Sailing to Success: Our Journey to the 2025 Open Skiff World Championship, Japan
- hysaboard
- Sep 11
- 5 min read
For many years, Cy and Lucas have participated in HYSA regattas and clinics, and in the last two years they have also participated in national and international O'pen Skiff regattas. Continue reading to learn about their journey to the 2025 O'pen Skiff World Championship in Japan this past summer. We hope you become inspired to take the leap to sail in other regattas off-island as well.
By Lucas Doran
September 11, 2025
In July, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Japan to compete in the 2025 Open Skiff World Championships in Nishinomiya, Japan. This international event brought together 93 sailors from 10 countries. Representing the USA from Hawaii’s Kaneohe Yacht Club were myself and teammate Cy Gillette. The regatta spanned eight days, including three days of practice and five days of racing.
The night before racing began, the Open Skiff Class Association hosted a parade. All 10 nations were represented as we marched through the town of Nishinomiya, ending at the historic Nishinomiya-Jinja Shrine, where we received a traditional Japanese blessing and learned more about the unique culture. Afterwards, we enjoyed an evening filled with Lion Dances, Taiko drumming, and performances by local Japanese students. It was really cool.
For the regatta in my U17 division, I competed against 61 other sailors. Day one gave us the conditions I thrive in and had hoped for—15 to 18 knot. I came off the water that first day in 2nd place overall. The next four days, however, brought much lighter winds of 5–10 knots, which completely mixed up the standings. I was sitting in 3rd, 4th, and then back to 3rd going into the last day. I ended up finishing 7th overall, which I’m really proud of. Coming into the event, my goal was to finish in the top 20, so I definitely exceeded my own expectations. While I was a little disappointed on the final day, this regatta proved that I can race right up there with the best in the world.
Off the water, this event also gave us the chance to make new friendships from across the world. One highlight was the sailors’ dinner on the second-to-last night, where we had a great time playing traditional Japanese games and connecting with competitors from every country—a fun and unforgettable night.
My training for Japan Worlds started back in October 2024, pretty much right after I returned from competing at the 2024 Worlds in Italy. From October through May 2025, I was sailing 6–7 days a week. Over the summer, I ramped things up even more with double training sessions each day, and I also started training with Cy Gillette. We were coached by Cy’s dad, Isaac, who really helped us focus on boat speed and overall tactics. This made a huge difference, and I am so grateful to the Gillette family for coming to Oahu before Japan so Cy and I could train together.
Right before leaving for Japan, we had Hawaii’s 2025 US Sailing Junior Olympics—a two-day regatta where I earned gold competing in some challenging conditions off Waikiki. With strong 30-knot winds combined with ocean swells, that event gave me a big confidence boost heading into Worlds. By the time I boarded the plane to Japan a couple days later, I felt ready to compete.
I want to give a huge thanks to all the coaches in Hawaii who helped me prepare, especially Isaac and Jennifer Gillette and Jesse Andrews. I’m also incredibly grateful to my family, friends, and the entire KYC sailing community for supporting me—not just for this event, but throughout my sailing journey. Knowing people were watching the trackers and cheering me on not just from home in Hawaii but from all around the world, was so motivating. It really gave me the extra push I needed while I was competing. Mahalo!
By Cy Gillette
September 2025
I went to the Open Skiff Worlds 2025 in Nishinomiya, Japan, on July 18-25th representing Hawai‘i and the USA. It was such an awesome experience just being there, meeting sailors from all over the world, and racing in totally new conditions. It was also fun to watch my friend, Lucas Doran, who was sailing really strong and sitting in 3rd place until the last day when he slipped back to 7th overall.
And I, for my part, didn't do spectacularly well on results, but I was glad to keep going and continue improving. I was in 53rd place for the entire regatta except for the last day, when I climbed into 52nd place. In my division, there were 62 boats and around 90+ boats total.
Day 1 – The Windiest Day
The first day turned out to be the windiest of the entire regatta, roughly 10–12 knots with some pretty good gusts. The other three Americans on my team actually weren't able to race because they couldn't deal with the big winds, but Lucas and I were out there handling. Lucas having his best day. I didn't have excellent finishes, but just being out there and finishing the races was a win in my book. There was extremely big and steep chop.
Day 2 – Medium Breeze
The wind dropped a little, more in the 8–12 knots with puffs up to 15, but the racing was still good. It was tough chop, and getting away cleanly off the start line was tricky with such a big fleet. I did get more into the rhythm of things though and handled the conditions better than I did on Day 1.
Day 3 – Lighter Winds
By day three, the trend of the wind kept going down, roughly 6–8 knots. That made the racing harder in the sense of patience and boat speed. I had a few races where I was stuck in bad lanes and just couldn't break out of them.
Day 4 – Lighter Winds
The wind dropped again, by perhaps 5–7 knots, and it was very difficult to get the boat moving. Starts became even more important. I stayed very consistent in the rankings though, still ranked 53rd.
Day 5 – Final Day
On the last day the wind was light again, around 5–8 knots. It was my best day and I managed to get a 28th. I also beat Lucas in that race, which is not easy to do! In the other two races I was sailing in the mid fleet. I managed to gain a single spot overall and finished 52nd. Not an impressive increase, but it was a good end to the regatta.
Overall, it was a good experience. Sailing at Worlds in Japan was good to help me get better at big-fleet sailing, being out there for long regatta days and remaining focused, and pushing myself on different conditions. Even though I wasn't anywhere near the front, I felt good about my ending position. Thanks to my parents as coaches I sailed every race.
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