Thomas Semmens victorious at the ILCA 4 Nationals
by Paignton Sailing Club 2 Sep 2025 14:51 BST
ILCA 4 Nationals Podium at Plas Heli © James Harle
Paignton Sailing Club and Brixham Yacht Club sailor Thomas Semmens has just returned victorious from the ILCA 4 National Championship at Pwllheli, North Wales.
Tom, aged 15, from Churston Ferrers Grammar School was sailing in the ILCA 4 class, which is the largest and most competitive youth single handed sailing dinghy fleet in the world. Following on from competing for GBR in the World Championship in Los Angeles, last month where he finished 62nd out of 140 sailors, the top UK sailors arrived in North Wales expecting light winds for the week, and so it proved.
Day 1 saw 2 races in light winds of 4-7 kts and Tom came home 1st in both races only to learn he was disqualified from the first race for jump starting under a 'black flag' meaning anyone starting early was to be disqualified.
Day 2 saw no wind early in the day, but in the afternoon it was back to sailing and still light winds and another 2 races, which Tom again won. Now with each sailor able to discard their worst race, Tom's disqualified was removed from the score card giving Tom the overall lead.
Day 3 promised even less wind and the race Committee decided to save torturing the fleet waiting on the beach for wind -cancelling sailing for the day early. Tom and a couple of other sailors and family decided being that close to Mount Snowdon it would be rude to not climb it given the unexpected opportunity.
Day 4 - much the same again. After a long postponement ashore the race Committee frustratedly made the call to cancel racing for the second day.
Day 5 saw more wind Swiss sailor Leo Gosling show his class to win the first 2 races to reduce Tom's lead. However for the final race of the day with Leo Tom's nearest rival it was his turn to get an unwanted disqualification and Tom steadied himself to consolidate with his lead still in tact.
So, moving onto the last day, a long and nervous wait ensured waiting for wind. But when it arrived, boy it arrived with a pumping 15knots and waves. Tom had a healthy but not insurmountable lead. With time for only one more race in the championships and only needing to come 23rd on the last race to avoid disaster Tom sailed very conservatively and 6th place in the last race was enough.
On the final Prize giving Tom was crowned 2025 UK Under 16 National Champion, male national champion, open champion (class open to international sailors as well as UK) and UK ILCA 4 National Champion. Not a bad weeks work!
Massive thanks to local fish restaurants "Rockfish" for their generous support to Toms campaign, without Rockfish help Tom's success would not be possible.