2025 ILCA Thailand National Championships at Royal Varuna Yacht Club

2025 ILCA Thailand National Championships © Saksiri Subying

On the final day of racing at the 2025 ILCA Thailand National Championships, Italian Olympian Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini snatched ILCA 7 gold, with Australians Zac Littlewood and Ethan McAullay taking silver and bronze. Singaporean Olympian Ryan Lo, the clear fleet leader at the start of the day, admitted afterwards that he was "overeager" to beat his friends, getting disqualified in the final race of the regatta for being over the line at the start. Great Britain's Olympian Elliot Hanson matched Lo with four first place finishes and a disqualification, but ended up 7th overall.

For the international contigent at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Pattaya, Thailand, the national championship was a friendly training session with athletes of all ages from Chinese Taipei, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, and Thailand. Sponsored by ILCA manufacturer Element 6, the Thai Nationals saw 98 sailors spread evenly between the three ILCA classes, 32 each in the ILCA 7 and ILCA 6, and 35 in the ILCA 4, completing nine races in the ILCA 7 and eight for the rest of the fleet.

For the Thais, the event in late January offered an opportunity for younger athletes to train with top talent and aim for podium place finishes, the country's own Olympians and ILCA 4 World Champion 2023 unable to participate due to commitments abroad.

New ILCA 7 Thai National Champion Lucas Collins said, "We had a great three days of sailing. The first and second day were relatively light, and the last day of sailing was really shifty and quite gusty. The competition was really, really strong. We had sailors from many countries, including multiple Olympians which made the standard of the fleet really interesting."

In the ILCA 6 and ILCA 4 classes, Thai sailors took most medals, with Malaysia's Nur Alia Amera Binti Mohamad Latif winning silver in the ILCA 6 and Muhammad Adam Aierell Bin Mohd Azizol Amirul finishing fifth in the ILCA 4.

ILCA 6 Thai National Champion Marion Grace Montgomery said, "The competition was very, very good. The wind was classic Varuna. One thing that I really got to work on at this regatta was handling being the leader of the fleet every day which was something very new to me but the regatta was very fun."

2025 ILCA Thailand National Championships - photo © Saksiri Subying

Darwin Hsu, ILCA 4 National Champion, added, "The venue is probably the best in the world. I love it here. We had great wind, a nice current as well, and varying conditions."

Among the internationals participating, Italy's Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini said, "I really loved the event. [We had] difficult conditions, a lot of variable conditions, a lot of current, and I thought the race committee did a great job having fair racing in quite challenging conditions. I love the vibe, everyone's so nice and supportive, and it was amazing weather. I'd really love to come back again, especially at this time of year, in January. I don't think there's anywhere better so definitely gonna keep it in the bank for the future."

Singapore's Ryan Lo said "I enjoyed the great conditions here at the Varuna. We had a really nice range of conditions starting off with light winds building to a bit more breeze, so it was really a great time to be here and I will definitely come back here for more sailing."

Australia's Zac Littlewood concurred. "Obviously it's going to be a great competition with those blokes here but, with E6 here, we had a great time on the water and we'll be back," he said.

Ethan McAullay elaborated, "We had a great range of conditions all week. I think we had everything from light wind to different breeze directions as well, and big chop. I'll come back and train hopefully sometime in the near future."

The Royal Varuna Yacht Club, which hosted the ILCA Master World Championships in 2023, welcomes sailors to return for regattas as well as regular training. Among returning Masters was Great Britain's Max Hunt, who said, "This is my fourth time here at the Royal Varuna. The event this time has been fantastic. We've had great weather and I'll be back next year."

2025 ILCA Thailand National Championships - photo © Saksiri Subying

Jarrod Toh of Singapore admitted it was his sixth time to compete at the club. "I've been coming here since my Optimist days," said the ILCA 7 sailor. "The conditions this time were pretty interesting. The first two days was really light winds, below 10 knots, and I managed to clock in a good race when the wind picked up to about 12 knots. I hope the next time I'm here I'll perform better."

First timer German Max Moldovan heard about the club from a coach who grew up at the Varuna. "I enjoyed it a lot," he said. "Coming here in winter time in Europe, to a nice place, a great venue, with awesome weather, and nice competition on the water for three days full of racing and sailing. For sure, I will come back next year."

For those seeking to escape winter, the Royal Varuna Yacht Club offers three month memberships at very reasonable prices. Visitors are also welcome to check if their home clubs have reciprocal membership with the Pattaya-based venue.

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