UKLA ILCA 6 National Championships at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy - Overall
by Molly Sacker 20 Aug 2021 19:54 BST
14-18 August 2021
UKLA UK National Championships prizewinners © UKLA
The final two days of the Nationals brought some super tight racing into the ILCA 6s, with only a few points separating the top four leading into the final day of championship racing. Sailing the bigger winds of the forecast, Day 4 and 5 reminded the sailors of the fun of hiking hard all week!
TUESDAY - DAY 4
A slightly earlier start to Day 4 brought another day of strong shifty winds to what can only be described as chaotic moments across the fleet but this did nothing to deter the continued domination by the top group with Daisy Collingridge, Ben Elvin, Jon Emmett and Sebastian Kempe all scoring exclusively top three scores for the day.
This kept their positions safe from the strong race winning attacks of Sam Dickinson and Alastair Brown in a very well sailed race 8 to complete qualification, perfectly demonstrating how to link the big pressure differences that bounced down from the NorthWest. Racing under the Nothe ensured that fast thinking and calculated decisions were crucial in formatting race decisions, if not then a painful viewing of the front of the 60 boat fleet was a possibility from a fair distance behind!
Closing qualification that evening, Daisy Collingridge continued her leadership of the fleet but had Ben Elvin only 2 points behind and arguably, had already used her discard with a cheeky UFD earlier in the week meaning it was very much all still to play for.
Tuesday evening brought and incredible Gala Dinner with special guest Ian Percy. The dinner was held to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Laser/ILCA and to raise money for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. With huge prizes and a great performance by Tim Hulse (MC) the group managed to raise over £10,000. To cap it all Sir Ben Ainslie sent the sailors a message of thanks via WhatsApp.
WEDNESDAY - DAY 5
11 - 15knts welcomed championship day for the ILCA 6s at a (gladly) delayed 10.25 first start and the competition reminded extremely tense at the top of the Gold fleet with Jon Emmett securing the first win, followed by Ben Elvin and Chloe Elvin in 2nd and 3rd respectively, adding pressure to Daisy's quest for the title. In a swinging shift range of almost 30 degrees, decision timing was everything and in a fleet where everyone was clued in to the conditions nothing could be taken for granted.
Meanwhile in the Silver Fleet, Niall Peelo comfortably won the day with a 1, 2 whilst with consistently top results, Rory Ferrier of Scotland took top spot in Silver Fleet from Adam Russ and John Russel in second and third.
Finishing the bid for the ILCA 6 National Champion Daisy Collingridge scored second whilst Jon Emmett came third and Ben Elvin used a discard in 19th after getting caught up in the mid fleet bunch, the scores were finally settled. Massive congratulations to British Sailing Team member Daisy Collingridge for her first national title, and to Jon (second) and Ben (third) for a great week of highly competitive elite sailing.
Everyone I've spoken to has had the same feeling of this week, the (long) days have been 100% worth it for the fun, intense and exciting racing experienced in the ILCA 6 National Championships!
The 100 strong force of volunteers helped make this happen but our class secretary has to be one of the most able, resilient and long suffering in the business. Thank You Ellie Ratusniak - without all your work we'd be running around like headless chickens.
Of course the sponsors provided the oil that made the wheels go round...
Sponsors
Sailingfast - Duncan brings his battle bus down from Scotland for most the big events, which is so
ridiculously well equipped, you could replace everything on your boat. Although based in Scotland they will
get anything to you super fast. He also supplied many of the prizes for the draw on Saturday evening.
SouthEast Sailboats - Max brings bespoke quality at affordable prices to the class. His passion for detail has
made his products a must have for anyone who wants quality. He also supplied many great prizes for the
event.
Ovington Boats - Chris Turner lives dinghies and has been a significance presence in the boat building
world for decades. OB are now the official UK builders of ILCAs. A very smart new Ovington ILCA Dinghy
was on display at the Masters event.
Vaikobi - a brand born on the waters of Sydney Harbour, out of a passion for all ocean sports. Across the
team, we paddle, Surfski, SUP, Wing Foil and Sail. Sailing has been a passion within the business right from
the start. The senior management team at Vaikobi comprise more than fifty years of marine industry and
sailing experience between them.
Noble Marine - Ian MacManus (the man behind the name) has crafted a very competitive and excellent
insurance product for all Laser/ILCA sailors. A very personal service and a extremely useful website help
make this the 'go to' company.
Fernhurst Books - Jeremy Atkins has put together an incredible list of the most useful dinghy racing books.
If you have books on racing you've probably got at least one Fernhurst book.
Full results
Overall National Championship:
Daisy Colligridge GBR 1st
Jon Emmett GBR 2nd
Ben Elvin GBR 3rd
Top 3 Females (Open):
Daisy Colligridge GBR 1st Female
Molly Sacker GBR 2nd Female
Chloe Elvin GBR 3rd Female
Top 3 Males (Open):
Jon Emmett GBR. 1st
Ben Elvin GBR 2nd
Sebastian Kempe BER 3rd
Silver Fleet:
Rory Ferrier - winner of the SouthEastsailboats prize