DutchSail team flies to victory in the 69F class

DutchSail – Janssen de Jong team won the first edition of the Liberty Bitcoin Youth Foiling Cup. In fact, the Youth America’s Cup was currently going to be held in New Zealand, but due to crown entry restrictions this event was canceled. Sailors from the foiling 69F set sail in Gaeta (Italy) for the Liberty Bitcoin Youth Foiling World Cup, a regatta internationally considered to be the replacement for the Youth America’s Cup.

At Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong, a total of nine talented Dutch sailors, aged 18-26, were involved in the project. Cas van Dongen, Scipio Houtman, Ismene Usman and Sarah Bos and trainer (and former Finnish sailor) Pieter Jan Postma have appeared in Gaeta. They were the first to qualify for the Liberty Youth Foiling Gold Cup final on Sunday March 7th afternoon. The qualifying round lasts for the other seven teams until March 9. Of the eight participating teams, six qualified for the final on Wednesday 10, Thursday 11 and Friday 12 March.

The big winner

On the first day of the final (four games), the Dutch team have already taken the lead and on Thursday 11 March they won all six games scheduled for that day. It thus strengthens its leading position in the Cup. With ten more races on the schedule for Friday, the last of which was for double points, the team was in excellent shape.

However, on the last day the wind failed and there were no more races. Still, it was no problem to crown a winner, as the leader, Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong, stood head and shoulders above the competition. The Italian Young Azzura and the Chinese RKYC Team Agiplast completed the podium. Click on here for the full list of race results.

1. DutchSail Team – Janssen de Jong – NED 65 points
2. Young Azzura – ITA – 47.5 points
3. Team RKYC Agiplast – HK – 42 points
4. Kingdom Team – EUR – 32.5 points
5. Southern Challenge – United States – 30 punten
6. A Swiss – SUI – 26 points

7. Youth Bravo Espana – ESP
8. Xela Racing – NOR

Bring out the best

Coach Postma explains: “We have seen in other professional campaigns in the past that good preparation can make a difference. You can see that here too the top three is made up of teams that have all had a long preparation. Investment, knowledge sharing and mutual trust have been the building blocks of this campaign. I think the difference is we really went deep. What are your motivations, what are your challenges and we have been working hard on this in recent months. As a result, we can play here under pressure. We grow up, the best fate in us.

Cover photo: © Marta Rovatti Studihrad / 69F Media