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Gaeta, Italy (March 3, 2021) – The first Grand Prix of the inaugural Liberty Bitcoin Youth Foiling Gold Cup got underway today for the eight teams competing in the Persico 69F class. After light winds postponed the start of the qualification round, each team completed three races in variable 7-9 knot winds.
The challenging conditions benefited the three teams with the most experience in the Persico 69F who now lead the rankings, although the USA team of Langston Goldenburg, Riley Gibbs, and Anna Weis, which are new to the boat, sit in fourth.
Qualifying continues to March 8 after which the top six teams advance to the Finals on March 10-12.
Day One Qualifying Results (3 races):
1. Team Dutch Sail – NED, 16 points
2. Team Agiplast – HKG, 15
3. Young Azzurra – ITA, 14
4. Southern Challenge – USA, 10
5. Kingdom Team- EUR, 9
6. Youth Bravo España – ESP, 8
7. One Switzerland – SUI, 6.5
8. Xela Racing – NOR, 5
Norwegian team Xela Racing faced a difficult start due to last year’s pandemic, but they quickly made up for the little training with big enthusiasm, fostered by Rune Jacobsen who’s creating a very positive environment.
Talking about the course, Alexander Ringstad - team manager and coach - says that it’ll be like with the moths, crucial to get max speed at the start. “I really like the course they have set up I think it’s a good course.”
images © Trond R. Teigen Photography
“In this championship it’s really important to be open minded. Everyone needs to communicate with each other, not just do things in their own way. You have to have respect for others. When you’re a helm or tactician and you call for a tack, you need to understand that things take time and each person has a role to play in the team’s success.”
They’ve been working hard on developing trust in each other. Things will take more time with three than with one. On a Persico69F you have to communicate what you are doing all the time and it’s specifically important with a team that has not sailed the boat before.
The Americas cup is being sailed on very similar boats. Do you think this is trickle down or trickle up?
“We have been watching the Americas cup a lot. But we have also seeking inspiration from the GC class. We’ve been getting good coaching on the GC on how to train, to be a team, to prepare for big days on the water and most importantly how to give equal value to each team member.”
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LIBERTY BITCOIN YOUTH FOILING GOLD CUP
New teams join the world’s only high performance foiling regatta for youth sailors.
8 international teams meet on the Italian coast to contest the first grand prix of the LIBERTY BITCOIN YOUTH FOILING GOLD CUP that starts in Gaeta, Italy.
February 26, 2021- It’s race time for the 24 young international sailors from 8 countries this week in Gaeta, Italy who will compete in the first round of the Youth Foiling Gold Cup in the new Persico 69F class.
While the world has been enthralled but the fast speeds and close racing in the Prada Cup, the Youth Foiling Gold Cup brings the high intensity of close foiling action to a new generation of high-performance sailors who will no doubt graduate to the full-size Cup in the future. Rune Jacobsen, team manager of Hong Kong’s team Agiplast confirms that the ambition for this circuit is to become the pinnacle event for youth sailing.
“Most of the sailors in the current America’s Cup did the Youth America’s Cup… To develop high-performance foiling sailors, the Youth Foiling Gold Cup is a perfect match”
The competing teams are:
1) Yacht Club Costa Smeralda – Young Azzurra – ITA
2) Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club – Team Agiplast – HK
3) Southern Challenge – Southern Yacht Club – USA
4) KNZRV Muiden & KRZV De Maas – Team Dutch Sail – NED
5) One Switzerland – Bordée de Tribord – SUI
6) Sanderfjord Seilforening – Xela Racing – NOR
7) Real Club Nautico de Palma – Youth Bravo España – SPA
8) Koninklijke Watersport Vereeniging Loosdrecht (KWVL)- Kingdom team- EUR
Sadly, other teams were close to joining the circuit but were held back by COVID related problems. These included strong entries from Aarhus Sailing Club, Hellerup Sailing Club, China Foiling Academy, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Yacht Club de France, and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
The start of the new round of competition naturally means that teams are getting to grips with the equipment, in this case the high-tech foiling Persico 69F designed by Wilson- Marquinez and built next to the Luna Rossa AC75s at Persico Marine and developed by the 69F team.
Some teams have more work to do than others however, as three teams- Team Young Azzura, Team Agiplast and Team DutchSail- have all racked up serious training time on the new foiling platforms while other teams flew for the first time just last week.
Pieter-Jan Postma, Dutch Olympic Sailor and Team DutchSail coach, says that they have approximately 70 days on the platform but while they “have more hours in the boat but the regatta is very long. Good sailors can learn the boat fast during the regatta”.
Even for one of the most experienced teams in the fleet, COVID has impacted their race preparation. “We’ve been mostly training on our own… there haven’t been many opportunities to do speed testing”.
While some teams will be focussing on the finer details of their race craft, American Langston Goldenburg and his crew, 2021 Olympic Nacra 17 team Riley Gibbs and Anna Weis, are just now getting to know their new steed. “We’ll have to extract as much value as possible from the training session. We have just 6 days to learn the boat and the local conditions in Gaeta”.
One advantage the new teams have is that the strict one-design class is managed by a professional shore crew and the 8 teams will cycle through the 6-pack of race yachts to ensure a level playing field.
Sharing equipment lowers costs for the teams and reduces the event’s environmental footprint because each team does not need its own boat in order to compete.
Langston Goldenburg certainly appreciates the opportunity that the shared boats create. “Having shared services allows small teams to compete against the big boys. The racing is tighter. When you can’t tune your own boat, you hop on the boat and go. You’re worrying about different things. All the small things go out the window, you just focus on making the boat go fast.”
The latest technology and fast young sailors leads to lots of speed, 34.9 knots of speed! Team DutchSail laid down the gauntlet with a new top speed for the class in training, but they are surrounded by sailors with world class credentials of their own who are more than ready to accept the challenge. The fleet contains sailors currently campaigning the Nacra 17, 49er FX and Finn in the Olympics as well as European champions in the WASZP and other foiling classes.
The key dates in the regatta are:
Training Days: 24 – 26 February
Warm Up Event: 27 February – 1 March
Qualification Series: 3 – 8 March
Finals: 10 – 12 March
www.69fsailing.com
The challenging conditions benefited the three teams with the most experience in the Persico 69F who now lead the rankings, although the USA team of Langston Goldenburg, Riley Gibbs, and Anna Weis, which are new to the boat, sit in fourth.
Qualifying continues to March 8 after which the top six teams advance to the Finals on March 10-12.
Day One Qualifying Results (3 races):
1. Team Dutch Sail – NED, 16 points
2. Team Agiplast – HKG, 15
3. Young Azzurra – ITA, 14
4. Southern Challenge – USA, 10
5. Kingdom Team- EUR, 9
6. Youth Bravo España – ESP, 8
7. One Switzerland – SUI, 6.5
8. Xela Racing – NOR, 5
Norwegian team Xela Racing faced a difficult start due to last year’s pandemic, but they quickly made up for the little training with big enthusiasm, fostered by Rune Jacobsen who’s creating a very positive environment.
Talking about the course, Alexander Ringstad - team manager and coach - says that it’ll be like with the moths, crucial to get max speed at the start. “I really like the course they have set up I think it’s a good course.”
images © Trond R. Teigen Photography
“In this championship it’s really important to be open minded. Everyone needs to communicate with each other, not just do things in their own way. You have to have respect for others. When you’re a helm or tactician and you call for a tack, you need to understand that things take time and each person has a role to play in the team’s success.”
They’ve been working hard on developing trust in each other. Things will take more time with three than with one. On a Persico69F you have to communicate what you are doing all the time and it’s specifically important with a team that has not sailed the boat before.
The Americas cup is being sailed on very similar boats. Do you think this is trickle down or trickle up?
“We have been watching the Americas cup a lot. But we have also seeking inspiration from the GC class. We’ve been getting good coaching on the GC on how to train, to be a team, to prepare for big days on the water and most importantly how to give equal value to each team member.”
************************
LIBERTY BITCOIN YOUTH FOILING GOLD CUP
New teams join the world’s only high performance foiling regatta for youth sailors.
8 international teams meet on the Italian coast to contest the first grand prix of the LIBERTY BITCOIN YOUTH FOILING GOLD CUP that starts in Gaeta, Italy.
February 26, 2021- It’s race time for the 24 young international sailors from 8 countries this week in Gaeta, Italy who will compete in the first round of the Youth Foiling Gold Cup in the new Persico 69F class.
While the world has been enthralled but the fast speeds and close racing in the Prada Cup, the Youth Foiling Gold Cup brings the high intensity of close foiling action to a new generation of high-performance sailors who will no doubt graduate to the full-size Cup in the future. Rune Jacobsen, team manager of Hong Kong’s team Agiplast confirms that the ambition for this circuit is to become the pinnacle event for youth sailing.
“Most of the sailors in the current America’s Cup did the Youth America’s Cup… To develop high-performance foiling sailors, the Youth Foiling Gold Cup is a perfect match”
The competing teams are:
1) Yacht Club Costa Smeralda – Young Azzurra – ITA
2) Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club – Team Agiplast – HK
3) Southern Challenge – Southern Yacht Club – USA
4) KNZRV Muiden & KRZV De Maas – Team Dutch Sail – NED
5) One Switzerland – Bordée de Tribord – SUI
6) Sanderfjord Seilforening – Xela Racing – NOR
7) Real Club Nautico de Palma – Youth Bravo España – SPA
8) Koninklijke Watersport Vereeniging Loosdrecht (KWVL)- Kingdom team- EUR
Sadly, other teams were close to joining the circuit but were held back by COVID related problems. These included strong entries from Aarhus Sailing Club, Hellerup Sailing Club, China Foiling Academy, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Yacht Club de France, and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
The start of the new round of competition naturally means that teams are getting to grips with the equipment, in this case the high-tech foiling Persico 69F designed by Wilson- Marquinez and built next to the Luna Rossa AC75s at Persico Marine and developed by the 69F team.
Some teams have more work to do than others however, as three teams- Team Young Azzura, Team Agiplast and Team DutchSail- have all racked up serious training time on the new foiling platforms while other teams flew for the first time just last week.
Pieter-Jan Postma, Dutch Olympic Sailor and Team DutchSail coach, says that they have approximately 70 days on the platform but while they “have more hours in the boat but the regatta is very long. Good sailors can learn the boat fast during the regatta”.
Even for one of the most experienced teams in the fleet, COVID has impacted their race preparation. “We’ve been mostly training on our own… there haven’t been many opportunities to do speed testing”.
While some teams will be focussing on the finer details of their race craft, American Langston Goldenburg and his crew, 2021 Olympic Nacra 17 team Riley Gibbs and Anna Weis, are just now getting to know their new steed. “We’ll have to extract as much value as possible from the training session. We have just 6 days to learn the boat and the local conditions in Gaeta”.
One advantage the new teams have is that the strict one-design class is managed by a professional shore crew and the 8 teams will cycle through the 6-pack of race yachts to ensure a level playing field.
Sharing equipment lowers costs for the teams and reduces the event’s environmental footprint because each team does not need its own boat in order to compete.
Langston Goldenburg certainly appreciates the opportunity that the shared boats create. “Having shared services allows small teams to compete against the big boys. The racing is tighter. When you can’t tune your own boat, you hop on the boat and go. You’re worrying about different things. All the small things go out the window, you just focus on making the boat go fast.”
The latest technology and fast young sailors leads to lots of speed, 34.9 knots of speed! Team DutchSail laid down the gauntlet with a new top speed for the class in training, but they are surrounded by sailors with world class credentials of their own who are more than ready to accept the challenge. The fleet contains sailors currently campaigning the Nacra 17, 49er FX and Finn in the Olympics as well as European champions in the WASZP and other foiling classes.
The key dates in the regatta are:
Training Days: 24 – 26 February
Warm Up Event: 27 February – 1 March
Qualification Series: 3 – 8 March
Finals: 10 – 12 March
www.69fsailing.com
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