ILCA UK ILCA 6 National Open 5 at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy
by Jessica Powell 24 Oct 05:20 PDT
17-18 October 2026
ILCA UK National Open 5 at the WPNSA - Saturday racing © Lotte Johnson /
www.lottejohnson.com
Last weekend saw the ILCA fleet returning to Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy for the ILCA UK National Open 5, sponsored by Ovington Boats. With over 160 sailors entered, across the 3 rig sizes it was set to provide an amazing weekend of sailing.
The ILCA 6 fleet had 88 sailors entered which gave the race team a decision whether to flight the starts or not. The decision was made to keep the fleet together with no flighting which was an excellent choice as it provided the sailors with a very competitive start line. Following the recent warm conditions, just ahead of the event this changed dramatically with the forecast on Saturday to be a sunny 15-18 knots, blowing from the colder Northerly direction with the wind picking up a little on the Sunday to 18-23 knots.
Racing for the Saturday was planned to be in Weymouth Bay, which always makes the sailing conditions exciting. Race 1, after 2 general recalls resulting in 13 sailors being Black Flagged finally got under way with Ben Anderson taking the early lead off the line followed by the very experienced Jon Emmett. The left side of the course appeared to be side of choice with all of the leaders coming into the wind ward mark on port, led by Ollie Atkin, followed closely by Carys Attwell. Carys made the move on the 2nd beat moving ahead, followed closely by Toby Waggett. This would remain unchanged to the finish with Carys taking the race win, Toby 2nd and Thomas Semmens finishing an excellent 3rd.
Race 2 started and it was Jon Emmett, starting from next to the pin taking the early lead. Jon decided to tack back across the fleet, promoting Thomas Semmens into the lead. Arriving at the windward mark, the sailors arrived more evenly from both sides with Thomas leading from Jon 2nd and Toby Waggett 3rd. This battle would continue to the finish line with Jon showing his determination, taking the race win from Thomas 2nd and Toby 3rd.
Race 3 and Toby Waggett led off the line and as the fleet made their way up the first beat, there was a wind shift which meant the leaders had to over lay the windward mark. Toby arrived at Mark 1 in the lead and would retain this through to the finish.
With the 3 scheduled races being completed, the sailors were treated to warm pasta on their arrival back to shore, following by an excellent and informative post-race analysis talk using the Trac Trac system. Special thanks to Tim Hulse, Arthur Farley and Toby Waggett and our event Sponsor, Ovington boats for making this happen.
Onto the Sunday with slightly more breezy conditions, the race team, lead my Lisa Anderson made the decision for the racing to be in the harbour and with the direction of the wind, it was a short transit for the sailors leaving the shore to reach the start line. Following a general recall, race 4 was under way with a close battle between Toby and Ben Anderson, side by side down the first run, followed by Carys Attwell. Ben and Toby would battle it out closely up the 2nd beat, with Ben just nipping in on the windward mark to hold the lead to the finish from Toby in 2nd with Carys closing the gap on leaders towards the finish.
Race 5 and it was Carys who led from the front with Spirit Alderson in close pursuit from Toby and Stefan Williams. Carys took the win with Jon Emmett moving his way up the fleet to take 2nd place from Toby Waggett in 3rd.
The final race of the event would decide who was to take overall ILCA 6 honours. Ben Anderson got to the front with a storming first beat followed by Jessica Powell in 2nd and Spirit Alderson in 3rd. Ben continued to hold the lead to the finish with the chasing pack battling with each other. Toby moving up to 2nd place with Thomas Saunders in 3rd.
Overall Results: (top three)
Overall
1) Toby Waggett
2) Carys Attwell
3) Ben Anderson
Male
1) Toby Waggett
2) Ben Anderson
3) Jon Emmett
Female
1) Carys Attwell
2) Jessica Powell
3) Charlotte Webster
U19 Man - Ben Anderson
U17 Man - Toby Waggett
U21 Woman - Jessica Watson
U19 Woman - Isla Todd
U17 Woman - Jessica Powell
Male Master - Jon Emmett
Female Master - Christine Statham
Many thanks to our Class Sponsor (Ovington Boats), the Organisers, Race Team and Volunteers for a really excellent race weekend.
The next event is ILCA UK National Open 6, due to take place on 24th/25th October at WPNSA with an amazing entry of over 210 sailors!
Title Sponsor: Ovington Boats.
Class Sponsors: Sailingfast, Rooster, Noble Marine and Fernhurst Books.
We used TracTrac technology.