ILCA Super GP at Carsington Sailing Club

Carsington Water ILCA Open © David Tinch

Carsington Water ILCA Open © Matt Minton

So what is a Super GP? Two days of sailing, one been coached, one putting it into practice! Supported by the class association, the UKLA.

On Saturday 13 ILCA sailors arrived, to be joined two crack coaches, Tim Hulse and Ali Goodwin. The theme for the day was to learn boat setup by feel and not the textbook. The weather put on perfect conditions for this, with 10knots and 25knots with everything between many many times over. So perfect for practice practice practice at what we had learnt in the training room.

Was there a downside? Well only maybe that the wind was so changeable that you could never quite hit perfection well enough for the coaching teams liking!

Finally, I would like to confirm that no Wingsurfers were harmed in the making of the feedback videos..., more on this later.

So onto Sunday, the entry roster was a little dampened by the forecast. Revision 3 of windguru had finally settled on 20knots gusting 30. For some DIY weather, for others terrifying and for a final group "chance to stretch the legs".

Race 1 - Alistair Coates in his ILCA 6 spotted significant pin bias won the pin and proceeded to sod off into the distance with Ali Goodwin (who had decided to try to re-remember his way around the inside of his ILCA 7. Rather than just coaching from outside of one). 1 - 0 to the 6's on the water.

Race 2 - The lead two again ran away, this time the extra speed of the 7 downwind paid off, although the 6 was quick enough back up to hold on for the handicap win. Simon Hardiman sailed without mistakes to come 3rd.

Race 3 - By this time the remaining 4 rig Elsa was moving up though the fleet, and Richard Mason was putting the training into practice with the boatspeed to keep him hounding those in the lead group. Otherwise the fog of fatigue has eliminated all memory of what happened...

Race 4 - Alistair Coates decided on the most ambitious port flyer ever off the pin, on a line that was at best flat, perhaps starboard biased and spent the rest of the race in chase mode. I finally managed to not fluff a tack / fall in pointlessly and made it tight at the first windward mark. Ultimately Ali Goodwin sailed off for his first race win (both on the water and after we found the "do the handicap sums in sailwave" button).

Alistair Coates won with 3 bullets, Ali Goodwin fortunately managed to beat all who had done the training, so credibility was left intact. The First youth 6 was Emelia, and the first 4 was Elsa.

Carsington sailing club have recently started offering Wingsurfing including taster sessions for groups of three and as a top prize a voucher for a heavily discounted session for the winner and two friends. The winner was drawn from a hat of all the prize winners. Hopefully the session will be a tad less breezy than race day!

If you would like to know more about the Wingsurfing offerings, please call the club or take a look here: Carsington Sailing Club: Come and try out Wingsurfing All involved would like to say a huge thank you to:

• The UKLA for supporting the event by arranging and funding the coaches along with adding to the prize pool.
• The race team, who didn't relent to the mental pressure to shorten the schedule or race lengths in the face of fatiguing sailors. Who chased marks that were blowing around the race relentlessly and who as a result put on a professional event, both enjoyable and great preparation for the summers bigger events!

Overall Results: