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Big ILCA Event Program at Adelaide Sailing Club

Beginning with our Oceania & Australian open and Youth Championships 1-8 January Adelaide Sailing Club ASC will be hosting three major championships across January and February 2024. The Oceania event will be followed by the ILCA 7 Men’s and ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 Masters World Championships. These will be the culmination of three years of work and planning by ASC working with ILCA International, Oceania, Australia and ILCA South Australia to deliver three international-level regattas.

 

All up there will be more than 600 boats competing which will be the largest sailing event in South Australia’s history.

 

The ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship will be an Olympic Qualifying event results which will offer seven Olympic places for Paris 2024 (sailed in Marseilles).

 

ASC Commodore Peter Royle said “We are estimating in the region of 18,000 people to pass through the club during the six-week period of the three events. Our visitor numbers to SA and expected times indicate a $16M boost to the local economy.” He explained “Each event will have opening and closing ceremonies which will be open to the public and ticketed. We also expect to have some spectator craft available for closer on-water viewing too.”

 

Web sites to watch to follow the events are.

 

Oceania & Australian Open & Youth 
ILCA 7 Men’s Worlds 
ILCA 7 & ILCA 6 World Masters

 

 

Australian Team Win Medals at Pacific Games

 

The podium in ILCA 6 at Pacific Games Sophia Morgan FIJ, Evie Saunders AUS and Vaimooia Ripley SAM

 

Evie Saunders won gold in the ILCA 6 at the Pacific Games held in Honiara, Solomon Islands in November. She and team mate Ellen Sampson also took gold in the teams event.

 

Evie entered the medal race with a slender lead over Fijian Olympic representative Sophia Morgan – knowing she needed to finish within one position of the Fijian to win gold which see did.

 

Isaac Schotte won bronze in the ILCA 7 men’s competition and he and fellow Australian team member Tom Farley also won team silver behind New Caledonia.

 

The very experienced ILCA 7 sailors Etienne Le Pen from New Caledonia and Eroni Leilua from Samoa were clearly the best sailors in the fleet and took gold and silver respectively. Etienne with team mate Vincent Trinquet won the ILCA 7 team gold for New Caledonia. New Caledonia also topped the medal tally from the 27 sports at the games. Pretty good for a country with less than 300,000 population.

Congratulations Hugh Leicester Olympic Official Appointment

Congratulations to Hugh Leicester who has been chosen by World Sailing among 59 from 33 nations Race Officials, Judges and Technical experts who will oversee the sailing events at the 2024 Paris Olympics staged in Marseilles between 28 July and 8 August. Hugh was the Laser RO for the 2021 Japan Olympics.

 

There were four Australians in the officials team. Australian Sailing President Alistair Murray AM said of them “On behalf of Australian Sailing I would like to congratulate David Brookes, Hugh Leicester, Rosemary Collins and David Tillet. Being appointed to an Olympic Games is the pinnacle achievement for international Race Officers, and to see so many Australians appointed for Paris is an extraordinary feat,”

 

Hugh Leicester eyeballing the line in a Black Flag start Race 9 in Tokyo Olympics

Sail Melbourne Wraps Up in Brighton

Brooke Wilson dealing with the testing conditions on Port Phillip – Photo by Beau Outteridge

 

Sail Melbourne wound up at Royal Brighton YC on Sunday with a day of sun and steady winds. This was appreciated after some character building conditions earlier in the series.

 

Matt Wearn continued his fine form to post a good win in the hot 32 boat ILCA 7 fleet. Matt won from Finn Alexanber who posted very consistent results and Ethan McAulay who scored two bullets in third. World Championship bronze medallist New Zealander George Gautrey also poste two wins and was close behind in 4th.

 

Matt Wearn was pleased with his performance and looking forward to the Oceania & Australian Championships and the ILCA 7 Worlds in Adelaide in January.

 

Matt said of the Brighton event “It’s been really good from a conditions point of view as this is the kind of stuff we expect in Adelaide,to get some hours in the legs hiking in big waves and big wind here has been good as it will help get us ready for that.”

 

Mara Stransky finished with six wins from eight races for a comfortable win in the 36 boat ILCA 6 fleet. Casey Imeneo appreciated the strong conditions on her home waters and posted consistent placings for second from WA’s Elyse Ainsworth. The top women sailors are preparing for the ILCA 6 World in Argentina from 5th January so will miss the big Oceania and Australian Championship event 1-8 January in Adelaide.

 

Mara said “We are having a little break now before heading over to Argentina to do some pre-training in the venue,”

 

RQYS sailors Chase Taylor and Caterina Myer dominated the ILCA 4 fleet with respective 1st and 2nd places in each race.

 

Full Results are Here.

Tom Slingsby World Sailor of the Year

 

Tom Slingsby has been named Rolex World Sailor of the Year for the third time, cementing his place as one of his sport’s all-time greats. This award comes after his induction into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame last month.

 

Tom has won a plethora of awards, including an Olympic gold medal, America’s Cup win, multiple world titles in the Laser and Moth classes, and line honours in the Middle Sea Race and the Sydney to Hobart Race. More recently he has proven a pretty deft hand on the wheel in the fast foiling Sail GP and Americas Cup boats which are tad faster than the Lasers he grew up with.

 

None of this fame or success comes easy to anyone. Tom’s desire to achieve at the highest level grew as a teenager when he watched the boats compete on Sydney Harbour during the 2000 Olympic Games.

 

In an interview with Rolex following his award Tom said “When I decided I wanted to be a professional sailor, there was not really a career path”

“Only the top 1 per cent of sailors were able to make a career, so I knew then I had to be one of the very best in the world. Every single day, whether it was 35 knots* and pouring rain, or freezing cold, I would say to myself ‘no one else is training today but I will because this is the dedication and passion it takes to reach the top.”

 

We know there are young sailors in our class who can take inspiration from Tom’s success and ideals and who may one day match or even exceed his achievements.

Display of National Letters Flags and Diamond

Sailors should ensure that their sail presented for measurement at the 2024 Oceania & Australian Open and Youth Championships or the 2024 World Masters Championships meets the class rules and NoRs with respect to National Letters and for female sailors a red diamond. For both of these events there is no requirement to have a national flag on the sail.
For the 2024 ILCA 7 World Championships paragraph 2.2 of the NoR  requires the national flag in addition. Requirements for the national flag are detailed in paragraph 4(h) of the Class Rules.
 

2024 Event National Letters National Flag Female Diamond
Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Yes No Yes
ILCA 6 Masters Yes No Yes
ILCA 7 Masters Yes No Yes
ILCA 7 Worlds Yes Yes N/A

Closing Dates for Big ILCA Events

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.

District Membership Reminder

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.

2024 ILCA Oceania Solidarity Sailors Announced

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.
 

Oceania District Name Club
Samoa Leisina Rasmussen Apia Yacht Club
Soloman Is. Renee Baragamu Soloman Is. Sailing Association
New Zealand Kate Ocean Rasmussen Maraetai Sailing Club
Queensland Molli McIlwaine Noosa Yacht Club
New South Wales Isabella Lozevski Hunters Hill Sailing Club
Victoria Abby Young Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron
Tasmania TBA TBA
South Australia TBA TBA
Western Australia Isla Molyneux Royal Freshwater Bay YC

 

2023 Solidarity Program Sailors with Australian Sailing Squad at Georges River

 

Mara Stransky & Matt Wearn – Sailors of the Year

 

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”.

World Championships Entry Ranking & Allocation

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.
 

Seven Australians in the top 30 in Under 21 Worlds Morocco

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.

Volunteer Extraordinaire

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