The 60 Australian Masters sailors competing in the just concluded World Masters in Pattaya, Thailand achieved some memorable results.

With 112 boats in the ILCA 6s and 86 in the ILCA 7s there was lots of good close racing over the two weeks of the two back to back series.

The conditions were mostly very good but but with periods of very light conditions. Strong tides confounded some sailors and resulted in a greater than usual (for a Masters) number of U and black flags. The organisation of the event by ILCA and the Royal Varuna Yacht Club was excellent.

In the ILCA 6 GGM 32 boat fleet Australians filled the first four places lead by Jeff Loosemore followed by Lyndall Patterson, Steve Gunther and Martin White. David Early was third in the 42 boat ILCA 6 GMs fleet.

In the ILCA 7s GMs Brett Beyer took out his 15th Laser/ILCA World Masters series winning 9 of the 12 races. Jan Scholten was second and Gavin Dagley 4th in the 38 boat fleet. Steve Gunther and Jeff Loosemore backed up to compete in the ILCA 7 GGMs with Steve finishing second and Jeff third to GBR’s Tim Law. Colin Dibb was 4th in the GGMs. Now sailing for Australia Gold Coast orthodontist Christoph Bottoni had a remarkably consistent series to finish second in the ILCA 7 Masters to the almost unbeatable Greek sailor Adonis Bougiouris who posted 10 wins from 12 starts.

The event web site with news, video and pictures is ILCA 6 Here & ILCA 7 Here. The results for ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 are as linked.

The next ILCA World Masters will be from Adelaide Sailing Club 2-10th February 2024 so hopefully we will be able to achieve similar success there.

Following the unanimous vote of its districts at the 2023 AGM and the approval of the regulator (NSW Fair Trading) the Australian Laser Class Association has a new name ILCA Australia and this new web site https://ilca.au from February 2023.

At the 2023 Oceania & Australian Championships six girls were selected from around Australia to participate in the ALCA Solidarity program. The details of the program are in an earlier post Here.

This is an account of her experience by Victorian participant Maddy English from Mornington Yacht Club.

Late last year I was selected to represent Victoria in the ILCA Youth Solidarity programme at the 2023 Australia and Oceania ILCA National Championships in Sydney. The Solidarity programme is a new initiative designed to encourage young girls into the world of competitive ILCA sailing. Together with five girls from around Australia we formed the Solidarity team.

Over the eight day regatta I was fortunate to be introduced to the ILCA Female Australian Sailing team and Olympic medallist Matt Wearn, who shared their experiences and offered encouragement and advice. The Solidarity team and I were coached on and off water by Daniel Costandi, who guided us with great skill, calm and a great sense of humour.

The weather conditions proved challenging for me, as I found myself sailing in 20+ knots on a few of the days, however this intense experience improved my confidence sailing in larger fleets. With 180 ILCAs launching from the beach with sails flapping, my adrenaline was pumping! By the final days, I was closer to the start line where I needed to be. I also learned how to better trim my sail; after several capsizes in choppy, blustery conditions, staying upright is a great incentive to focus my attention on setting my sail controls right!

I had some amazing experiences out on the water, met some wonderful people and made some great friends. Thankyou John d’Helin and ILCA Victoria for this fantastic opportunity. I’m looking forward to the ILCA 2024 Championships in Adelaide!