Champions crowned - But boy it was tight!

Final Results

Day 4 Photos from livesaildie.com

Prizegiving photos from livesaildie.com

On the "its never like this in Nelson" theme mentioned yesterday, the 104 boat ILCA fleet sailed out in a fresh Easterly, which one local was heard to say were conditions he had never raced in over 20 years! The course was set for the Easterly and the first race was 2 minutes from starting when, lo and behold, the "real" fresh Nelson sea breeze, virtually absent for the last 3 days, decided to push the Easterly out, and after the course was relaid all fleets enjoyed great racing in the fresh NW sea breeze with a nice chop, perfect conditions for the for the ultimate 2 races of the championships.

 

In the ILCA 7 it could not have been any closer. After 10 races Caleb Armit and Dylan Forsyth were tied on points and both counting identical results; 4 firsts, 3 seconds and 2 thirds, so the championship came down to who had beaten who in the last race. In the last race there was a big right hand shift on the first beat that saw most of the top sailors back in the pack at the first mark including Caleb and Dylan. It was Caleb who managed to recover the best to finish 2nd which, with Dylan back in 5th, proved sufficient to secure him the championship. Both deserve congratulations for pushing each other throughout the series and it certainly bodes well for continuing NZ's long legacy at world level in the class. George Pilkington wrapped up 3rd overall, and the U21 title, with a 2nd and 3rd on the day, while Zach Stibbe was highly a commendable 4th overall and second U21.

 

The battle for overall ILCA 7 master supremacy also came down to the last race. The shift that decided the overall championship also played out for the masters. GM Andrew Dellabarca picked the first beat perfectly led at the first mark and was never headed, winning the race to secure him 5th overall and the masters title by a single point from Nelson local, Apprentice Tim Pitcaithly. Leading Master Kris Decke was a few point back in 7th overall while leading GGM was David Giles in 19th overall.

 

The final result of the ILCA 6 open fleet was a contrast, with 2024 Olympian Greta Pilkington dominating the fleet with 4 firsts and 4 seconds to win by a convincing margin. There was however a very tight contest for the minor overall placings. Ex ILCA 6 mens world champion George Lane did enough to secure second overall by a single point from Greta's younger brother, and leading youth, Tom Pilkington, who in turn was just 2 points ahead of 4th placed Arran Begic. Arran was second in the youths ahead of Beau Utting and dual race winner Sam Clarke. Chloe Turner continued her great form with two top ten places on the final day to secure the top Youth girl title from Kate Rasmussen  and Rose Dickey. Miro Luxford was the unlucky sailor of the day, winning the first race but then falling foul of the dreaded OCS in the last race to drop him down the standings.

 

In the ILCA 6 masters it was another overall result that came down to the wire. In the end it was also decided on count back, in favour of defending champion Phil Wild (M). Both he and second overall Josh Edmonds (AM) won 4 races but Phils four seconds vs Josh's three was just enough to see Phil again secure the title. Leading GM, and winner of two races, was Hamiltons Werner Henning. He held out an ultra consistent Hamish Atkinson, who was 2nd GM and 4th overall, and GM Roger Winton, 5th overall and winner of a couple of races. Graeme Tee from Whakatane was the leading GGM in 7th overall while Sandra Williams from the host club, and contest organiser extraordinaire, led the women masters.

 

To round out the close contests the final result of the ILCA 4 was also extremely close. Brooke Mundy secured the title with two 2nd places on the final day, holding off a late run by Lucy Luxford, who found the conditions on the final day to her liking, winning both races, but in the end falling just a single point short of the title. Ellie Tapper, Madison Smith and Louis Yang had a great battle for the 3rd spot on the podium, with Ellie doing enough to secure it in the final races.

 

So thanks to Nelson Yacht Club for being a wonderful host club with a fantastic vibe around the boat park. We all got to enjoy a quality contest and interesting conditions, with all 10 races completed on schedule and deserving champions crowned in every category. We can all now look forward to next year contest in the Bay of Islands, January 14th to 18th 2026.

 

Nick Page 

Results

Photos - Suellen and livesaildie.com

More of the same - but its great!

We woke to 100% cloud cover and no wind, not a good sign for a sea breeze, but the cloud eventually burnt off and a light sea breeze again filled in, although the start of racing had to be delayed until 3pm. As in the past 2 days it was pretty light, patchy and shifty but all fleets completed 3 good quality races to keep the contest on track. The tide continued to be a factor, with a number of general recalls, black flag starts and unfortunately a few OCS's.

While it could have been dubbed "moving day"  it was more a consolidation day for many of the leaders in all the fleets.

In the ILCA 6, 2024 Olympic rep Greta Pilkington continued her dominance, winning the days first 2 races and establishing a strong 17 point lead over the rest of the fleet. In a near repeat of yesterday Sam Clark (Y) again won a race, but struggled in the first two races to drop to 6th overall. Beau Utting had a super impressive day with two thirds and a forth to move into 4th, tied on points with ex World Champ George Lane in 5th. The two leading Youths boys improved their overall standings, with Greta's brother Tom moving up to 2nd overall and Arran Begic to 3rd, after both posted solid results in all 3 races. Chloe Turner continued her very impressive run of results to remain leading Youth Girl in 8th overall and notably only one place behind the second open women sailor, UK visitor Coco Barrett.

In the ILCA 7 it was Dylan Forsyth's day, with two wins and a second to move him into a three point lead overall over Caleb Armit, who split two thirds with an OCS in the days second race. U21's George Pilkington and  Zach Stibbe continued their battle for U21 supremacy and remain 3rd and 4th overall, but George had by far the better of the day with a race win and two seconds to sit only 3 points behind Caleb and a solid 13 points ahead of Zach.  The battle for the overall Masters supremacy continued between top GM Andrew Dellabarca, local AM Tim Pitcaithly and Whangarei Kris Dekke (M), who still sit 5th, 6th and 7th overall, but Tim and Andrew swapped places, with Tim moving into 4th overall after a super consistent 5th placings in all 3 of todays races. 

In the ILCA 6 masters fleet GM Werner Hennig from Hamilton had a consistent but less spectacular day, dropping to 3rd overall, but just 3 points from the lead. Josh Edmonds (A) was however the one to impress today, winning two races to move into the overall lead by just two points from defending champion Phil Wild (M), who was second in all of todays 3 races. Roger Winton (GM) again scored a race win, in  todays last race, to move into 4th while Sandra Williams continues to lead the women division and Graham Tee the GGM's.

Local sailor Brooke Mundy was the standout sailor of the day, winning all 3 ILCA 4  races to take over the lead in the fleet from Lucy Luxford, who's two 2nd's and a third keep her within striking distance of Brooke. 

So yet another challenging day in Nelson ("its never like this in Nelson" according the the locals!), with three races completed in spite of the challenging weather conditions! Tomorrow's forecast is for something different, with a light to moderate Easterly forecast ,which is sure to throw up some new challenges. 2 races are scheduled to complete the championships, so we hope we can get them all through before the 3:30 start time cutoff .

Nick Page 
ILCA.nz

Results days 1 & 2

Day 2 Photos - Suellen livesaildie.com

The sea breeze challenges continue

 

A sea breeze was again the order of the day on another sunny, warm Nelson day. The NNW sea breeze was in when the 104 boat fleet arrived on course, but again it was pretty light, patchy and shifty for the first two races of the day. However unlike yesterday, when it the breeze faded out early, today it freshened and gave us a decent hiking breeze for the third race of the day. The tide was again a factor, with a number of general recalls and the black flag getting a workout.

 

The leader board in all divisions is taking shape with the contest now at the half way point of the scheduled races. Racing in all fleets was again tight, and the variability in the breeze saw positions changing often through the races.

 

In the ILCA 6, Olympic rep Greta Pilkington really stamped her authority on the contest, scoring 2 races wins and a second to lead the contest by 8 points, and it's worth noting that she has a 2nd place as her current discard! Sam Clark (Y) from Murrays Bay won the second race and now sits 5th overall. He is third in the youths behind Tom Pilkington, who is now 3rd overall and Arran Begic in 4th overall, both of whom had an OCS today which they were luckily able to discard after the 5th race. Open mens sailor George Lane was however the other standout in the fleet today, being super consistent with a third and two 4th to move through to second overall. Chloe Turner continues to be the leading Youth Girl in 8th overall and she has established a solid lead over 2nd place both girl Kate Rasmussen. Miro Luxford was also looking good today, moving up the leaderboard with two 2nd places,  but rather unfortunately he somewhat undid the good work with an OCS in race 2. 

In the ILCA 7 the results were again dominated by the open sailors Caleb Armit and Dylan Forsyth, with Dylan again taking out the first race of the day but Caleb victorious in both the second and third races to lead Dylan by 1 point overall. U21's George Pilkington and  Zach Stibbe both had solid results in all 3 races to sit 3rd and 4th overall.  Just behind them a great contest for the overall Masters supremacy is developing between top GM Andrew Dellabarca, local AM Tim Pitcaithly and Whangarei Kris Dekke (M), who sit 5th, 6th and 7th overall after the 5 races. David Giles continues to lead the GGM's in 15th overall.

 

In the ILCA 6 masters fleet GM Werner Henig from Hamilton is having a blinder, winning the fresher third race today after scoring two 2nd places in the days earlier races to lead overall from Josh Edmonds (A), while defending champion Phil Wild (M) is clearly finding things a bit tough, but has done enough to sit 3rd overall. Sandra Williams had a fantastic day to convincingly take the lead in the women division from Helen Spencer, while Graham Tee continues to lead the GGM's. The starts also proved a challenge in this fleet, with GM Roger Winton winning the second race but then picking up an OCS in the days last race. Its tough at the top!

The ILCA 4 fleet is having a great contest. Local sailor Brooke Mundy won two of todays races to close the gap on Lucy Luxford, who won one race today but did enough to continue to lead overall. It also continues to be a close battle for the rest of the fleet, with all sailors again recording a top 3 placing in at least one race, ending the day with Madison Smith now third overall ahead of Ellie Tapper and Louis Yang.

So another great but challenging day in Nelson, with a clear advantage to those able to avoid the tide trap and get good starts without incurring the dreaded OCS! Tomorrow's forecast is again similar, with light to moderate sea breezes again expected. Another 3 races are scheduled, so there will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to improve or solidify their positions ahead of Sundays concluding 2 races.

Nick Page 

Results Day 1

Day 1 photo's - thanks Suellen and livesailedie.com

A challenging sea breeze to open

A pretty much capacity field of 104 ILCA sailors lined up for first 2 races of the 2025 Scott Construction NZ ILCA Championships at Nelson Yacht Club today. After the regatta was officially opened by Nelson mayor Nick Smith, racing got underway in classic Nelson sunshine, with blues skies and a building sea breeze. Race 1 started after a bit of a delay for the sea breeze to properly establish and for the first race of the day all 3 fleets; 38 in the ILCA 7,  35 in the ILCA 6 and 31 the combined ILCA 6 Master and ILCA 4's, enjoyed an 7 to 10 knots sea breeze with a nice chop, although it was quite shifty and there were plenty of holes and tidal sets to trap the unwary. The breeze had faded a little by the start of the second race, and got really tricky as it continued to drop as the race went on. This, combined with with the significant tidal flow across the course area caused by big spring tides, made conditions for all fleets pretty testing. All 3 fleets however completed the planned 2 races and generally the favourites were to the fore in spite of the tricky conditions.

 

In the ILCA 7 race 1 was dominated by Dylan Forsyth and Caleb Armit, who distanced the fleet in a great battle throughout the race with Dylan eventually triumphing. George Pilkington, fresh from the Aussie Nationals, was third with the leading two masters, Tim Pitcaithly (A) and Andrew Dellabarca (GM) also in the top bunch in 4th and 6th respectively, split by Zach Stibbe in 5th. The top bunch was similar for the second race, but with Caleb getting the better of Dylan and George being one of a number of OCS recipients. It was again Tim and Andrew in the top bunch to finish the day as the leading AM and GM with Kris Deck the leading Master in 7th and David Giles the leading GGM in 13th.

 

In the ILCA 6 it was a bit of a Pilkington family reunion at the front of the fleet, with our 2024 Womens Olympic rep Greta second in both races just leading younger brother Tom (YB) by a point, with Arran Begic (YB) also having an outstanding day to be tied on points with Tom. Chloe Turner was another to have an excellent day, with a 5th and a 6th placing her 5th overall and leading the Youth girl. As with the ILCA 7's there were a bunch of OCS's in the second race which included ex ILCA 6 Mens world champ George Lane, who had been 3rd in race 1. Many others in the fleet found putting together two consistent results on the day tough and they will be looking to put together a more consistent day in tomorrows scheduled 3 races to climb up the standings.

 

The ILCA 6 Masters continued the story of OCS challenges and struggles for consistency. Race 1 winner, and defending champion, Phil Wild seemed to show the effects of the pressure of recently having taken over as ILCA.nz secretary, and did it tough in race 2 with an 11th, while Werner Henig, who was OCS in race 1, triumphed in race 2. Josh Edmonds (AM) from Tamaki rose above all the adversity to lead the ILCA 6 Masters fleet after day 1 with a 2nd and a 3rd. He sits a point ahead of Dunedins Dragos Blaga (M), who is making amends for missing last years event when he contract Covid just before the regatta, with GM Hamish Atkinson returning to the ILCA fleet and sitting 3rd overall. Hamiltons wonder GM Helen Spencer leads the women in 8th overall from local Nelson sailors Sandra Williams (GM), the power house behind organising the regatta. Graeme Tee from Whakatane is the leading GGM in 6th overall

 

In the ILCA 4 Lucy Luxford, showing the benefits of being fresh from the solidarity program at the Australian and Oceania champs in Brisbane, dominated to win both races. It is a close battle for the rest of the fleet, with all 4 sailors recording a top 3 placing in one race. Madisson Smith from Wanaka ended up second overall on the day on 6 points, one clear of Louis Yang and Brooke Mundy with Ellie Tapper is just one point adrift in 5th.

 

So a challenging day to open the championships. Tomorrow's forecast is similar, with light to moderate sea breezes. We have 3 races scheduled so PRO Geoff Pitcaithly will be hoping to get away on time and for a slightly more consistent breeze to fit in all the scheduled races.

 

Nick Page 

ILCA.nz
 

Schedule;

Mon 13 Jan	- YNZ AON Clinic (AON youth squad only)
Tues 14 Jan	- YNZ AON clinic (AON youth squad only) - ILCA.nz coaching with Dan Slater (open to all sailors) - Measuring in the afternoon
Wed 15 Jan	- Measuring - Registration - ILCA.nz coaching with Dan Slater (open to all sailors)
Thurs 16 Jan	- Final Registration - 10am Briefing - 2 races back-to-back
Fri 17 Jan	- 3 races back-to-back
Sat 18 Jan	- 3 races back-to-back
Sun 19 Jan	- 2 races back-to-back - Prize giving asap when results are available

John Bullot, one of our lead judges, points us to the regulations on advertising permitted on our Lasers at National and International competitions ...

- - - - -

The advertising that may be on a laser is controlled by the ISAF Regulation number 20, Advertising Code. 

 

This ISAF regulation can be found at   http://www.sailing.org/regulations

 

The laser class rules do not modify these ISAF regulations.  The same rules on advertising apply to any laser event be a national championship, a world championship or a club race.

 

You will note when reading this regulation that advertising is not very restrictive, however, there are some places (namely on a laser the from 25% of the sides of the hull) where no personal advertising is permitted and only the regatta organisers can place advertising.

 

Good Sailing

John Bullot