Closing dates are approaching for the big ILCA and ILCA Oceania & Australian events.

• The Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships 1-8 January normal entries Here close on 30 November. Entries may be accepted after this date however a late fee of $75 will be added to the entry price. The NoR for the event is linked on the event web site Here. Around 200 sailors are expected to compete.
• The ILCA 6 Women’s Worlds 3-10 January in Mar del Plata, Argentina .has a few places unfilled. Six Australian sailors are entered. Late entry Here is closing on 12 December.
• There are also a few places available in the ILCA 7 Men’s Worlds 24-31 January in Adelaide where a record 26 Australian are entered. The late entry closing date is 27 December. Application can be placed Here.
• The ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 World Masters 2-10 February in Adelaide has 134 Australians entered and 220 total. Late entry closing date is 27 December. Application can be placed Here.

 
Sail Melbourne & Sail Sydney
 

Australian Sailing’s Sail Melbourne event is on 30 November – 3 December at Royal Brighton YC. Links to results, notices and race documents are Here. 86 of the best Australian ILCA sailors and top ILCA 7s from New Zealand will be competing.
 

If too much sailing is never enough Sail Sydney for Olympic classes is on 9-15 December from Woollahra SC. This is the Oceania Olympic qualification event for Paris (Marseilles) 2024. Australia has already qualified for ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 Olympics based on results from the 2023 World Championships in the Hague, Netherlands.
 
There is an invited classes event immediately following the Olympic classes event 14-17 December. This event includes ILCA 6 and ILCA 4. Entry, documents and results for these events are linked Here.

A condition of entry For any ILCA district, national or world championship event is membership of an ILCA district.
 

Before competing in any of these events please check that you are a financial member of your ILCA District.
 

Our memberships generally run from the start of the season in September/October and you need to be financial at the date of the event.

There is an Advice to Coaches posted on 21 November which contains links to register coach boats for;

• 2024 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships
• 2024 ILCA 7 World Championships
• 2024 ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Masters World Championships

The document also contains information on South Australian power boat licence and safety equipment requirements.

ILCA Oceania has announced the sailors selected for the 2024 ILCA 4 Solidarity Program.
 

Following the successful running of this program in 2023 for girls from Australian Districts the 2024 program has been extended to ten ILCA 4 sailors.
 

• One from Solomon Islands
• One from Samoa
• One from New Zealand
• One from each Australian district excluding NT
 

The program will provide free entry for the event and functions, a supplied boat, merchandise and coach but more importantly entry to a team of like keen sailors for the 2024 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships in Adelaide.
 

Congratulations to the selected sailors.
 

2023 Solidarity Program Sailors with Australian Sailing Squad at Georges River

Matt Wearn and Mara Stransky were announced as winners of respective Australian Sailing sailor of the year awards at the gala presentation in Sydney in November.
 

After Matt was held back in 2022 with long COVID he stormed into 2023 with a third in the European Championship and then won both the Olympic Test Event in Marseilles and the World Championship in The Hague. At the awards Matt said “to bounce back as the best sailor in Australia is fantastic. I’m now just really looking forward to the next 12 months.”
 

Mara along with the very competitive Australian team competed in all the big events and she put together 18 podium places and finished strongly to get into the medal race in the World Championships and thus qualify Australia for ILCA 6 for 2024 Olympics Marseilles.
 

Zoe Thompson and Casey Imeneo were also nominated as women sailor of the year finalists alongside Mara. On the night Mara said of Zoe, Casey and Elise Ainsworth “I’m proud to be doing what I love with people I love spending time with. It’s why I am enjoying sailing as much as I am”.

ILCA World Championship places are set and allocated as follows.
 

• Entry limits are set by ILCA for all World Championships
• Entry places are allocated by ILCA based on the number of financial members in each country
• ILCA offers allocated places to sailors who apply in order of their ranking
• Ranking is carried our by each country
• For Australia ranking is based on places achieved in the preceding Australian Championships Open, Youth or Masters
• Any extra places up to the event entry limit are allocated to countries based on their membership linked entry target
• Like allocated places extra places are offered by ILCA in the order of sailor’s country ranking

 
There is an explainer with more detail on how the system works Here. It has links to the ILCA web site FAQ’s on entry and place allocation.
 

The Australian ranking is based on places achieved in the Australian Championship (Open & Youth or Masters) preceding the ranking submission date. This ranking date is set by ILCA and is usually four months before the event start date. The venues, dates and ranking events for the 2024 and 2025 Worlds are as follows.
 

The rotation of Australian Championships is as follows.
 

Photo by ILCA – Prow Media
 

180 sailors braved some tough North Atlantic Ocean conditions in Under 21 World Championships just concluded in Tangier Morocco.
 

In the ILCA 6 fleet, Eve McMahon from Ireland won the title from Anja von Allmen from Switzerland. Italian Carlotta Rizzardi was third. Our only female sailor, Frances Beebe sailed consistently finishing 25th in the 66 boat fleet.
 

The ILCA 7 fleet with 115 boats, was headed up by Great Britain’s Finley Dickinson from Oskar Madonich Ukraine and Caleb Armit from New Zealand. The Australian ILCA 7 squad did well with six sailors finishing in the top 30. The best Australian Stefan Elliot-Shircore was in the top three for most of the regatta, but dropped to sixth in the last two days.
 

The full results are Here and photos showing some of the challenging conditions experienced are Here.

A story and photo courtesy of sailing web site Live Sail Die.
 

Without volunteers, 99% of all the sailing we know and love just wouldn’t happen. They are the first to arrive and the last to leave, making sure marks are laid, start lines are in place, results are processed and so much more.

Ken Hurling OAM our ILCA Australia and Oceania chair has served as head coach of Moreton Bay College team sailing team for 23 years. With no connection to the school, Ken was asked by friend and neighbour Terry Buckley to give an assessment of the girls and their abilities while training at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in the Pacer class. And the rest they say, is history. 23 years later the school has purchased a new fleet of boats, dedicating one to their head coach, Ken.
 

The dedication took place at a blessing for the new fleet on the 6th of October, with Moreton Bay College principal Janet Stewart bringing a tear to almost every eye in the room when she said “Ken has been an integral part of our sailing community for over two decades. His dedication, passion, and unwavering support for our sailors have left an indelible mark on all of those with whom he coached…. and the staff and coordinators at the College.”
 

Newly named Pacer Ken Hurling with the man himself at RQYS

Bendigo Yacht Club in conjunction with the ILCA Victoria  is running the ILCA Vic Inland Championship 4-5 November on Lake Eppalock.
 

Entries Here are $110 per boat for the ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 and $90 for the ILCA 4.
 

The Notice of Race is Here. Sailing Instructions are Here.

A number of overseas coaches are looking to charter coach boats for the ILCA 7 Worlds. If you are bringing a coach or support boat to the Nationals, please consider leaving it in Adelaide and chartering to a coach for the Worlds. Adelaide Sailing Club will arrange truck transport to return and this can be included in the charter fee.
 

Please contact commodore@adelaidesailingclub.com.au or vice_commodore@adelaidesailingclub.com.au if you have any leads.

The first ILCA World Championships in Africa for a while got underway in Tangier Morocco on Sunday with the ILCA Under 21 Men’s and Women’s Worlds registration and equipment inspection. This will be followed by six days of racing two races per day starting on 17 October. 184 sailors from 38 countries are competing.
 
The photo above shows the talented Australian team with supporting coaches Tristan Brown and Ryan Palk. Pictured are Patrick Scally, Jack Eickmeyer, Frances Beebe, Julian Taylor, Lachie Weber, Isaac Schotte, Tom Holmes, Daniel Costandi, Lawson McAullay, Liam Cox. Photo absentees are Michael Compton and Stefan Elliott-Shirecore.
 
The event web site with all the information, media and results is Here.
 

Best of luck and good sailing to the team.
 

Stop Press – Great results in U21 Worlds with 6 Australians in the top 30.

Now that we have almost all moved to ILCA some of the web resources have changed and most will follow over time.

Mrs Google will find most ILCA web sites but if not below is a list of URLs for Australian ILCA Districts and ILCA International and World ILCA Regions.  

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Links to ILCA Districts & Regions

• ILCA Australia https://ilca.au/
 
• ILCA NSW & ACT https://laser.asn.au/
 
• ILCA Nationals https://www.auslasernationals.com.au/
 
• ILCA Oceania https://oceania.laserinternational.org/ hosted with ILCA International
 
• ILCA International https://www.laserinternational.org/
 
• ILCA Victoria https://www.laser2020.com/
 
• ILCA Queensland https://www.qldlasers.com/
 
• ILCA WA https://www.walaser.org/
 
• ILCA Tasmania https://www.revolutionise.com.au/tdla/
 
• ILCA SA https://www.salaser.com/
 
• Or get to any Australian ILCA District via ilca.au/vic, ilca.au/tas ilca.au/nswact etc.
 
• EurILCA https://eurilca.org/
 
• ILCA North America https://www.laser.org/
 
• ILCA Asia https://asia.laserinternational.org/
 
• ILCA Central & South America https://ilcasudamerica.org/
 
• ILCA Africa https://africa.laserinternational.org/

Applications for entry to 2024 ILCA 7 Mens (24-31 January) and 2024 ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 (2-10 February) World Masters Championships at Adelaide Sailing Club close at midnight USA Central Time on 26 September.

Event details and links to apply for entry are on the ILCA web site Events Page Here.

Information on ranking for sailors applying for entry to these events is on an earlier post on this web site Here. Ranking order will be posted on the ILCA web site on 27 September and entry offers will be made by ILCA in the order of ranking from 3 October.

There is more information on how the ILCA entry process and ranking work in the explainer Here.

Northstar Technologies Inc. is an Atlanta, USA based multinational enterprise cloud management software company specialising in sporting club management. in August 2022 they acquired WA based Top Yacht and now have added ClubOps to their stable.
 

ClubOps is the originator of Sailor App used by many Australian clubs and Aus Laser App used by most Australian ILCA districts. They say that they have 200 employees.
 

Both Top Yacht and Club Ops appear to be running business as usual so far. The Australian Laser App and Sailor App are still on the App Store are all working as they have been.
 

It is understood that Northstar are considering how best to integrate their new acquisitions into their extensive range of sporting club operations support software products.

2023 Solidarity Program ILCA 4 Sailors With AST Sailors

Applications are now open for the 2024 Solidarity Program for ILCA 4 female sailors for the 2024 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships.
 

Following the successful running of the Solidarity Program in 2023 for girls from Australian Districts ILCA Australia have launched the expanded 2024 program which will support ten ILCA 4 sailors.
 
• One from each Australian district excluding NT
• One from New Zealand
• Three from Oceania small islands
 

The program will provide free entry for the event and functions, a supplied boat, merchandise and coach but more importantly entry to a team of like keen sailors for the duration of the championships. You can see examples of the experience of sailors in the 2023 Solidarity Program in our post Here.
 

Online applications Here will close on 1 October 2023. Each Oceania District will select their sailor by 31 October and applicants will be advised of the selections on 1 November.
 

There is further information on the eligibility and selection for this program in the document Here.

The 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships are concluding with the ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 Medal Races today in The Hague, Netherlands. You can watch them live online Here 14:00 CEST and 15:00 CEST, (10.00pm and 11.00pm AEST) with expert commentary from Olympic champion Lijia Xu.
 

The ILCA 7 gold fleet started day 7 (races 9 and 10) with two false starts, including one with a black flag, before getting race 9 underway in light wind and current. The wind picked up for race 10, and the ILCA 7 fleet got off cleanly in an 11-14 knot breeze.
 

At the head of the ILCA 7s in race 9, Matt Wearn came in 25th while Britain’s Michael Beckett was second. In Race 10 Matt Wearn took over the series lead from Michael Beckett who had been on top all week. In race 10, Matt Wearn was close behind Michael Beckett mid-fleet until the last square run where he managed to catch him and execute an aggressive luff forcing Becket head to wind and into a tack. Michael Becket then finished 66th a place which he had to carry as he already had his drop a BFD in race 5. Matt could drop his 65th place leaving him with a 20-point lead, which guarantees him gold as long as he sails in the Medal Race and doesn’t get disqualified. Michael Beckett is actually in third place, one point behind New Zealand’s George Gautrey.  Gautrey has been climbing up the ranks all week despite a (dropped) BFD in race 9.
 

The Australian ILCA 7 team had great results overall Ethan McAullay was 17th, Luke Swifto Elliott 20th, Zac Littlewood 34th and Finn Alexander 35th in the 138 boat event.
 

On day 7 the ILCA 6 fleet had a lot of trouble with several false starts and black flags as the wind increased to strong and choppy. The tricky conditions and starts made the scores very unpredictable and changed the rankings.
 

Switzerland’s Maud Jayet moved into first place on the day, three points ahead of Tokyo Gold Medalist Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom and Hungary’s Maria Érdi who are tied for second. Rindom won the last race of the day, while Érdi had a bad 49th place in the first race. Only four points separate the top three, and Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands is also in the running for gold, nine points behind Jayet. The medal race will be thrilling.
 

The first Australian Mara Stransky is 10th so will be in the medal race and has qualified Australia for a start in the Paris Marseilles Olympics. Casey Imeneo had a great series with a win and a 3rd place mid series. She finished 16th in the 110 boat event. Elyse Ainsworth was 31st, Zoe Thompson 35th, Sylvie Stannage 50th and Evie Saunders 62nd. Full Results are on the Event Web Site Here 
 

There are descriptions of each day’s racing and photos on the ILCA web site Here.

Casey Imeneo Day 4 – Photo Suellen Hurling Live Sail Die