UKLA Noble Marine & Sailingfast ILCA 4 Inland Championships 2023 at Draycote Water Sailing Club

The ILCA Inland National Championship 2023 was held at Draycote Sailing Club with 132 taking part - 38 sailors in the ILCA4 fleet.

On Saturday the fleet launched into a shifty breeze with 18 knots and large downpours. As the fleet began warming up and the rain developed the sailors worked out that staying in the pressure bands and looking down the race course for the gusts was going to be key to their strategies.

Race 1 started promptly due to a strong race committee doing their best with the shifts. Ben Anderson took the early lead with Ralph Surguy and Jessica Powell hot on his heels but a confusion between many sailors not knowing how many laps to do saw Will Hakes dominate race 1 with Jessica Powell in second and Bronwen Thomas in third.

Over half the fleet ended up with a NSC result.

UKLA ILCA 4 Inland Championships at Draycote Water - photo © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk

Race 2 started cleanly and again Ben Anderson took the early lead from the right handside with Seb Lyttle challenging him for the win and Bronwen Thomas again taking 3rd in the race. William Moss with local knowledge sailed well and took 4th, Gethin Kelly sailed a solid race and took 5th place.

Race 3 saw light winds begin and all the sailors let their controls off as the wind dropped to 8 knots. Toby Waggett sailed a good upwind and led around the windward mark closely followed by Ben Anderson and a top three appearance on her first ILCA 4, event Olivia Coady. The wind grew lighter and on the second beat Will Hakes took the lead and won the race with Tristan Harding making a top three appearance and taking 2nd over Toby Waggett.

Going into Sunday Jess Powell led over Will Hakes. At launch there was a lighter wind than expected and a clean start by the ILCA 4s. Toby Waggett took the lead around the windward mark, followed by Bronwen Thomas and Ralph Surguy. Jess Powell made a great decision on the second beat and took the lead, followed by Ralph Surguy and then Toby Waggett. Fred Buckley, again new to the ILCA 4 fleet this year, came fourth.

UKLA ILCA 4 Inland Championships at Draycote Water - photo © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk

Race 5 started and the lead boats headed out to the right hand side due to it paying on race 4 which was unexpected. A few boats headed out left but no left lift came and saw those boats round the mark in mid fleet. Ben Anderson led the boats to the right and won the race with Seb Lyttle taking second after a strong race and the Moss brothers Will and Finley fighting for third and fourth.

The last race of the event began and another clean start on the final race saw Will Hakes lead out left, many boats went out to the right due to the previous races but Tom Yates and Will Hakes dominated from the left and Ralph Surguy sailed strongly on the right. A good few battles downwind formed but Will won the final race of the day.

The overall results saw Jess Powell take victory on home waters, Will Hakes second and Ralph Surguy third.

UKLA ILCA 4 Inland Championships at Draycote Water - photo © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk

Event winner Jess Powell says, "I'm really pleased to win the ILCA 4 Inlands. It was a tough event with the 4 fleet being so competitive at the moment. The key was to be consistent across all of the races and that was made tricky by the shifty winds."

A big thanks on behalf of the ILCA4 sailors to the race committee, volunteers and Draycote Water Sailing Club.

We would also like to thank our very generous sponsors who provided such great prizes for this event: Ovington Boats, Rooster, Sailingfast, Noble Marine, and Fernhurst Books.

ILCA 4 Results:

UKLA ILCA 4 Inland Championships at Draycote Water - photo © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk