52 Super Series: Azzurra gets a good start but struggles in the final

After a good third place in today’s first race, Azzurra slipped up in the second, and is currently fifth overall. Quantum and Platoon are tied for first place.

The first day of racing in the 52 Super Series was one of variable and unpredictable weather conditions. After rains in the morning there was a period of no wind. At about 1 PM south westerly breezes at about 10 to 15 knots veering to the west kicked in but there were frequent and unpredictable shifts due to thunderstorms over the landmass.  

Azzurra didn’t manage to get the final results that two excellent starts seemed to promise. After leading the fleet along the first upwind leg a turn in the wind direction favoured Provezza and Platoon. The latter team rounded the mark with an inside overlap on Azzurra. Platoon went on to win the race while Azzurra recovered positions up to second place only to be edged out Onda, the Brazilian team with tactician Robert Scheidt that staged an excellent recovery along the first downwind leg. The line up across the finish line was: Platoon, Onda, Azzurra and Quantum. The entire fleet was grouped in just a few lengths.

The second race was a bit disappointing. After a good start together with Platoon and Quantum, Azzurra chose to sail on the left part of the course while her closest rivals chose to tack off to the right. The wind suddenly rotated 40 degrees and Azzurra was suddenly at the back of the fleet with very few tactical opportunities for recovery. Quantum won followed by Gladiator and Sled, but back at the docks Gladiator learned that she had gotten a 2 point penalty due to a collision before the start. Her team dropped back to sixth place overall.

Tomorrow’s programme calls for a 35nm coastal race, but everything depends on the weather. The forecast calls for winds from the northwest rotating to the west at 8 to 18 knots.  

Racing can be followed via Virtual Eye on the website 52superseries.com and on azzurra.it. Azzurra’s Facebook and Twitter accounts will have real time updates directly from the regatta course.

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “The season that we were all waiting for has begun. We’re happy with the boat, it’s performing as we expected. We started well in the first race, we were in the lead and in control, but then we found ourselves over the layline after the wind shifted 15 degrees along the approach to the first mark. But third place isn’t bad. During the second race the sky clouded over and that made everything harder to predict. We got a good start and we got the position we wanted, on the left, but a shift of almost 40 degrees caught us off guard. We didn’t want to risk too much so we really had to scrape to get positions back. We’re not worried for now; we’re sailing well and strong and today there was just one race when things didn’t happen. Tomorrow is another day and we will continue fighting."

Sibenik 52 SUPER SERIES Provisional Results after 2 races

1.         Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (4,1) 5 p.
2.         Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (1,4) 5 p.
3.         Onda (BRA) (Eduardo de Souza Ramos) (2,7) 9 p.
4.         Luna Rossa (ITA) (Patrizio Bertelli) (7,5) 12 p.
5.         Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers) (3,10) 13 p.
6.         Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley) (10(+2 PEN pts),2) 14 p.
7.         Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (5,9) 14 p.
8.         Phoenix (RSA) (Hasso/Tina Plattner) (8,6) 14 p.
9.         Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) (12,3) 15 p.
10.      Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (9,8) 17 p.
11.      Paprec Recyclage (FRA) (Jean Luc Petithuguenin) (6,12) 18 p.
12.      XIO Hurakan (ITA) (Marco Serafini) (11,11) 22p.
 
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