UKLA Open & National ILCA Championships 2023 at Hayling Island Sailing Club - Overall
by UKLA 29 Aug 09:15 PDT
20-25 August 2023
Day 5 Thursday - Ovington Boats Day
The wind gods were not generous. Although there were some signs we might get a race or two in it was not looking good. After rain, some very localised wind and lots of rumbling thunder it was decided to bin the days racing.
UKLA swung into action organising impromptu Q&As and talks. Mark Lyttle held a fascinating Q&A with several top sailors about life on the international circuit - this was attended by a big crowd asking lots of questions.
In the previous races starting in the strong tide was causing multiple black flags and recalls. Therefore we decided to gather as much video and drone footage of the starts as we could muster. As Tim Hancock (RO) had filmed all the starts on his iPad a we got to see just what all this looked like from the committee boat. His analysis was fascinating. Backed up by Ben Flower, Tatiana Hazelwood and Seb Kempe we looked at several examples of good and bad starts.
As the afternoon rolled on people gradually filled the club - why? Something to do with a free Ovington Boat fully rigged with Southeast Sailboats gear maybe? At 6pm we all assembled in the Sponsors Hub for the big event. The warm up prizes were drawn. John McFee from Ovington drew the winning number for the boat.... Of all the people... Max Hunt was the lucky winner. Of course on one could complain, Max apart from being a super chap was a competitor. A quick huddle and UKLA announced Max had donated all the rigging as a second prize and Ovington would put up a sail as a third prize. These were won by Tony Woods and Lucy Davis.
A great BBQ for all and DJ Covill providing the music rounded off a great day although no racing was completed.
Day 6 - The final Day - and summing up
ILCA7s - All 12 races were sailed over the 6 days (one day no racing). The final day saw an incredibly close finish between Sefan Elliott-Shircore and Seb Kempe (still U19) with Sefan just getting the top spot on count back. Not far behind was James Foster in third. With a slightly earlier start, racing was held in 10 - 13 knots WNW. There were some great performances during the day - Ed Baker came 2nd in R11, Gordon Cogan Sivarajan 3rd, Nick Harrison GGM 6th and Mark Lyttle GM was 8th in R12.
ILCA6s - Gold Fleet. Although only 10 races were completed it was all down to the last race. Ben Elvin had unfortunately had a shocker in race 8 with a 40th and a 14th in the final race so was out of contention. A 20th in race 7 for Chloe Elvin had ruled her out. So it was all down to the last race. Thomas Grit had to beat Jon Emmett by 5 places to take the title - it was not to be, only managing 3 places. It finished Jon Emmett 1st, Thomas Grit 2nd and Chloe Elvin 3rd. Stand out performances were Josh Lyttle with another 1st, Jamie Tyecote 3rd and Cameron Bignold-Knyles all in race 10.
Silver Fleet - Dylan Beatty took 1st, Lucy Davis 2nd and Rob Jackson 3rd. These silver fleet sailors will surely move up the fleet as time progress so keep an eye out for Issy Leech, James Russell, Megan Thomson, Millie Lewis, Honor Procter, Alex Canham and Harry Burge who made up the top 10 of the silver fleet.
ILCA4s - Leo Yates did just enough to clinch the top spot and take the overall Nationals Champion position. Archie Munro-Price took second and Jasper Nelson 3rd. Ciara Murphy was first female at 4th overall. Again lots of outstanding performances by Tom Hakes, Josie Kelly, Lily Browning and many others too numerous to mention here - But well done to all.
For a complete list of all the very worthy prize winners please check out the UKLA website.
UKLA would like to thank all those from HISC for all their incredible support and hard work over the last few months. At every point HISC have made things possible - this 'can do' attitude makes working with them a really joy.
The volunteers both on and off the water have provided the oil that makes the wheels go round. Without them you just don't have an event - Thank You one and all. The ROs, Tim Hancock and Paul Jackson and their teams have given us race organisation of an international standard and again we all thank you.
Finally to our dedicated, loyal and incredibly generous sponsors you made this event very special...cheers and thank you. PropVerse + Harken Sunday, Sailingfast Monday, Rooster Tuesday, Southeast sailboats + Noble Marine Wednesday, Ovington Boats Thursday and Fernhurst Books.
Results can be found at ilca.uk/ukla-results-2023