ILCA 7 Masters National Championship at Hayling Island Sailing Club

68 ILCA 7 sailors entered the UK Masters National Championships at Hayling Island Sailing Club, held from 30 June to 2 July 2023, joining some 60 ILCA 6s and ILCA 4s.

They were treated to the best racing that the English South Coast has to offer, in Hayling Bay, with six races in Westerly winds ranging from 12 to 25 knots, mainly in the 15 to 20 knot range. There were sizeable waves, slightly off-set to the left of the wind direction, lumpy chop. The wind was mainly wind against tide. The ILCA 7s sailed two-lap "outer loop" trapezoid courses.

ILCA Masters National Championships at HISC - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The first intended day of racing was lost to high winds and big seas breaking over the Chichester Bar on the way to the race course. The Race Team dutifully went out, on time, to sit in 25-28 knot winds and lumpy seas for several hours, looking for an opportunity to run racing, but wisely decided it was not to be and the fleet did not launch. This professionalism from the Race Team was the hallmark of the event throughout.

The next day, the wind had moderated to 15 to 20 knots from almost due West and the racing began promptly at 11 am, the Race Team having suggested they would consider running up to four races.

ILCA Masters National Championships at HISC - photo © Peter Hickson

Race 1 saw multiple Masters World Champion and Olympic coach, Brett Beyer (AUS), lead around the first mark and surf off down the waves on the first reach towards an inviting black mark set low of the rhumb line. In second place, Orlando Gledhill gratefully followed his line, doing his best to stay in touch. About two-thirds of the way down the reach Brett happened to look over his shoulder to enjoy the view and noticed that the rest of the fleet were heading to the intended bright yellow reaching mark, several hundred yards upwind of the black mark. Cue speedy sheeting in by Brett and then Orlando to a painful close reach up to the reaching mark as about 20 boats blasted over them.

That notable navigation error was the only detectable mistake Brett was to make over the weekend. Good to know that even World Champions and Olympic coaches are capable of such things.

ILCA Masters National Championships at HISC - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

1996 Olympian and UKLA Chair Mark Lyttle shared the race wins with Brett over the two days of racing, with Mark starting brightly to lead after the first race day with 1, 1, 2 to Brett's 5, 2, 1.

After such an exhausting days racing it wouldn't of be a surprise to see the dinning room at HISC empty but the Saturday evening dinner and prize draw was attended by almost all the sailors and their guests. The generosity of UKLAs sponsors was epitomised by Ovington Boats who supplied 2 Sails and 2 rudder blades for the prize draw but Wildwind Holidays provided the big moment with a draw for a free holiday at Vassiliki, an incredible sailing venue. The lucky winner was Marshal King - new to the Masters, Marshal is a seasoned sports boat sailor and is making rapid progress in the ILCA fleet. He has very generously donated his prize to Ellie Ratusniak (our amazing class secretary). It also provided an opportunity to thank Alison Stevens who has been Master rep for the last few years. She steps down after doing a great job organising the masters events and we all wish her well and hopefully stress free racing.

ILCA Masters National Championships at HISC - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Sunday saw Brett come storming back with three bullets, to win overall by four points from Mark. That performance included winning the much lighter (12 knots) and shiftier Race 4.

Brett's performance confirmed that flat is fast in an ILCA, as in any dinghy, that you need a 'low' (footing) mode upwind on the sea and that offwind, sailing down the waves is faster than trying to sail uphill. Easier to say than to execute consistently.

The minor race scores were more evenly spread, with five sailors scoring at least one third place: Orlando Gledhill (3rd overall), Nick Harrison (4th), Craig Williamson (6th), Alan Davis (7th) and Steve Gunther (AUS, 8th). Dan O'Connell (IRL, 5th), Thomas Mueller (GER, 9th) and Mike Matan (USA, 10th) rounded out the top 10. Nick Harrison and Steve Gunther are Great Grand Masters (65 years plus) and showed extraordinary ability and fitness to beat sailors up to 30 years younger in such conditions.

ILCA Masters National Championships at HISC - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

So much for the top end. The real story was further down the fleet, of ILCA Masters sailors digging deep and giving their all over six physically tough races over two days, coming ashore spent, but with big smiles and stories and memories of some amazing sailing to take away.

It takes a fit and determined person to race an ILCA in 15-20 knots in a lumpy sea over three races and up to five hours per day on the water. That is particularly the case for the inland sailors, who were well-represented, who may not see tide or proper waves from one Nationals to the next. (Their time will come—at the Inland UK Masters Nationals at Grafham 28-29 October.) There were capsizes throughout the fleet, sometimes multiple capsizes, but the sailors just righted their boats and carried on. The fleet more than rose to the challenge and were rewarded with awesome planing reaches and long surfing runs in big waves, against the tide. The Race Officer, Mark Woods, had predicted at the briefing that the best pure sailing would be the long downwinds back to the Club and he was proved right.

ILCA Masters National Championships at HISC - photo © Peter Hickson

The race and event management more than met Hayling Island Sailing Club's own very high standards by being excellent throughout, on and off the water. Happily, the possibility of a fourth race on the first day of racing did not materialise, a decision universally welcomed. When something is being done so well, it is hard to see what is difficult about it, until you experience a less well-drilled, well-resourced and experienced team elsewhere. Particularly notable was no less than 13 RIBs on the water, providing ample safety cover, although happily they were not much called on.

ILCA Masters National Championships at HISC - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Very many thanks are due from the ILCA Masters fleet to Mark Woods and his team and to HISC members who tolerated the inevitable disruption to their usual weekend activities on a prime summer weekend.

Last but certainly not least, the sponsors. This year we have an incredibly strong group all supporting the events throughout the year. At one of the most joyous prize-givings I can remember more than 30 individual prizes were given out - thank you:

• Wildwind Sailing Holidays
• Ovington Boats
• Rooster
• Sailingfast
• Southeast sailboats
• Fernhurst Books
• Noble Marine

Overall Results: