Predictwind A-Cat Worlds: Defending Champion gives sailing masterclass - Day 4
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 14 Nov 10:51 UTC
Jakub Surowiec (POL) - Day 4 - 2025 Predictwind A-Class World Championships - November 14, 2025 - Milford NZ © Gordon Upton /
www.guppypix.com
Defending world champion Jakub Surowiec (POL) scored a hat-trick, winning three straight races, as offshore winds blasted at over 25kts to test the A-Class catamaran fleet, in the 2025 Predictwind sponsored world championship.
Sailing off Milford beach on Auckland's North Shore, Surowiec gave a master-class in heavy-air sailing. Most admitted after the day's racing that they were sailing to survive, as the foiling A-Class catamarans tried to take to the air upwind and nosedive downwind.
Three consecutive wins were enough to lift Surowiec from third place and a 6-point overnight deficit to a 2-point overall lead. Competitors were able to discard their worst race score today, after the completion of six races. That enabled the two-time world champion to drop from 6th place in the opening race and lift him ahead of the overnight points leader, Ravi Parent (USA).
"It started probably upper teens to low 20kts," said Parent after the torrid day. "We had a couple of fronts, or little squalls come through, and it got to low mid-20s. We saw a couple of gusts up into the 30s. So it was a pretty full-on day."
Round the World Race sailor, Carolijn Brouwer (NED) fresh from competing in The Ocean Race Europe last month said: "it was brutal out there today. Really brutal. I don't think I've sailed one of these boats in this much breeze, and especially not in that sea state. It was probably the sea state that was the worst," she added.
She compared the sailing today in a single-handed 18ft foiling catamaran with the fully crewed (five sailors) who crew the 60ft IMOCA foiling monohulls.
"Sailing in the IMOCAs in The Ocean Race was brutal, too. But it's pretty similar in a way, because on the IMOCA, you are trying to tame the beast, and that's what it felt like today as well. The boats want to take off all the time, and you're trying to tame them to keep some sort of control," she explained.
Adam Beattie (AUS) moved through into third overall, despite feeling that he was not particularly competitive upwind. "I wasn't the quickest upwind. I made most of my ground downwind today. I couldn't keep the boat in the water, so it didn't feel fast, and I felt like I just sailed conventionally upwind half the time while a lot of the other guys were semi foiling."
The top gate at the end of the windward leg was a challenge for most, as they tried to accelerate the foiling catamaran through the so-called "death zone" without nosediving.
"You've just got to grit your teeth and foil away to go around that top mark. Just commit," explained Darren Bundock (AUS), who was second on the overnight leaderboard, but is now fourth overall, thanks to a capsize and broken tiller extension in the last race of the day.
"I think going into the last two races, everyone started to back off a little bit and take it easy and just survive to get around the top. But I had a rush of blood at one stage there, and just sent it and came off second best!"
"I do like the wind, but not like that," said Adam Beattie. "That's a bit more survival mode."
"Going around the top mark - you had to pick your time and hope - just bear away hope for the best," he added.
"You have to sight your bear way angle, and especially if you're not trapezing, you're going to end up lower than you would if you were in normal downwind mode in lighter winds," was how Ravi Parent described his death-zone technique.
"You go past that point, and then you make that fast turn with a little bit of speed so you can get through that power zone - and hope!"
"Sometimes you get lucky and have a bit of a lull and just do the normal bear way. But other times it was pretty breezy, and it was about putting the boat down, being safe, and just trying to get around without capsizing. It's all over the place," he added.
"Today I was foiling upwind with as little board rake as I could have. The platform gets a lot of air lift. Essentially, we're just fighting drag the whole way.
"Upwind, we're taking out a lot of lift on a day like today, and trying to keep the boat in the water. And then, downwind, we add a ton of lift to get the boat free again. There's so much pressure on the bow from all the wind."
There was some reprieve for the Open fleet competitors, with the final race being shortened, as Carolijn Brouwer explained.
"I went to the finish boat after the second race, and said to them: "It's okay, if you make the race a little bit shorter, nobody will mind."
"They shortened the third race at the second top mark. At that point, we're halfway home, because otherwise we have to do a downwind and a very long upwind leg to complete the race."
"I think they sort of listened, and I'm very grateful."
She says that physical and sailing fitness play a big part in sailing the A-Class in the big breeze - just as it does in IMOCA.
"That's clearly visible on a day like today, and you just get punished very, very hard.
"I think I'm quite fit, but I'm not fit for what the boat asks for today."
In the Classic fleet, the Polish Armada had another good day with Jacak Noetzel adding to his perfect pointscore - eight wins from eight races, and dropping a win in the first race as his discard score.
He only had a one-word comment after the race: "exhausted".
Australia's Jamie Jochheim is second overall on 16pts, with Andrew Landenberger (AUS) on 20pts. Mike Drummond (NZL) is 4th overall in the 29-boat fleet.
Fresh NW winds and light rain are forecast for Saturday.
For overall results www.aclassworlds.com/results
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