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Manly Sailing Club Vice Commodore Harold Bennett says that when the club hosts the Auckland A Class Catamaran Championship this weekend, it will be something of a trial run for the Worlds, which the club will host in 2025.
He says it the first time Manly has hosted the Auckland championships for this class of vessel, and they are doing it partly so that they can explore course options and formats for the Worlds.
The Auckland event will draw around 15 catamarans to Manly – the Worlds could see 60-70.
The boats are divided into two divisions – classic (non-foiling) and Open, which is for the foiling catamarans.
Harold says around half the boats will be foiling, and the courses need to take the differences between foiling and non-foiling boats into consideration.
One option that will be tested at the Auckland Championship is running the classic division in the morning, when winds are generally lighter, and the foiling division in the afternoon.
On the second day of the Auckland champs, all the boats will be out on the same course at the same time, but the foilers will have marks further out to windward.
Harold says it will be interesting to have the A Class catamarans here, as they haven’t raced off Manly before.
“The boats are fairly impressive at around 18ft,” he says.
The Auckland A Class Catamaran Championship will be sailed off Manly Beach on November 18 and 19.
