After another day of solid Adelaide sea breeze, the 2024 ILCA Masters Worlds fleet heads into a well-earned rest day with all six scheduled races completed to this point.
It sets up an exciting final three days from Thursday onwards as some great battles in a number of divisions begin to take shape.
It also puts the finish line of a massive summer of ILCA sailing firmly in sight for the officials and volunteers of the Adelaide Sailing Club, who have been hard at work since the start of the year.
Adelaide Sailing Club Commodore Peter Royle said running the Australian and Oceania ILCA Championships, the ILCA 7 Men’s Worlds, and the ILCA Masters Worlds had been a huge undertaking but was something the club was incredibly proud of.
“It has been a few years work, we were approached to do a Nationals and then maybe a Worlds, which we sought some support from the (State) Government to complete,” he said.
“So one regatta turned into two, one at a very big level, and then we threw another Worlds behind with the Masters.
“I’m immensely proud of our club and the greater sailing community in South Australia, this has always been bigger than this club and we’re bringing in resources and people from other clubs, other walks of life, to come and help run this.”
One of the biggest fleets in this event is the Grand Masters fleet, which is made up of sailors aged 55 to 64 and has 45 ILCA 6s and 35 ILCA 7s competing.
ILCA 6 Grand Master Diane Sissingh, who has traveled to this event from the Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club, said Masters regattas were the perfect balance between on-water competitiveness and off-water enjoyment.
“I’ve been doing Masters regattas for a number of years since I was legally allowed to sail them in the hope that one day I might actually do well,” she laughed.
“But we get out to go and sail against like-minded people, you arrive here and no one really cares what you do for a living, how much money you’ve got, where you live, you just turn up and you can sail if you’ve got a boat – that’s what’s fun about it.”
Heading into the rest day, a number of exciting battles are taking shape across the divisions, while some others have seen clear leaders emerge.
In the Apprentice fleets, a three-way tie has emerged in the ILCA 6s with Argentina’s Franco Riquelme Antonetti, Germany’s Svenja Weger and Adil Khalid from the United Arab Emirates all locked on 10 points, while in the ILCA 7s it’s New Zealand’s Luke Deegan who has a clear lead with five wins and a discarded U-Flag Disqualification putting him well ahead.
In the Masters, Simon Small (AUS) and Jon Emmett (GBR) head into the rest day tied for first in the ILCA 6 fleet, with Small holding out Emmett on a countback, while in the ILCA 7s Brendan Casey (AUS) holds a slender one-point lead over Christoph Bottoni (AUS) in second.
In the Grand Masters fleets, Mark Tonner-Joyce (AUS) has earned a three-point lead in the ILCA 6 ahead of American Andrew Holdsworth, while in the ILCA 7s Brett Beyer (AUS) had another two race wins today to bolster an already dominant lead.
In the Great Grand Masters fleets, James Mitchells’ 5,1 scorecard for today in the ILCA 6 was enough to earn him the regatta lead ahead of Great Britain’s Terry Scutcher, while in the ILCA 7s Steve Gunther (AUS) holds onto a two-point lead ahead of Tim Law (GBR), who is closing the gap after two bullets today.
And in the ILCA 6 Legends fleet, American William Symes is halfway to a picket-fence finish with two more race wins today bringing his total scorecard to six wins from as many races.
Tomorrow’s rest day will see a number of sailors join the Adelaide Sailing Club organisers on an Adelaide Hills wine tour to Howards Vineyard, with six more races scheduled from Thursday to Saturday to close out the regatta.
For full results, and more information about the event, head to https://ilca2024adelaide.ilca-worlds.org/
Story author: Harry Fisher, Down Under Sail
Photo credit: Harry Fisher, Down Under Sail
Video credit: Jordan Roberts, Down Under Sail
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