Azzurra sailing today at Mahon

Azzurra sailing today at Mahon

Azzurra, fantastic double wins at the 52 World Champioship

Sport

By Azzurra
01/08/2017 - 13:12

Azzurra, fantastic double wins at the 52 World Champioship

 

Mahon, Minorca, September 17, 2016

First place finishes in both of the races run today in the waters in front of Port Mahon, Minorca: this was Azzurra's team's answer to yesterday's disappointing performance and it couldn't have been a better one. Azzurra is now in second place, nine points from the leader Quantum, disqualified today for jumping the start when the black flag was displayed (BFD).

Today Azzurra got perfect starts from the best side of the course. In the first race, Azzurra started from the right side of the course and took the lead in southwesterly breezes at 12 knots. She put the other boats behind her while Provezza and Quantum fought it out for second place. The former boat got second place on the last gybe just before the finish. 

Black rain clouds brought a shift in winds to the northeast and long swells up to 2 mt. The fleet had to wait for the wind to stabilize before racing could get underway in 15 knot breezes that built to 18.  Unusually in a class as the TP52s, there were two false starts and only the third start was valid. Quantum got a BFD penalty just like Phoenix had in the first race. Azzurra got perfect on time starts on the Committee Boat every time and chose the right side of the course. At the first upwind mark her sistership Bronenosec was in the lead, they were tied at the first gate, then chose opposite sides of the course, Azzurra heading to the right. Azzurra took the lead along the second upwind leg and went on to win handily followed by Sled and Phoenix. Bronenosec slipped back to fourth place.

Quantum is still in the lead of the event, but she is now just nine points ahead of the second placed boat, Azzurra. Provezza is three points behind Azzurra, followed by boats that have been getting up and down finishes like Ran, currently in fourth place.

Tomorrow, the final day of racing, will see two windward/leeward races. The forecast is for light northerly breezes at 6 to 12 knots with long swells and possibly rain. 

Racing tomorrow will begin at 12:00 and can be followed in live streaming video on the 52 Super Series’ website www.52superseries.com. Races with commentary in English can be followed on Virtual Eye and as always, fans can follow Azzurra’s progress live from the regatta course on Facebook and Twitter and on the website www.azzurra.it.

Quotes of the day: 

Alberto Roemmers, owner/helm: "Today has been a really good day for us. I think our team needed it, we have been struggling for so long to resolve the problems with the performance of the boat. We needed a day like this just to know that we're on the right track. So we're happy and we're satisfied."

Guillermo Parada, skipper/helm: "It was a good day, it's nice to know that we still know how to win; now we have to be smart and stay consistent. Obviously it's good to feel that the boat is alive again and that we have recovered our ability to win races. Now we have to settle down and avoid those ups and downs that have been costing us dearly all season."

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: "We're still in a tough spot after today's two wins, only a miracle could bring us back into the top position. Today we got our first bit of miracle and we're happy to be back in second place overall and we have a good lead on the fourth placed boat. Our top competitor still seems to be as tough to beat as a team of Martians, but today they seemed to be a bit more human and to err is human. Today we sailed well and did everything just as we should. We learned our lesson yesterday and changed a few things, even small things that make a difference. We were smart enough and stayed normal. Everything went well."

 

52 World Championship - Mahon, Menorca

Standings after Day 4

 

1 Quantum Racing, USA (Doug DeVos USA) (2,1,1,2,1,3,2,BFG13) 25pts

2 Azzurra, ITA (Pablo/Alberto Roemmers ARG) (1,10,7,1,6,7,1,1) 34pts

3 Provezza, TUR (Ergin Imre TUR) (6,7,3,6,4,1,3,7) 37pts

4 Rán Racing, SWE (Niklas Zennström SWE) (9,2,2,10,2,2,10,6) 43pts

5 Platoon, GER (Harm Müller-Spreer GER) (5,3,5,7,12,8,4,9) 53pts

6 Bronenosec, RUS (Vladimir Liubomirov RUS) (8,8,9,11,3,4,7,4) 54pts

7 Alegre, GBR (Andy Soriano USA) (7,5,6,8,9,12,6,5) 58pts

8 Gladiator, GBR (Tony Langley GBR) (4,4,10,4,8,11,9,11) 61pts

9 Sled, USA (Takashi Okura USA) (11,11,12,3,7,9,8,2)  63pts

10 Paprec FRA (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin FRA) (3,DNF/13,8,9,5,5,11,10) 64pts

11 Sorcha GBR (Peter Harrison GBR) (12,6,4,12,11,6,5,8) 64pts

12 Phoenix, USA (Richard Cohen USA) (10,9,11,5,10,10,BFG13,3) 71pts

 

AZZURRA

Pablo and Alberto Roemmers - Owners

Guillermo Parada - Skipper, Helm

Vasco Vascotto - Tactician

Bruno Zirilli - Navigator

Giovanni Cassinari - Mainsail

Mariano Caputo - Bowman

Juan Pablo Marcos -  Midbow

David Vera - Pitman

Maciel Cichetti - Trimmer

Grant Loretz - Trimmer

Mariano Parada - Trimmer

Gabriel Marino - Grinder

Alejandro Colla – Grinder

Nicola Pilastro- Grinder

 

Boat Captain: Pedro Rossi

Coach: Guillermo Baquerizas

Coach: Marco Capitani

 

52 SUPER SERIES 2016

24 - 29 May - Scarlino 52 Super Series Cup Scarlino (Italy)

27 June  2 July - Audi Settimana delle Bocche - 52 Super Series Porto Cervo (Italy)

24 - 29 July - 52 Super Series Trophy Puerto Portals (Spain)

13 - 18 September - Menorca TP52 World Championship Mahon (Spain)

10 - 15 October - Cascais 52 Super Series Cup Cascais (Portugal)

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