Bay Area ILCA Masters Raced the Worlds in Adelaide, Australia
The 2024 ILCA Masters World Championships were held from February 2-10 in Adelaide, Australia. It was a rip-roaring good time with a big fleet, big breeze, big waves and a strong contingent of San Francisco sailors making the trek from the West Coast of the USA to the South Coast of Australia.
2022 ILCA Masters champion Chris Boome reached out to some of the Bay Area competitors who made the trip. The Bay Area’s racers did a spectacular job while sharing the fun and camaraderie of the over 200 local and international competitors who attended the event.
Competitor Jon Andron wrote, “In my 50+ years of racing world-class events, this 10-day event was the most physically difficult I’ve ever completed. My mindset was simply to survive: Stay upright, avoid injury, and live to fight another day.” Andron finished fourth in the 19-member ILCA 6 Legends (75+ years young) fleet, which was won by the USA’s Bill Symes.
Top finisher among the San Francisco participants was Andrew Holdsworth, taking first by just two points in the 45-sailor-strong ILCA 6 Grand Masters (GM) group (55-64 years old). Andrew splits his training among San Francisco, Mexico, England, Turkey and Australia!
Andrew reported, “The regatta was a wild, windy week with premium on boat speed in wind/waves upwind and down, boat handling and avoiding silly mistakes and as much risk as possible. The first day was the only light medium day with some of the smaller sailors getting to the front. In the second race the wind dropped and went right causing me to drop from first to seventh, but more importantly my closest competition for the week, Mark Tonner-Joyce, scoring an 18th. This would come back to bite him later in the week.”
“The next day and for the rest of the week it was big breezes where the bigger sailors came to the front. Mark soon established himself as the fastest guy upwind and my job was then to fight for second place and keep the scores close all week and see what could happen at the end of the series. Unfortunately for Mark, he was judged with a Black Flag on race 11, which meant I went from 10 points in arrears to first place. After that it was a matter of staying out of trouble and finishing the series! The ILCA Masters Series is tough in that it allows only one drop in a 12-race series. In summary, there is very little margin for a bad score!”
Al Sargent: “All the leading boats were on top of their game, making very few mistakes. The fact that an Olympic medalist and America’s Cup winner finished eighth speaks to the depth of the fleet.”
Sargent added, “The conditions were very challenging — not just the wind strength, which we’re used to in San Francisco, but the massive waves and confused sea state. It was always a trade-off between pushing for speed and backing off so you didn’t capsize.”
Sargent, who trains out of the Alameda Community Sailing Center and the StFYC, finished fifth in the ILCA 6 GMs, earning his first coveted ILCA cube.
Chris Simenstad reported, “This was my first Worlds, but won’t be my last. The sea breeze built every day, so the second race for my start was always in 20+ knots. The waves were huge with irregular sets; once in a while a wave would roll through and catch me off guard.”
Chris survived the big conditions though breaking a tiller extension while recording a top finish of sixth in a fleet of 19 boats. He says he came home inspired with some training and fitness goals!
Other competitors from the Bay Area included Emilio Castelli, Walt Spevak, and Toshi Takayanagi.
Emilio commented, “It was fun; it was blowing but the water was warm and I didn’t die.”
The local fleet regularly races out of Alameda Community Sailing Center and other venues on the Bay. On occasion they take adventure sails like this one out to Point Bonita. If you’re looking for good competion in a fun fleet that has stuck together since the first ILCA (Laser) was launched in 1971, you should connect with the District 24 fleet here. From Alameda to Adelaide there’s some great racing and friendship to be had.
Our PNW Legend, Bill Symes, makes his presence felt as always!!
Congratulations to all the competitors! I just turned 79. I am still sailing small boats but could not endure 12 races in those conditions. My last international competition was in 2018 in Malta sailing Visions RS 15 with a crew. The winds varied from 5 to 15 knots from all directions, and we capsized three times. It would have been difficult for me to right the boat without an athletic crew.
Good on Chris Boome for getting these lovely gents to get out there and compete ! I think it is fabulous !
Just keep sailing !