Azzurra consolidates her leadership at Palmavela

With first and third place finishes again today Azzurra consolidates her leadership in the provisional results. Quantum and Platoon are trailing her at a fair distance.

The second day of racing at PalmaVela saw very unusual, almost wintery, weather conditions, with chilly northerly winds and rain. The TP52 fleet had to wait a full three hours in a dead calm before winds from the north kicked in. The first race saw gusts at almost 20 knots along the first upwind leg, before winds calmed to between 8 and 13 knots remaining shifty and inconstant.

With first and third place finishes today despite the conditions Azzurra has consolidated her position at the head of this event, followed by Quantum and Platoon who trail her by 6 and 7 points respectively.

In the first race Azzurra got an excellent start but rounded the first upwind mark in sixth place. Along the first downwind run she held the left side of the course facing the wind and recovered positions until she rounded the gate alongside Quantum. The rival teams had a cliffhanging duel to the finish with the American team- helmed by Dean Barker – slightly in the lead until Azzurra’s team managed to edge them out by just over a length at the finish line.  

The second race was held in lighter but extremely unstable conditions: Platoon was in the lead for the entire race, followed by Azzurra and Phoenix. Quantum slipped back to eighth place at the second upwind mark but then surprised everyone by finding good breeze on the right hand side of the course. Quantum recovered positions on the entire fleet, including Azzurra and the two long-time rivals each got four points today, followed closely by Platoon.

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “It was another good day for us on the water. Conditions were quite challenging and shifty and there were a lot of puffs coming and going, but we had two solid races and I think that key to the day was sailing tidy and being patient, waiting for opportunities and finding good pressure. Santi did a very good job and positioned us in advance of the shifts and on the puffs. All in all we are happy, confident with the boat speed and we’re learning about the new sails too. The best thing is that every time we get back to the dock we have learned something new. So, we’re happy and we have another good day under our belts.”

Santiago Lange, tactician: “It was another nice day even though the conditions were difficult and tricky. I think that we had a good day, but there’s still a long way to go. The fleet is very, very tight and there’s just no room for mistakes. The regatta is still open, but we’ll keep learning and I’m enjoying getting more used to sailing with this team and aboard this boat. It’s very interesting and I’m very enthusiastic to keep on learning.”

Tomorrow racing is scheduled to begin at noon with north westerly breezes forecast at between 7 and 14 knots. Check Azzurra’s Facebook page for updates live from the regatta course.

Provisional Results after 4 races

Azzurra  (Roemmers)        8 pts
Quantum (DeVos)              14 p
Platoon (Muller Spreer)      15 p
Gladiator (Langley)            18 p
Phoenix (H.Plattner)          18 p
Sled    (Okura)                    24 p
Paprec (Neve)                     27 p
Alegre  (Tenghage)              30 p
Onda  (Souza Ramos)           32 p
The Phoenix (T.Plattner)     35 p 

52 SUPER SERIES 2018

Sibenik 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week
May 23rd - 27th, Sibenik, Croatia

52 SUPER SERIES Zadar Royal Cup
June 20th - 24th, Zadar, Croatia

ROLEX TP52 World Championship Cascais 2018
July 17th - 21st, Cascais, Portugal

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week
August 21st - 25th, Mallorca, Spain

52 SUPER SERIES Valencia Sailing Week
September 18th - 22nd, Valencia, Spain