Team DutchSail - Janssen de Jong break 69F speed record
by Bart Salemans 27 Oct 2020 00:32 PDT
Team DutchSail - Janssen de Jong earlier this month training in the Netherlands © Sander van der Borch / Team DutchSail
On Saturday October 24th Team DutchSail - Janssen de Jong set a new world speed record in the 69F class. By flying over the water at a speed of no less than 34.9 knots (64.6 km / h), the fully Dutch team breaks the old record of 34.1.
The old record was held by the other Dutch team that was preparing for the now cancelled Youth Americas Cup: Team Kingdom Team Netherlands. Team DutchSail - Janssen de Jong took the record in front of Porto Cervo (ITA) where it's preparing for the Grand Prix Sardinia from 10 till 15 November.
One eye on the clock, one eye for the boat
Lars van Stekelenborg, helmsman at the time of the record, gave the following reaction afterwards. "We were already going downwind at 29-30 knots and then I saw a gust coming and I just thought: this is going to be it!"
"I had to squeeze the rudder as hard as possible to keep steering well and then the boat kept accelerating. With one eye on the clock (Sailmon Max ed.) and with my other eye looking in front of the boat I saw: 34.0; 34.7; 34.9. But then the rocks come towards you very fast and you only can think about a controlled rise to an upwind course, especially at that speed."
Team DutchSail - Janssen de Jong
The Dutch team, sailing under the flag of Yacht clubs KNZ&RV and KRZV De Maas, was supposed to participate in the cancelled Youth America's Cup. The team, with only sailors under 25 is now focussing on training and preparing for the matches ahead in the 69F class. As part of that the team is now in Italy, where it prepares for the Grand Prix Sardinia.
In Italy the team consists of the following five sailors, led by their coach, former Olympian, Pieter-Jan Postma.
- Cas van Dongen
- Ismene Usman
- Lars van Stekelenborg
- Robin Becker
- Scipio Houtman
The 69F
This 40-square-meter sail area, one-design class, is 6.9 meters long. The wings on either side of the boat and under the rudder, the so-called foils, ensure that the boat comes out of the water at sufficient speed. The width of the boat is 2.1 meters without and 4.6 meters including foils. With a draft of 1.7 meters and a displacement of only 350 kg, the boat can normally reach speeds of up to 25 knots per hour, about 40 to 50 km / h.