Sibenik 52 SUPER SERIES: Azzurra works her way back up the scoreboard

Sibenik, Croatia, May 25, 2018

It was a positive day for the boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s burgee: Azzurra and her team are now in fifth place overall, just two points behind the third placed team. First place finishes today for Quantum and Paprec. Racing will continue until Sunday.

Azzurra showed that she knows how to bounce back from difficult times today, after the two bad days she has had at this event. Heading out to race today, the team was very concentrated, but the mood was serene: everyone knew they could do it.

The two windward/leeward races run today in winds from the southwest at about 10 knots saw Azzurra finish in fourth and second place, the kinds of finishes and rankings that this team, defending champions of the 52 Super Series, is more used to.

In the first race Azzurra got a good start to the right of the line, the side most of the fleet chose because it looked better. Azzurra rounded the mark third, behind Quantum and Alegre. Thanks to some smart tactics downwind, Azzurra narrowed her gap and rounded the gate contemporaneously with Alegre, one on the right, the other on the left. Along the next upwind leg Onda, with the five-time Olympic champion Robert Scheidt as tactician, recovered positions sailing on the left and held on to third place until the finish. Azzurra was fourth by half a length, followed by Platoon and Phoenix.

At the beginning of the second race, dark clouds over the landmass made it much harder to predict where the wind would be coming from in the rest of the race. This time tactician Santiago Lange chose to start on the left without pushing to get the pin. The French team aboard Paprec got the pin and held on to their lead for the entire race. Quantum had to fight hard to hold on to their second place position: at both the upwind marks and at the gate there were close duels and rapid manoeuvres that had everyone holding their breath- sailing at its best!

On the final leg Azzurra gybed at just the right time, early but not right away, as did Luna Rossa. The two Italian teams were at an advantage thanks to their new positions on the course and Azzurra not only crossed in front of Quantum, she also managed to creep up on Paprec. Quantum was passed shortly before the finish by Sled.

Tomorrow there are two windward/leeward races scheduled starting at 1 PM and winds are expected to be similar to today’s. As always, 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: “It was important that we stopped bleeding away points and got back to our standard. Yesterday we went over our mistakes and today we managed to sail sure of our strengths and our capabilities. We got two good starts, we were always fighting it out of the head of the fleet and we got results at the end of the day. There are still four races at this event, it won’t be easy to keep up this recovery because the fleet is really tight and even the smallest error costs a lot, but we can do it. Today we took an important step ahead even in terms of communication aboard. The two new members of our team are better integrated and we moved better and got better results.”

Santiago Lange, tactician: “I’m really happy after two disappointing days, but I guess that’s obvious. The truth is that we can never sit back and relax, today the crew worked really well but the course is still hard and our competitors are top notch and tough to beat. We have to keep working and give our all every single day.”

Sibenik 52 SUPER SERIES Provisional Results after 5 races

1. Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (4,1,8,1,4) 18 p.

2. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (1,4,3,5,7) 20 p.

3. Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) (12,3,1,8,3) 27 p.

4. Onda (BRA) (Eduardo de Souza Ramos) (2,7,5,3,10) 27 p.

5. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers) (3,10,10,4,2) 29 p.

6. Paprec Recyclage (FRA) (Jean Luc Petithuguenin) (6,12,2,12,1) 33 p.

7. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (9,8,6,2,8) 33 p.

8. Luna Rossa (ITA) (Patrizio Bertelli) (7,5,9,9,5) 35 p.

9. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (5,9,4,7,12) 37 p.

10. Phoenix (RSA) (Hasso/Tina Plattner) (8,6,11,6,6) 37 p.

11. Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley) (10(+2 PEN),2,7,11,9) 41 p.

12. XIO Hurakan (ITA) (Marco Serafini) (11,11,12,10,11) 55 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

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AZZURRA

Pablo and Alberto Roemmers - Owners

Guillermo Parada - Skipper, Helm

Santiago Lange - Tactician

Bruno Zirilli - Navigator

Giovanni Cassinari - Mainsail

Mariano Caputo - Bowman

Juan Pablo Marcos - Midbow

David Vera - Pitman

Grant Loretz- Trimmer

Ciccio Celon - Trimmer

Mariano Parada - Trimmer

Gabriel Marino - Grinder

Alejandro Colla – Grinder

Nicola Pilastro - Grinder

Pedro Rossi- Boat Captain

Coach: Guillermo Baquerizas

Coach: Marco Capitani