Thomas Cooper 2025 ILCA 4 Worlds
After the 2025 Australian ILCA Nationals, I qualified for the ILCA 4 World Championships in Los Angeles, USA. I knew this was an incredible opportunity, and with the backing of my family, club, and coaches, I set out on my 2025 sailing campaign.
As preparation, I raced at Queensland Youth Week. I didn’t do the pre-event training, but the regatta itself was a great tune-up. We had two heavy-wind days followed by two light-wind days, perfect variety for sharpening my starts and adapting to different conditions.
In the weeks leading up to Worlds, I focused on fitness and time on the water. Once in LA, I trained with Dan Slater and a group of Queenslanders – James, Wilbur, Ruby, and Liv. We had four good training days, including practice races. With a short start line, those races were pretty wild, with heaps of sailors over early, which made it tricky to really test proper starting strategies.
The 2025 ILCA 4 Worlds ran for six days, bookended by opening and closing ceremonies. Conditions were mixed with light to moderate winds with chop on the first and last two days, and heavy winds with waves in the middle. Starting well was everything. If you were stuck in dirty air at the back, it was tough to climb through the fleet. But with a good, aggressive start, you could stay in clear lanes and hold your place up front.
Getting to the 2025 ILCA 4 Worlds was the result of a lot of hard work, but it was worth it. Racing in such a competitive fleet pushed me to lift my game and gave me heaps of lessons to take home for training in WA. I finished 35th overall in gold fleet, with a highlight 5th place on the last day in finals – a real confidence booster to show that I could stay with the fast sailors and that my training had paid off.
Huge thanks to my family for their endless support, the WA ILCA crew and Association, my coaches and to the Ron Tough Yachting Foundation, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, and Fremantle Sailing Club for backing me on this journey.
Thomas Cooper