UKLA Masters ILCA 7 Inland Championship 2023 at Grafham Water Sailing Club

ILCA 7 Masters Inlands at Grafham © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

ILCA 7 Masters Inlands at Grafham ©Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

35 ILCA 7s arrived at Grafham Sailing Club on Saturday 28th October for the Masters Inland Championship to be greeted with sunshine and 5 - 13 knots wind with more forecast for Sunday. The Southerly directly blowing directly off the shore meant for some shifty conditions, and plenty of opportunities to make big gains (or big losses) over the whole weekend.

Race 1 got under way with the shifts and gusts becoming more erratic as the fleet approached the windward mark underneath the shore. Those that had found themselves on the left had side towards the end of the beat were treated to a lift and more wind to take them to the windward mark. Craig Williamson, happy to be able to compete now that the age limit for ILCA Masters events has been reduced to 30 finished 1st, Alan Davies 2nd, Orlando Gledhill 3rd.

ILCA 7 Masters Inlands at Grafham - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Race 2: Very close racing with a lot of the fleet bunching together at the leeward gate, but it was Stuart Hudson who managed to pick the shifts out upwind to take the win, followed by Craig Williamson 2nd and Orlando Gledhill in 3rd.

Race 3: Those who managed to get a good start had clearer wind and more options to tack on the shifts were able to retain their positions, with Stuart Hudson in 1st, Peter Edel 2nd and Craig Williamson 3rd.

ILCA 7 Masters Inlands at Grafham - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The first days stand out performances were by Chris Ellyatt 4th in R3, David Gale 5th in R3 and Guy Noble 5th in R2. Neil Peters started the weekend with a cracking 4th only to be defeated ultimately by a back injury.

Fresh from and extra hour of sleep due to the clocks changing, the sailors arrived to more sunshine and slightly lighter wind than forecast.

ILCA 7 Masters Inlands at Grafham - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Race 4 Orlando Gledhill led for most of the race followed by Dick Soderberg. Behind them, a big group of boats jostled for position right up until the finish line, with Alan Davis getting the best of the pack to take 3rd.

Race 5 Stuart Hudson developed a healthy lead early on in the race which he held onto, Followed by Phil Bevan in 2nd and Joza Cic in 3rd.

ILCA 7 Masters Inlands at Grafham - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

It was all to play for in the final race of the day, and the forecast stronger wind finally kicked in for the last race, making some of the downwind legs quite lively. Orlando Gledhill won the race followed by Chris Ellyatt and Alan Davis.

Day two's high achievers were Simon Cavey, Andy Fox and Stephen James, who all managed to get at least one great result. The best- of-the-rest top dog was David Surkov who had a 6th,4th and 10th to move him up to 6th overall - it shows all that UKLA training really does pay off.

ILCA Masters Inlands at Grafham Prize Winners - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The one design appeal of the ILCA meant that there was plenty of close tactical racing over the weekend with most sailors scoreline showing a mixed bag of results. The race committee did a fantastic organising the racing. The different ILCA fleets racing on the same race area did not interfere with each other's racing once over the weekend and having the finish line separate to the starting line meant that the races were turned around quickly for the 3 ILCA rigs competing. The event sponsors kindly provided some fantastic prizes, with the winner taking away a brand new ILCA rudder.

UKLA

Looking back over the season we are again extremely grateful to all the volunteers that help make the ILCA Masters so successful. Most the sailors can enjoy the racing without helping but as time goes on it is only fair that at some point they too lend a hand to make these events happen. The Masters are still looking for a Masters Rep or reps (it's a job easily shared) please contact Ellie office@ilca.uk. if you think you can help in any way.

Overall Results: