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DutchSail has crowdfunded 75% of its participation in the America's Cup «»

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Fans of Dutch team Simeon Tienpont have bought half of the certificates the sailors are distributing via crowdfunding to raise funds for the America's Cup «» in Auckland, New Zealand in 2021 . As the Dutch skipper told local magazine Zeilen, the team now has 75% of the amount currently needed.

The purchase of each of the thousand certificates means that the sponsor will donate 100 euros to DutchSail every month for two years before the start of the competition. In return, the donors will not only receive thanks and special mementos, but also access to the team's base, exclusive meetings with lectures and presentations twice a year as well as unique interviews and background information in the online community.

In total, Dutch Cup contenders «» can earn €2.4 million in this way. The nearest guarantee fee of $1 million (€889,000) is due to be paid by April 30 by the team.

Tienpont estimates that the total budget for participation in the competition will exceed the Volvo Ocean Race budget by only 1.5 times. That is, we are not talking about a hundred million dollars, the amount will be much more modest.

Note that the budget of the challengers to the Auld Mug from Britain, INEOS Team UK, is estimated at $120 million.

To reduce costs (and, apparently, to save time), DutchSail is planning to buy one of the completed AC75 boat designs from the current hosts of the competition, Emirates Team New Zealand.

The team's main task now is to find a general partner. According to Tienpont, the contract is likely to be concluded in the next two weeks.

The candidate for this role may be the largest telecommunications company of the Netherlands KPN or one of its partners. The current CEO of DutchSail, EelcoBlok, was the head of KPN for many years and he certainly has some business connections since then.

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