Increasing ILCA class female participation in Australia

ILCA Solidarity Group at 2025 Nationals © Queensland ILCA Association

The Australian ILCA class has continued to show growth in participation by females in the ILCAs, Australia's most popular single handed dinghy class, at the Oceania and Australian Open and Youth Championships sailed in early January from the Royal Queensland Yacht Club. Half of the entrants were female skippers in the ILCA 4s, which with 92 entries had the largest fleet of the three ILCA classes, the rebranded Laser class.

The ILCA 4s are the smallest of the three ILCA rigs, and are predominantly sailed by juniors under 18 years of age. The ILCA 4 national championship was taken out by Breanne Wadley from Queensland who is not long out of junior ranks. The runner up and under 18 champion was Callum Simmons from Victoria, who was the 2023 Optimist class Australian Champion.

The ILCA 6s which had the second largest entry of 85 in the Australian Championships was dominated by Australia's top women ILCA sailors with eight of the top ten placings. The winner was Mara Stransky, who represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, followed closely by Zoe Thomson Australia's women's dinghy representative at the 2024 Olympics in France.

The single-handed ILCA, has continued to attract junior female sailors in Australia, as it has for many years around the world. Be they girls seeking to have weekend fun with girls and boys of a similar age in smaller sail boats or as a pathway to competitive sailing which at its pinnacle can include world championships and Olympics.

The Australian ILCA Class Association has since 2023 encouraged more girls in the Oceania region to sail in the world class ILCA event with a Solidarity team program. For the2025 ILCA Nationals eight girls aged between 13 and 16 years, one per Australian State plus New Zealand and Samoa, were selected and fully supported to participate in the event. They were provided with ILCA 4 boats, free entry to the championship and social events, together with professional coaching provided by Mel Watson and Libby Kirby with the support of Australian Sailing.

The Solidarity group members were enthusiastic about their participation in the program at the ILCA Nationals. "The girls don't really get seen at a State level when selecting teams, as the boys are generally much more competitive and appear to be stronger and faster" said Robyn Mary Tutty from Perth. "I usually sail on bigger waves but without currents, so the chance to sail on the water of Moreton Bay and on different courses with over 240 other boats, is invaluable to me"

I wouldn't have applied if my brother wasn't already here sailing. This has given me a chance to travel and compete when usually I would have stayed home in New Zealand" adds Lucy Luxford from Charteris Bay on New Zealand's South Island.

Evie Maguire from Southport in Queensland commented "The opportunity to participate in an international regatta gives us a new environment to sail with a much larger group of competitive sailors and improve our skills. They can be mean on the water but are really nice off the water" l

John D'Helin,Solidarity Program Director from ILCA Australia, has noticed the rapid increase of female sailors in the class, up from 20% nationally to approaching 50% in the popular ILCA 4s and ILCA 6s is in line with the rest of the world. He attributes the growth to the programs of State ILCA Associations and sailing clubs, and the national Solidarity program.

He has noticed some other welcome consequences: "Females seem to be strong natural networkers. We have seen previous cohorts of Solidarity girls continue to sail competitively, move up to larger ILCA boats and stay in touch regularly to form a unique support structure.

"An unexpected additional bonus is that the program has seen more mothers and female carers participate in a support capacity than ever before. They too love to be outdoors and to be by the water with their children.

"What has traditionally been a male-dominated sport is changing in our class of boat and hopefully we will see that trend continue across the board in sailing."

The next ILCA Oceania and Australian Open championships will be sailed from the Royal Yacht Club Tasmania 1-8 January 2026.

ILCA 4 girls in action at Australian 2025 Nationals - photo © Queensland ILCA Association