Dutch Sail Orange won the Persico 69F Revolution

Gargnano, Lake Garda, Italy, 12 august 2020 - It’s Dutch Sail Orange (van StekelenborgHoutman-Becker-Asbeek Brusse) the winner of the first Persico 69F Revolution, for teams
Under 25. The young Netherlands team, whose four components are vying to be chosen by their yacht club to be the official team at Youth America’s Cup, in a list of eight – they have beaten today in the finals CNVA Sailing Team (Botticini-Colannino-Salvà) RHKYC Team Agiplast and Birikkine.

It’s completed, after three days of races, the leaderboard that has seen 16 teams at the start and 14 flights done, almost always with medium low wind, enough to force today at 7am the start to find the Peler required to finish the crucial races and complete the longwaited final. And the young dutch guys - who at the beginning of the races have lost the first match, going down in the table - fully believed in themselves, catching up race by race and defeating team Dutch Sail Blue - the other half of their team in training for the YAC – today in flight 1. A crescendo that has brought them to the victory of the final thanks to a flawless tactic in guessing the last buoy and despite the half point penalty they got at the beginning.

“It was a team work - said the Dutch helmsman Lars van Stekelenborg – the mental attitude of the team made the difference today. These races have a very high level, and
they showed us that if we want to arrive prepared to New Zealand we have to push a lot. Last race was hard: there was low wind, we had to think about the tactic and create a good gap to be sure to win, we found ourselves in the right position at the right moment, and we took full advantage of it”.

Second place for the most hardened Italian crew, the CNVA Sailing Team: Ettore Botticini and Federico Colannino, with Simone Salvà, they won all the races except the last one. “In the final - said Botticini – we started well, we’ve been conservative to not getting any penalty and we attacked when was the right moment: from the tactic point of view Dutch people were better than us”.

Third place goes to RHKYC Team Agiplast: the young sailors of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (Gregor-Jacobsen-Cantero-Morton) have enchanted everyone for their story, the great professionalism, the desire to emerge. “Last mile” lacked , but the team – in training for the YAC - has a long and consistent program of training ahead, and it just started.

“We’re happy to be in the final and to be on the podium - say the young athletes from Hong Kong - we had the chance to win, but we missed it. Even this is training, mainly because we’ve been sailing on this boat for just four days. These races are very important to lead, the formula does not forgive mistakes, and this is the best way to race”.

Positive outcome for the organizers: “Persico 69F Revolution – said Dede De Luca – it’s an amazing format, exalted by the enthusiasm and the desire to compete of these young
athletes. The guys had fun, wind conditions required the teams to have great skills: manage foils, sail dislocated, and mostly to have great tactic, as we have seen in the last race. On the podium we have the best, with no doubts”.