Danish J/70 Sailing League Season Premiere

Danish J/70 Sailing League at Sundby Sailing Club © Frederik Sivertsen

The K.A.S. team took the victory in the 1st division after only 5 flights, where the last one ended up being shoot-out. Aarhus International Sailing Center and Sailing Aarhus were hosts and were represented with volunteers from Kaløvig this past weekend.

The wind teased and challenged sailors and, of course, probably made a lot of people simply crazy! Saturday morning started as planned with skipper meeting and welcome to all 1st division clubs. Then followed a postponement. However, approximately 15 minutes later, the wind came creeping in across the lake. Three flights were sailed in the light wind. Sunday started calmly and with a postponement. The wind built up calmly, and by noon the sailors were sent out. The wind was surprisingly good, but died after two quick flights, and the regatta ended up being canceled for the day due to a complete "glass out" on the water.

Last weekend's event winner from the 2nd division (Youngsters ONE)- skipper Rasmus Lumbye from Sønderborg Yacht Club- had planned a close duel between the well-known teams from Frederikhavn and KDY for this year's first 1st division event. In addition, there was a mixed crew from K.A.S. that from the start stood out and took the lead. K.A.S. had not moved to the top of the leaderboard before but sailed convincingly all weekend.

K.A.S. took the competition victory by a single point over the Sønderborg "kids"! The SYC kids fought hard all weekend through the very light winds. The decision was made in a close 1:1 duel in 5 races. There is no question the SYC youth team has promising future ahead of them.

Team SEF from Svendborg Sund Sejlklub finished just 4 points behind in 3rd place, a point ahead of KDY in 4th place. Team SEF started a bit sluggish, but sailed well after that, and ended up in 3rd place after some strong performances.

For K.A.S., the victory was the ultimate culmination of a path they had been working on very hard for several years. K.A.S. has come from the bottom of the 2nd division to be able to be a competition winner in a few years. Charlotte Andersen, Head of Racing at K.A.S. commented, "in 2017 we made a decision to improve the quality of our KAP school and with the team CrewYou. We to look at their set-up and strategy. We entered with the very best sailors in Denmark, Jesper Radich and Rene Villefrance, and it is satisfying to see how our great work has borne fruit!"

From K.A.S. skipper Henrik Rask Sørensen, he commented that "the victory was fantastic despite the very difficult conditions on Aarhus Bay. The result is also thanks to the improved training conditions in K.A.S., which now led to a regatta victory!"

More Danish J/70 Sailing League information here.