(Muiden, The Netherlands)- In the first weekend of October, Jachtclub Veere and the Royal Dutch Sailing & Rowing Association (KNZ & RV) organized the Eredivisie Sailing 2019. In total, seventeen sailing club teams competed for qualification for the SAILING Champions League 2020 on the Ilsjmeer in front of the port of Muiden!
In three days, 15 flights were run for an amazing 45 short races! Under challenging wind conditions, all races were sailed off the coast of Muiden this weekend. Until the last set of races, there were seven teams that claimed the podium. It was the youth team of WSV Giesbeek that finally won the title. The other tickets for the Sailing Champions League were for Almere Centraal in second, WV de Meeuwen in third and the KNZ & RV in fourth.
Chairman Michiel Dis about this weekend: “We are very happy that we have been able to host the Eredivisie and that it has been so successful. Strongly changing circumstances made it very tactical for the teams trying to maintain consistent performances. The level of competition was very high and the differences in points were very tight. I think we have demonstrated that we can give the Eredivisie Sailing as associations an excellent follow-up. The continuity of this format therefore appears to be guaranteed. We are most happy with that!”
Hard training pays off
WSV Giesbeek was the team that had by far the most hours training and racing in the J/70; and that effort paid off big time! WSV Giesbeek had a young and very talented team. Last year, they were the 2018 Dutch J/70 National Champions. Now, they can add to their trophy case the Dutch J/70 Sailing League award!
Team member Koen Sibbel commented on this weekend, “we sailed extremely hard and well all weekend. The teams are very close together. We have trained a lot in the past year and that paid off. The tactic was to stay out of trouble and to limit the damage with bad starts. We did not have to do any penalty turns the entire weekend and that, of course, made a big difference. At the end, we made it a bit difficult for ourselves by sailing an OCS (too early start, ed.). But, then picked up the pace again and closed with the win. We are very happy that we succeeded!”
Great fight
The other two teams on the podium also agreed on the fun, the sportiness and the excitement of the competitions.
Gosse de Boer from WV de Meeuwen explained, “what a pleasure to sail such a wonderful event! It was a great battle on the water with strong teams and good organization. We are happy with our qualification for the Champions League and look forward to a continuation of the Eredivisie next year.” For more Dutch J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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