Charlie — 3rd ILCA blog Saturday 26th June Today I used my radial, the winds were really light which made it another good opportunity to practice roll tacking. All the other laser sailors had full rigs on today (an even bigger sail than my radial). This meant that they were quicker than me and I was not able to keep up with them. As the winds were so light, I probably could have used a full rig today which would have meant that I would have been able to keep up with all the other lasers who had full rigs on. I do get a handicap, but it would be nice to race alongside them. A handicap is a scoring...

Euan — 3rd ILCA blog Tide times have always affected the sailing in Sidmouth, with our primary launching beach being a slim opening to the English Channel opposite Pennington Point, a very quickly receding cliff. The wave types here are called ‘destructive’, which means that have a stronger ‘swash’ than a ‘backwash’. This means more sediments and rocks pile up on the beach to create a steep slope, like the one seen at Sidmouth which can make the tide seem so sudden. What brings the tide into this is that, because of the steep beach, the tide changes height a lot without actually moving very...

Charlie — 2nd ILCA blog Wednesday 26th The tide was high when we launched so there was not much beach and we found it hard to fit all 12 boats on the small beach. Just as the race was starting, I was not in a very good position because I was on a port tack, which meant I did not have right of way so having to avoid another boat I missed the start line. I had to loop back meaning I lost time. If I had been on a starboard tack and had the right of way, I would not have missed the start line and I would not have had to make that extra turn. I learned from watching the America’s Cup that getting...

Euan — 2nd ILCA blog Recently, sailing at Sidmouth has been problematic due to the wind. A recent Saturday, Saturday 8th May, the weather level was ‘black’ meaning that it was too high for anyone to go out sailing. Here in Sidmouth, we operate a system to define the conditions out on the water. If there is little to no wind, then it’s a green. This means that it’s a great day for new sailors, helping them learn new techniques without being put in a pressing situation or for ‘bimbling’ while sailing. This means to adjust sail settings and the length of ropes between different pulleys to optimise...

Charlie — 1st ILCA blog Wednesday 21st April North Easterly light winds Flat sea, bright and sunny evening, great conditions for our first race. Seven Lasers on the water this evening, making for a good, competitive race. One laser capsized and turtled (when the mast of your boat ends up pointing directly downwards) unfortunately resulting in a bent mast. I had a good race and finished in 3rd place, which I was thrilled about. Saturday 24th April & Sunday 25th April Force 5, gusting 7 & force 4 gusting 6! Conditions were too windy this weekend so we could not go out as it was too choppy...

Euan — 1st ILCA blog 2 days ago, another sailor I were given an ICLA boat with a full Radial rig for a season by Chris at Ovington boats and in return I am to write a monthly blog about youth sailing. This was about 5 o'clock on Friday. This was such a huge opportunity for me, because previously I almost exclusively sailed Toppers and was rapidly growing out of them. The rigging of the boats was pretty complicated, with an adequate manual and adding the numbers to the sail was pretty hard, having never done it before. It came with eight blacks and three reds, but fortunately my sail number was...