WSV Giesbeek win Dutch J/70 League Finals in Muiden
by J/Boats 15 Oct 23:47 PDT
Dutch J/70 League Finals © Jasper van Staveren
Under strongly changing circumstances, all 45 races of the Eredivisie Sailing were sailed off the coast of Muiden this weekend. Until the last races on Sunday, there were seven teams that had mathematical possibilities of making the podium.
In the end, it was the youthful team from WSV Giesbeek that finally won the title. Rounding out the podium in second and third, respectively, were Almere Centraal and WV de Meeuwen.
The hosts on the Muiden for the weekend were KNZ & RV. Chairman Michiel Dis said this about the weekend of racing, "We are very happy that we have been able to host the Eredivisie and that it has been so successful. The level was very high and the differences in points very small. I think we have demonstrated that we can give the Eredivisie Sailing teams an excellent regatta. The continuity of this format therefore appears to be guaranteed. We are most happy with that."
Hard training paid off big
WSV Giesbeek was the team that had by far the most hours in the J/70, and that effort paid off big time. Last year they were the Dutch J/70 National Champions, now they also won the Dutch J/70 Sailing League overall, an amazing performance!
Team member Koen Sibbel commented on their efforts over the 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 run a penalty round this entire weekend and, that of course, makes a big difference. At the end, we made it a bit difficult for ourselves by sailing an OCS. We are very happy that we succeeded!"
Tough competition at top of the leaderboard
The other two teams on the podium also agree on the fun, sportiness and excitement of the competitions. Gosse de Boer from WV de Meeuwen commented, "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."
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