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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.
 

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.

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.