One to watch

Sixteen-year-old Angus Beale has a big sailing summer ahead. The Essex-based teen has moved quickly up the rankings since starting in the ILCA4 (previously Laser 4.7) Class in autumn 2020, reaching ninth after the spring qualifiers just two years later and travelling to Portugal in July 2022 to compete in his first ever World Championships. Starting off well with a couple of top 30 results, he ended up in the bronze fleet for the finals and managed third place in his final races – a disappointing result but a fantastic experience nevertheless.

The UK Nationals gave Angus his first ever big event wins, and he finished in sixth place overall. He then competed in the RYA Regional Champs and UKLA regional Champs –winning both events – and the Inlands where he picked up a bronze medal.

National squad and regional winter training was followed by the Autumn Qualifiers 2022 and Spring Qualifiers 2023 – after these events Angus was ranked third in the country.

This is his last year in the ILCA4: after August’s Nationals Angus moves up to the ILCA (Radial) Class – the last stepping stone to a full rig, which is the men’s Olympic class.

He’s already competed in one ILCA6 ranking event – Angus held 10th place after the first day but a bad second day meant he dropped down to 25th out of 57 competitors overall for the weekend. More recently he’s travelled to Cadiz in Spain to compete in the European Championships – where he managed a few top15 results despite sustaining an injury during launching – and then over summer he goes to Volos, Greece to compete in the ILC4 Worlds, with his first big event appearance in the Nationals at Hayling Island in August.

With ambitions to make into the British Sailing Team, Angus hopes to get into the Youth Squad and stay with the ILCA6 rig until he can move into the full rig ILCA7 Class.