Noble Marine ILCAuk ILCA 6 Inland Championships at Grafham Water Sailing Club

ILCA 6 Men's race report by Tom Rawlings

The Autumn qualifier series hasn't had much luck with the weather this year. Only one day of racing in the last two events. The wind gods have not been playing ball. Unfortunately, this weekend at the Inlands in Grafham was no exception, with a forecast of no wind at the start of the week, the event was touch and go.

The 152 sailors arrived on Saturday morning with a 5 knots forecast - it was not looking good. Instead of delta, the fleet was went straight into AP. After a long wait, the delta flag was raised and everyone launched. The race committee did their best to get a race away, but unfortunately the wind dwindled into nothing and it was not possible to race.

Was this going to be another weekend with no racing? No.

The day was rescued from the 'completely hopeless' by a terrific prize draw that evening. Several fabulous prizes from Tideway Wealth, Ovington and Rooster were handed out to many happy recipients.

Noble Marine ILCAuk ILCA 6 Inlands at Grafham Water - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

Sunday started grey and dull... and early. However, there was movement on the water and wind in the trees. Not a lot, but certainly looked enough for racing. Everyone was feeling hopeful and excited. The Delta flag went up and we were off. There was no mucking about today. Race Management were going to make sure of that.

Race 1: Sailors went into sequence. All the usual pre-start rituals and battles took place, and we were off. Pressures changed and shifts shifted. Linking the pressures seemed to be the best way to tackle this. Archie Munro-Price and I battled overtaking each other. Archie came out on top securing 1st place, I (Tom Rawlings) came 2nd and Samson Cross 3rd.

Noble Marine ILCAuk ILCA 6 Inlands at Grafham Water - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

Race 2: The wind increased slightly. The pin end was looking the favoured end, and everyone knew it. The last 30 seconds was brutal and defending your space was challenging. Hugh Andrews won the pin. Lewis Bacon ducked the fleet coming out on top to get lifted. Staying in front for the rest of the race Lewis won the race with Hugh Andrews coming 2nd and Jon Emmett 3rd.

Race 3: It was shifty. Very shifty. You could have flipped a coin to decide which end you were going to start from. The wind was all over the place. I went with pin end. The pressure looked good. This was my first race win. A huge moment in my sailing career and dealing with the pressure of leading a fleet has been a personal battle that I have been working on. Toby Waggett came 2nd and Archie Munro-Price finished in 3rd.

Race 4: Freddie Maclaverty sailed an awesome race coming 1st. Nathan Russell finished in 2nd and Ben Anderson took 3rd.

Noble Marine ILCAuk ILCA 6 Inlands at Grafham Water - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

ILCA 6 Women's race report by Bronwen Thomas

This event was special as in the ILCA 6 class the girls racing was split from the boys. 19 girls (from a entry of 152) competed in there own fleet. This is a bit controversial but I believe it's a good thing every now and then, as it's a great welcoming opportunity to the girls moving up from an ILCA 4 and masters in the class.

Also the forecast was the talk as we weren't seeing much over 5-7knots on Saturday with Sunday looking much worse.

Noble Marine ILCAuk ILCA 6 Inlands at Grafham Water - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

We were all hopeful for some races on Saturday but that was not the case with a severe lack of wind, putting us on AP for a few hours. At the hint of breeze at 14.00 the fleets launched looking for races. Sadly, due to the unstable conditions the first start was AP'd, led by a lot of floating around before the race committee made the decision to cancel racing that day.

The day ended with a prize draw. Several fabulous prizes from Tideway Wealth, Ovington and Rooster were handed out to many happy recipients. Thank you sponsors.

Noble Marine ILCAuk ILCA 6 Inlands at Grafham Water - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

Sunday however had a turn around with some breeze meant to be earlier on, so the race committee brought forward the race times with the fleets launching at 9.15am.

These tricky conditions of about 3-7 knots were difficult to work with, the main focuses were shifts but also staying in the pressure, Aka keep moving!

Four races were completed giving Jessica Powell the win, followed by Bronwen Thomas and then Jessica Watson.

Noble Marine ILCAuk ILCA 6 Inlands at Grafham Water - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

Thank you Grafham Water Sailing Club for hosting the ILCA inlands. It's a great venue and we always feel very welcomed when we come here. A really big thanks to the race committee for their perseverance and to all the volunteers who made this event happen. Also a big thank you to the sponsors of the event, Ovington boats, Sailingfast, Rooster and Tideway Wealth for some great prizes.

Overall Results: