While in Auckland at the America`s Cup the race is on for the Auld Mug, the next generation of high-performance sailors (under 25 years) was having their own foiling battle in the Liberty Bitcoin Cup in Gaeta, Italy, competing on the next generation of high tech foiling sailboats, the blistering fast Persico 69F Class. Where Gold Cups were the premier Cups in traditional sailing, this next generation is now powered by the next generation of gold – Bitcoin.
The Liberty Bitcoin Cup is a new event series which has been initiated by the Hong Kong Royal Yacht Club, Rune Jacobsen, Max Dubreuil and CMCC Global, the company behind the title sponsor Liberty Bitcoin Fund. The goal of this competition is to make world class youth sailing affordable for international teams and to create the premier global youth event for foil sailing. Martin Baumann from CMCC Global commented: “It was impressive to see the next generation of World Class sailors competing fiercely to win a place in the finals in Hong Kong. Team DutchSail – Janssen de Jong did incredibly well and is the first team to secure its place in the finals in the race to win the Bitcoin.” Rune Jacobsen further commented: “Many of the sailors in the current America’s Cup started at the Youth America’s Cup. To develop high-performance foiling sailors, the Liberty Bitcoin Cup is a perfect match.”
The winner of Gaeta will go straight to the Liberty Bitcoin Cup final match in Hong Kong in early 2022 and will be joined by the winner of another qualifier that will take place in the summer in 2021 and the three top teams of a third qualifier right before the grand final in Hong Kong. Only these 5 teams will race in Hong Kong in the finals and only the winning team of these 5 will win the prize of 1 Bitcoin - probably the highest prize money in any youth event in the sports world, currently worth approximately USD 61,600.
Gaeta proved a tricky ground for the six teams which had won a spot in the final of this first event and provided mostly light winds. However, once the wind was up the teams proved that the intense training had paid dividends and were able to show what they are worth, hitting speeds of almost 30 knots on reaching courses and mastering upwind foiling, just like the AC75s in Auckland.
With the last day of racing cancelled due to a lack of wind, the podium was already decided the previous day. Team DutchSail - Janssen de Jong who had racked up some serious training time in the past year had shown early on in the final that they were the team to beat with strong performances across all wind conditions. The Dutch sealed the deal ahead of Italy´s Young Azzurra with Hong Kong´s Team Agiplast, one of the pre-race favourites, completing the podium. Interestingly in this new format, apart from the regular racing points teams earn bonus points for the fastest speed, the shortest distance sailed and for fair sailing.
The location and details of the second regatta of the Liberty Bitcoin Cup will soon be announced.
Liberty Bitcoin Cup, Gaeta, Results
1. NED - Team Dutch Sail Janssen de Jong 65 points (qualified for the Liberty Bitcoin Cup final in Hong Kong)
2. ITA - Young Azzurra 47,5 points
3. HKG - Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Team Agiplast 42 points
4. EUR - Kingdom Team 32,5 points
5. USA - Southern Challenge 30 points
6. SUI - One Switzerland 26 points