Predictwind A-Cat Worlds: Day 5 Preview - Damage control on a tricky day
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 14 Nov 16:10 PST
10-16 November 2025
Steve Brewin (AUS) - Day 4 - 2025 Predictwind A-Class World Championships - November 14, 2025 - Milford NZ © Gordon Upton /
www.guppypix.com
The Predictwind A-Class Catamaran World Championships will resume today, Saturday, off Milford Beach.
Yesterday's sunshine and fresh winds have given way to light winds, flat water and light persistent rain, making visibility difficult.
A sailing Meisterclass by Jakub Surowiec (POL) saw the 2023 and 2024 World Champion win three races on the trot, and surge up the leaderboard from fourth overall to take the lead by 2pts. The World title is set to be a shoot-out between the top four overall: Jakub Surowiec, Ravi parent (USA), Adam Beattie (AUS) and Darren Bundock (AUS). All have excellent credentials to lay claim to the title; however, today's conditions are a minefield, and success will be as much about damage control as sailing brilliance.
Racing today, when it does get underway, will be in similar locations to yesterday - on the course locations that has been used for three America's Cup defences. That will mean that if the drizzly conditions persist, the sailors will be sailing towards an obscured coastline, adding navigation to the multiple roles of helming, flight control, sail trimming and trapezing that are the lot of competitors in this challenging class.
As Olympic and Round the World Race sailor Carolijn Brouwer (NED) noted yesterday: "On the fully crewed boats, you do one job, and you've got all these other people doing their jobs. Whereas now, in this boat, feel like I had to do all the jobs for myself. It was hard."
From the webcams below the Classic fleet is racing off Murrays Bay, on Course A, to the north of Milford and sailing directly into a coastline of high cliffs, and some tricky coves to manipulate the wind pressure and direction. The Open fleet is back south on Course B off Milford Beach.
When the showers clear, the test will change to one of trying to spot wind-shifts in near-white out conditions created by flat water reflecting the grey skies overhead. The rains squalls passing through the area, with the potential for major changes in wind pressure and direction will make racing to day difficult for race officials, on both courses, as well as the sailors.
Yesterday, Poland's Jacek Noetzel extended his lead in the 29-strong Classic division, having won all eight races sailed to date. Behind him are two Australian sailors, Jamie Jocheim (AUS) and Andrew Landenberger, and barring missteps, those three look set to make up the podium.
With the assistance of Predictwind's live cam function, fans can follow the live racing via two video cameras located just above spreader height on two race management vessels on each of two courses deployed off Milford.
The Live Cameras can be accessed by opening the Predictwind app, by going to www.predictwind.com and going to Observations, and then selecting the Wind option. A map should appear showing the Rangitito Channel after your have moved to Auckland as a location. The two webcams can be seen out on the water north of Lake Pupuke, a waterfilled crater close to the race area. You will see two camera locations out to sea in the race area, if you set up two device, click on one of the two locations and you should get an image which will have a significant Auckland landmark in the background. One course will show in the watermarked headline as Course B. Race time and date is shown at the top right side of the screen - check you are in real time.
These are playing on Youtube, so you can scroll back to the beginning of racing.
Links to the locations are at the bottom of this story.
The official Race Tracker can be viewed at www.aclassworlds.com/tracking If you set this up on a third device you will be able to relates the tracker positions to the boats racing, shown as a graphic, to the Predictwind video.
If you want to see weather forecasts for the racing go to www.Predictwind.com in the usual was and set up a Location for Milford.
That will give you access to weather forecasts for the full week. The weather recorder we usually use is Northern Leading (away from the race course) as it is 11mtrs of the water and in clear unobstructed wind. The other recorders are usually land influenced to some degree, and that must be taken into account.
The Results can be viewed here aclassworlds.com/results
The official website for the series is here: www.aclassworlds.com
To make identification of competitors easier on the video the Entry Lists are here:
Open fleet (foilers) www.topyacht.com.au/entreg/sa_view_sers_ents.php?e=102.2.634&seid=2459
Classic fleet (non foilers) www.topyacht.com.au/entreg/sa_view_sers_ents.php?e=102.2.634&seid=2463
The schedule for racing and other events is here: www.aclassworlds.com/basic-01
For all other information including pre-regatta racing and media see the official site: www.aclassworlds.com
On the water Webcams (Saturday - Day 5)
Course A
Course B
Milford Reserve
Milford Cruising Club
We will update this page as more information comes to hand.