DUTCHSAIL – JANSSEN DE JONG GIRLS TO SILVER FLEET

At the Youth Foiling Gold Cup on Lake Garda in Torbole, Italy, Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong mixed convincingly qualified for the final days in the gold fleet. Cas van Dongen, Ismene Usman and Eliott Savelon top the standings after four days of qualifying and will battle this weekend with the numbers 2 to 6 for the win in this fourth and final regular stop of the 69F season.

Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong mixes better every match
Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong mixed secured themselves on Friday with again two wins of first place in the qualification classification of the Youth Foiling Gold Cup – Act 4. The team with Cas van Dongen, Ismene Usman and Eliott Savelon, who replaces the injured Scipio Houtman, had a somewhat difficult start to qualifying on Tuesday, but recovered on the successive days. In the end, the young Dutch team managed to win no less than 10 of its 16 matches.

Schipper Cas van Dongen: “We are really growing as a team during this regatta. We get better every game. That's so cool. It is a real privilege to sail in these great conditions here on Lake Garda. We don't look at the end result yet, but really try to look at it from match to match and then we'll see how far we get."

The injured Scipio Houtman, who has to watch his team in Italy, also has nothing but praise for the performance of Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong mixed.

Houtman: “Cas, Ismene and Eliott take another step every race and have an incredible learning curve. It's really cool to see from the outside how they really work together as a team, both on the shore and in the boat.”

“Elliot's progression is impressive. It's really nice how he picks up everything and how well it all goes. Especially when you consider that including these last four days, it has only had fourteen days in the boat. I am very confident and very curious where this coming weekend will end.”

Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong girls to silver fleet
The Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong girls ultimately fall short for the best six and a place in the gold fleet on Friday. Svea Karsenbarg, Merle Louwinger, Julia van der Vaart and Femke van den Berg will still be in action in the silverfleet on Saturday.

Julia van der Vaart reacted with mixed feelings after the qualifying series. Van der Vaart: “These conditions with relatively much wind are super cool but at the same time very difficult for us as a team. These are really conditions in which we still need to improve as a team. The level here is very high, so we can learn quickly from the other teams and grow every day. But unfortunately we eventually come up short for the final gold series and we have to settle for a place in the silver fleet.”

Looking ahead to the silver fleet competitions on Saturday, Van der Vaart is optimistic. “We will undoubtedly learn a lot again and at least have a lot of fun. It's so cool to sail these boats and get a little better every day."

Ticket for Grand Final at Americas Cup venue
At stake is a spot at the Youth Foiling Gold Cup Grand Final this weekend. This will be sailed from 3 to 6 November in Barcelona. At the same location where the 37th Americas Cup will be sailed in 2024. To reach the Grand Final, Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong mixed must be in the top two in the final standings at the end of the day on Sunday.

General classification after qualifying
1. Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong mixed, NED, 74.5 points

2. Okalys Youth Project, SUI, 73 points

3. Team Black Salmon Argentina, ARG, 72 points

4. Clean Sailors Youth Racing Team, ITA, 66 points
5. Team France, FRA, 58.5 points

6. CER – Ville de Genève, SUI, 56.5 points

7. Groupe Atlantic, FRA, 54.5 points
8. Team ID Voile, FRA, 42.5 points
9. Katana Sailing Team, SUI, 41 points
10. DutchSail – Janssen de Jong girls, NED, 36 points
11. San Francisco Flyers, USA, 30.5 points
12. RZNYS 69F Racing, NZL, 16 points

Full results: https://69fsailing.com/yfgc-2022-act-4-torbole-results/