Noble Marine ILCA 7 Masters UK National Championships 2024 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

After both big winds and light airs tested the ILCA UK Masters fleets at HISC two new Masters National Champions were crowned.

Of the one hundred and one entries 54 ILCA 7s constituted a healthy turn out for the Masters Nationals at Hayling Island. The forecast over 3 days proved to be pretty accurate, and diving temperatures had sailors searching their car boots for extra layers each day.

The forecast on day one was for 15 -25 knots Northerly (offshore) winds with stronger gusts possible - and so it proved as the race team held us ashore a while for the breeze to moderate, which it did - sort of. One race was planned, and we got away first time with a significant starboard bias to the line plus the current holding boats back. A shifty breeze was initially right of the course axis, making starboard the long tack, amplified by a left to right tidal flow. Those able to hold a lane on starboard off the line and continue left gained significantly as the wind eventually shifted left roughly halfway up the beat with increased pressure, stranding some that had tacked early onto port.

Noble Marine ILCA Masters UK Nationals at Hayling Island - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Orlando Gledhill dug deepest left to find a private lefty in pressure and open up a 100m lead, which he steadily increased throughout the race. Bruce Keen lead the chase followed initially by Stick Daring and Alan Davis. The downwinds were certainly lively in not especially large but very steep waves, and Stick demonstrated two very different yet equally entertaining ways to take a swim.

The top three finished Orlando, Bruce Keen and Alan Davis. There was some appetite at the top of fleet for a second race, but a majority of the fleet appeared most content to scorch back to the harbour and a hot shower.

Noble Marine ILCA Masters UK Nationals at Hayling Island - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Day 2 dawned colder still, yet with a steadily dying offshore breeze of 3- 7 knots. A long day on the water ensued and the race team worked tirelessly to get two races completed after a number of abandonments and course resets.

Other than ensuring a decent supply of snacks and fluids it proved essential to have installed a working sense of humour, as Hayling Bay served up some bewildering shifts and pressure changes. Cross tide upwinds further complicated the picture, especially for the inland sailors amongst us.

Alan Davis made sense of the conditions best of all, assisted by a slightly longer waterline than most to win race 2 from the evergreen Tim Law and Al Clark, visiting from Canada on his way to the Europeans in Portugal. Bruce Keen scored a sixth, which turned out to be his discard - more of which later.

Race 3 delivered an even more challenging scenario, with much shuffling of the fleet over the course of the race as the pressure switched on and off. The front of the fleet caught the ILCA 6 fleet on the final downwind, and the final short beat to the finish line resembled a Saturday morning IKEA carpark as too many boats competed for very limited space and pressure in a confused chop.

The unlucky Andy Le Grice fell fouler of this than most, dropping a mere ten places from fifteenth to fifth in the space of a few minutes. Nick Harrison meanwhile had played the tide best of all on the run to slip through the fleet into a lead and take the win from Paul Davies followed home by the light-wind legend that is Tony Woods, much happier in Queen Mary-esque conditions!

Noble Marine ILCA Masters UK Nationals at Hayling Island - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

And so to day 3 and a very marginal forecast for racing, certainly on the bay with a southerly breeze forecast to build all day - conditions 'outside' were clearly not sailable.

After some deliberation it was decided to run two windward-leeward races in Chichester Harbour. Many in the fleet understandably viewed the forecast and voted with their feet for an early wrap up and journey home, so just 21 sailors launched for some high energy 'sprints' up and down the course.

The turning tide was an obvious factor and this delivered a tricky wave pattern downwind, esp in race 2, yet those in front demonstrated an ability to both sail fast up and downwind, while also capitalising on the shifts available. For others it was more about survival and all that completed the races should be congratulated.

It was tight at the top, Orlando leading the fleet home in race 4 from Mark Lyttle and Bruce Keen.

Noble Marine ILCA Masters UK Nationals at Hayling Island - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

In the final race, a wily Nick Harrison nailed the perfect nerveless port tack flyer to lead from start to finish, followed again by Mark Lyttle - to close out a fine regatta yet again. In third place though was the ever-consistent Bruce Keen, to take the championship. Bruce was not well known to the wider ILCA fleet - yet sailing a borrowed boat on the back of just a couple of ILCA outings this year he demonstrated excellent boat speed combined with smart sailing.

Perhaps it's all just a bit easier than worrying about a trapeze and spinnaker when winning the Musto Skiff Worlds? He also appears to be a thoroughly likeable guy, which is, let's face it, really annoying.

Noble Marine ILCA Masters UK Nationals at Hayling Island - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Many thanks to Tim Hancock and all off and on shore race teams at HISC and our own ILCAUK team for all that they did to get the event away against some serious headwinds.

Once again our sponsors provided a fantastic range of great prizes for the sailing and super prizes for the Saturday evening prize draw. The star prize was a fabulous Wildwind sailing holiday - The lucky winner being Tim Crook.

Colston Nichols and David Binding won ILCA sails from Ovington. Mike Kinnear and David Hartgill won the engraved Tideway Multitools.

Sponsors were: Ovington Boats, Sailingfast, Rooster, Southeast Sailboats, Wildwind Holidays, Tideway Wealth.

More of Jon Emmett's interviews with various fleet members can be found on www.facebook.com/ILCAUK

Overall Results: