Micky Beckett dealing with 25 knots and 2 metre waves on day 5

On the final day with just the double points medal race for the top 10 and a single finals race for the the other sailors scheduled any of the top three could take out the 2024 ILCA 7 Worlds in Adelaide.

As is turned out after attempts to run the finals race failed only the top 10 medals race was run so places 11 to 152 remained unchanged.

It was 25 plus knots for finals races 3 and 4 leading to Matt Wearn’s comment leading up to the medal race “I think in this sort of stuff where it’s getting up to 25-plus knots, you’ve just got to sail your own race, obviously you can keep an eye on the other guys but at the end of the day you’ve just got to execute and hike like hell”

Matt Wearn went into the medal race 8 points ahead of Norway’s Hermann Tomasgaard with Micky Beckett (GBR) a point further back. Matt lead for almost all of the medal race to take his second ILCA 7 World Championship. Hermann Tomasgaard retained his second place with a second in the medal race with Micky Beckett finished fifth keeping his third overall.

Full results for the event are Here.

Tracks of the medal race can be accessed HERE.

2023 ILCA 7 World and Olympic Champion Matt Wearn in Action in Adelaide

The ILCA 7 Men’s World Championships got underway on Friday 26 January at Adelaide Sailing Club.

The first day turned on a terrific 10-20 knot breeze for the 152 sailors from 52 countries including 28 Australians.

The race committee is expecting to run two races per day, giving a 10-race series with three fleets concluding on 30 January and followed by the 10-boat medal race on 31 January to close out the series.

The event web site is Here.

Event Results are Here.

Social Media Links

Adelaide Sailing Club Facebook
ILCA 7 Worlds Facebook
Adelaide Sailing Club Instagram
ILCA 2024 Events Instagram

Charlotte Rose (USA), Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) and  Emma Plasschaert (BEL) podium in Mar del Plata

The 2024 Women’s world championship from Yacht Club Argentino in Mar del Plata, Argentina concluded on 10 January with three Australians finishing in the top 20 in the 100 boat event. Elyse Ainsworth, WA was best of the Australians at 13th, Mara Stransky, QLD, 17th; Casey Imeneo, VIC, 19th followed by Zoe Thompson, WA, 30th & Sylvie Stannage, NSW, 64th.

Anne-Marie Rindom was the star of the show with four wins from 11 races needing only to sail in the final medal race to win. Fast improving American sailor Charlotte Rose was second and Belgian Emma Plasschaert third. The event web site is Here and full results are Here.

There were seven Olympic places awarded based on this event. See the Wiki Here for full information on qualification for all 2024 Olympic sailing events.

Mara Stransky had already qualified Australia for an Olympic place with a 10th in the 2023 Worlds in the Hague. We now eagerly await the announcement by Australian Sailing, which of the top Australian women will be our representative in the Paris Olympics in Marseilles 1-6 August 2024.

The Battens Winning ILCA Queensland Sailors on Presentation Night

The ILCA nationals are done for another year. The event attracted 257 sailors with 64 overseas entries in the ILCA 7’s due to the World championship being held at the same venue from 24th January. The ILCA 7 Worlds will see a field of 153 sailors from 53 countries including most of the best ILCA 7 sailors in the world.

Another highlight of the nationals was a record 69 ILCA 4 entries of which 32 were female. This reflects the success of ILCA Australia’s focus on the ILCA 4 as the ideal transition boat & our drive to keep more girls in the class.

the Battens trophy is awarded to the best performed state across all ILCA classes in the nationals. Victoria won the trophy in 2023 from long time holders Western Australia however this year Queensland sent a strong team especially in ILCA 4’s and managed to foil Victoria’s effort to retain the prize.

Six girls from Australia, & one each from New Zealand, Solomon Islands & Samoa participated in the 2024 ILCA Oceania Solidarity Program.

The girls Leisina Rasmussen (SAM), Renee Baragamu (SOL), Kate Ocean Rasmussen (NZL), Molli McIlwaine (QLD), Isabella Lozevski (NSW), Abby Young (VIC), Catherine Mansell (SA), Isla Molyneux (WA) along with coach Matilda O’Donoghue from Tasmania (standing on the right) posed for the photograph above on Day 1.

The girls all had a great time & learned heaps at their first major ILCA regatta. Four of the Solidarity girls from last year were in Adelaide & made friends with the 2024 group.

Thanks to Craig Sheers GM at PSA for his assistance in getting the boats setup for the event and to ILCA Victoria Chair John d’Helin who created and managed the program.

“It’s never like this here.”

I know this is a common saying at every event, but this held true at the 2024 Oceania & Australian ILCA Open & Youth Championships. With the four AST/ASS women away in Argentina to compete at the World Championships, becoming the National ILCA 6 Champion was up for grabs.

Up and coming RQYS sailors Frances Beebe (pictured above) has written a great sailors eye view of the ILCA 6 Championship in Adelaide which you can read Here.

Brooke Wilson giving her all in the close final race – Photo Jack Fletcher Down Under Sail

The Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships which started with light and difficult conditions finished up today with a bang at Adelaide Sailing Club. A cracking 18-22 knot southerly with a big steep swell meant it was a physical day on the water.

In the ILCA 6 class Brooke Wilson (NSW) led the regatta for the first few days before Frances Beebe (QLD) really threw down the challenge, leading going into the final race.

Brooke was able to take the final race win, with Frances right on her heals. This gave Brooke the championship win by a single point. Frances was first Under 21. Victorian under 19 sailor Patrick Cummin was third. Healy Ryan (NSW) was first under 17 in 4th place.

Tom Saunders NZL close second in ILCA 7 – Photo Jack Fletcher

It also went down to the wire in the ILCA 7 with Tom Saunders (NZ) leading by two points from Matt Wearn with the second drop and the final race to go.

In the final race Matt finished with 8th to Tom’s 18th resulting in Matt’s two point win. Germany’s Philipp Buhl scored three bullets but having to count an 11 and 13 saw him six points off in third. Michael Beckett (GBR) and Swifto Elliott (WA) completed the cube podium.

Aiden Simmons all the way winner in the ILCA 4 – Photo Jack Fletcher

Aidan Simmons (VIC) lead throughout the ILCA 4 series with consistent places in all conditions. Aiden scored five wins and no place worse than 3rd.  Jasper Stay (VIC) scored three wins but was a little less consistent finishing four points behind Aiden.

Chase Taylor (QLD) was third. He was one of the very successful Queensland ILCA 4 squad which posted five of the top ten ILCA 4 places.

The event was voted a great success despite some ordinary conditions causing lost races and no sailing on Day 5. Like the sailors the Adelaide Sailing Club volunteers, PRO Col Dods, the race committee and jury did a terrific job in the sometimes testing conditions.

Full results are linked below.

ILCA 7

ILCA 6

ILCA 4

The event web site in Here and there are interviews and more information on Facebook page Here.

The next Oceania & Australian Championships will be held at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly QLD 1-8 January 2025.