First online AC40 races sailed

With ten out of twelve team members being at home in the Netherlands, Team DutchSail used last week to maximize their AC40 simulator time. Full-time training took place for a week under the leadership of coach Cas van Dongen. With the focus on the pre-start skills the Dutch-flagged team also had their first online battles. Racing in the simulator against the teams of Australian Challenge, Canada, and American Magic.

Team DutchSail Youth America’s Cup member Paul Hameeteman:
“We’ve had a good week of training at our simulator base at the Dutch National Training Centre of the Royal Netherlands Water Sports Federation. The focus was on the pre-start and we’ve had our first online races against the other teams. During the week we raced against the Youth and Women’s teams of Australia Challenge, AC40 Canada, and NYYC American Magic. Which was good fun and leaves you wanting more.”

Coach Cas van Dongen sees a lot of possibilities. Van Dongen: “There are continuous learning moments and new ideas continuously emerge on how we can use and learn in the simulator. When this project started I knew it would be interesting, but I didn’t expect that we would be here already and doing the things we do with almost a year to go.”

Even though some of the sailors are abroad this week. Sailing with Team Allianz in their Olympic campaigns or representing The Netherlands in the Start Sailors League (SSL) training on the AC40 simulator continues.

Coach PieterJan Postma: “Such an intense and demanding week as last week provided a lot of new subjects and points. Something we will continue to work on in the coming weeks here at our base in the simulator.”