s quest.

ILCA Move to Secure Class Future

ILCA have announced that they have acquired royalty and legacy builder rights owned by Spencer family companies Global Sailing (GS) and class builder Performance Sailcraft Australia (PSA). This will give the class greater ownership and control over the design rights and building specifications of ILCAs as well as a greater share of the income from hull & equipment manufacture.

The two acquisitions from the Spencers are the design rights for the class which GS purchased from Bruce Kirby in the early 2000s and the royalty payment rights issued to PSA in 2019 to compensate them as one of the then two legacy builders for the agreement to, and effect of, the introduction of multiple new class builders. See Here for details of these royalty payments.

The ILCA web site post Here has more on this positive move by the class to secure its future.

2025 ILCA Open & Youth Championships NoR and Entries

The 2025 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships will be held at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly Queensland  between 1-8 January 2025.

The Notice of Race for this event is Here.

Entries prior to 30 November $450 can be placed Here.

The Regatta Competitor Page with links to race documents, entry, venue information and WhatsApp Chat Group for notifications of new information is Here.

Charters may be available from NB Sailsports and Performance Sailcraft Australia.

This event is the qualifying event for Australian sailors applying for entry to any 2025 ILCA World Open and Youth Championships.

Changes at Australian ILCA Builder PSA

Following on from the changes in ILCA boats & equipment supply with now nine approved licensed builders around the world  we are advised that PSA has reviewed its operations here and plans to move to a smaller factory where they will deploy new world standard moulds and hull/deck joining jig.

In the interim they are still building boats and supplying equipment from their Fountaindale NSW site but have reduced staff and staffing to three days per week.

PSA say they are looking forward to the future in their overhead reduced orm.

Zoe Thomson & Matt Wearn ILCA Olympics Selections

Zoe Thomson has been selected by Australian Sailing to represent in the ILCA 6 in Paris Olympics with sailing between 28 July and 8 August in Marseilles. Matt Wearn was announced as the Australian representative in the ILCA 7 in February.

Zoe’s selection followed her great 2nd place in the Princesa Sofia World Cup Series Regatta in Palma Mallorca. Mara Stransky was leading early on in the Mallorca event and finished 9th after a UFD and 34 in the final two fleet races. It must have been a tough decision for AS to make however great that we have such great strength in the ILCA Australian Sailing Teams.

In Olympics speak the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7s are the “equipment” for the events termed respectively Women & Men’s Dinghy.

The Australian Olympic sailing representatives  now total 12.

Australian Olympic Team manager “Chef de Mission” Anna Meares congratulated the athletes on their selection. ‘‘ Their passion, commitment and talent have got them to this point,’’ Meares said. ‘‘ I have no doubt they will make Australia proud.’’

 

2024 Oceania & Australian Masters RQYS

The 2024 O & A Masters was held at RQYS Manly Queensland 12-15 April.

Great Queensland weather and hospitality was enjoyed by all competitors.

Host district QILCA, RO Louise Davis and RQYS did a great job in organising and running the event in which 7 of the 8 scheduled races were completed.

Rob Sykes provided the following comments on the event.

An eclectic fleet of some 71 boats, including past Olympians, current plus past World Champions and cube holders was met by winds ranging from about 15kn on Friday to a glass out on Monday morning. As some people began to de rig on Monday, the wind came through at about 6kn resulting in us non-believers frantically re rigging to get on the water.

Thanks must go to the RO for the postponement during the first start sequence that allowed us get to the start in time. There were also short postponements on the third race of the middle two days to allow the 6’s to clear the lee gate before the 7’s started their last race of those days. These delays and the communication between the RO and sailors were most welcome.

The regatta management was outstanding, helped by the thoughtful start sequence of 7’s first, followed by 4’s and then the 6’s (who tended to be opponents of rule 30 and enjoyed “nudging” the pin boat at the gun).

I have to be a bit careful pointing the bone at the 6’s, as the winds during the regatta often brought marginal planing or surfing conditions when wave and gust met nicely, resulting in those with the biggest sails pushing the boundary of rule 42 in interesting and creative ways.

I suspect the 4’s were the best behaved of all the fleets. It was really nice to see them on the water and would like to welcome them to future events.

Overall, the racing was very tight with all positions swapped during any race. The regatta winners seemed to find a way to be in the front when it mattered most, while the rest of us gained and lost places with alarming regularity when the winning shift turned from hero to zero in the space of a few minutes.

The pressure on every mark was huge, with a small error on one side or other capable of losing or gaining 5 or 6 places. The finish was similar, with multiple boats finishing within fractions of a boat length of each other. Congratulations must go to the finish boat and volunteer crew who managed to record this mayhem.

Sunday evening brought the regatta dinner after the second day of 3 light weather races. The increasing laughter levels as the evening progressed bear testament to the camaraderie enjoyed by all.

The presentation was preceded by the mandatory sausage sizzle where the category winners and runner ups were presented cubes, ILCA equipment and wine donated by our sponsors, Sail27 and PSA. The important people who make up the bulk of the fleet were also acknowledged with randomly drawn skippers receiving a bottle of wine.

There are more individual perspectives on the event from sailors in the five age divisions and the three classes on the QILCA web site Here.

Full results are Here.

Videos  with thanks to Spikey Mikey (mike@rqtv.com.au) are Here.

Princesa Sofia World Cup Series Regatta Mallorca

Zoe Thompson finished second to Hungary’s Maria Erdi in the ILCA 6s in the just completed 53rd Princesa Sofia World Cup Series Regatta in Palma Mallorca. From the 116 ILCA 6 competitors including all the top sailors in the world Elyse Ainsworth was fourth and Mara Stransky after leading early in the event finished 9th – so three Australians competed in the medal race.

The 193 boat ILCA 7s event was won convincingly by UK sailor Micky Beckett. Matt Wearn was 5th and Ethan McAullay  7th in what was a high scoring series for everyone except Micky Beckett.

This regatta is huge with 1,100 sailors competing from 76 countries  in all Olympic classes.

There is more information on the ILCA fleets on the ILCA web site Here and full results for the event are Here.