Azzurra holds on to third place at the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series
Azzurra holds on to third place at the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series
Azzurra holds on to her third place overall at the Puerto Portals event thanks to a day of steady sailing. Only Quantum and Phoenix performed better than the boat flying the YCCS burgee while Sled and Luna Rossa won the day’s two races. The event ends on Saturday, August 25th.
Today there were two races run in the waters off Palma de Mallorca. The first race got underway at 1:40 PM CEST and the second at 3:45 in shifty thermal breezes at 8 to 12 knots.
“The last will be first,” could be the words that apply to racing today, the third day of the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series. The first race saw the American team aboard Sled, with New Zealander and America’s Cup winner Ray Davies as tactician, come in first. But the second race saw them come in last. Vice-versa, the second race saw the TP52 version of Luna Rossa come in first after they placed ninth in the day’s first race after a pre-start collision (and two penalty points).
Other teams also had their ups and downs today, but Azzurra sailed steadily, finishing fourth and sixth in the day’s two races. Not stellar results, but good enough for her team to hold on to their third place overall. Quantum and Phoenix also sailed steadily with better results and are currently in first and second place overall at this event.
Skipper Guillermo Parada summed up the situation: “Aside from Quantum and Phoenix who got slightly better scores than we did today, we sailed solidly. In the first race we didn’t get a good start, but we managed to recover up to sixth place and were just a few meters behind Quantum at the finish. Too bad we didn’t sneak fifth place from them, but considering our start we have to be happy with what we got. In the second race we got the start on the Committee Boat that we wanted, but Quantum and Luna Rossa got the perfect puff on the left and we were in third place at the mark. Along the run Phoenix managed to pass us but we stayed close on her along the beat then attacked along the final run. We were just a length off passing her at the finish line, too bad. There are three races scheduled for tomorrow so that will be the most important day of this event. Let’s hope that we nail down the little things that got away from us today.”
Quotes of the day:
Santiago Lange, tactician: “In the first race we didn’t get a good start and luckily we managed to recover a bit, but Quantum is sailing better than we are and making fewer mistakes. We have to keep on working and stay concentrated. I’m feeling positive, there are two day left and we can make our mark here at Puerto Portals.”
Bruno Zirilli, navigator: “If we only look at our own results we’d be tempted to say that we didn’t sail well, but if you look at the rest of the fleet it really wasn’t that bad. We made a couple of mistakes, especially during the start of the first race, but I have to say that most of our competitors did even worse and got penalties. We managed to get some points back on Sled and Luna Rossa, so all things considered it went pretty well.”
Racing is scheduled to start tomorrow at 1 PM CEST in conditions similar to today’s. Racing can be followed on Virtual Eye and on the websites: 52superseries.com and azzurra.it. Updates straight from the course will be posted on Azzurra’s Facebook page and Twitter account.
Puerto Portals 52 Super Series results after 5 races:
1. Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (2,4,2,5,2) 15 p.
2. Phoenix (RSA) (Hasso/Tina Plattner) (5,3,4,4,3) 19 p.
3. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers) (6,5,1,6,4) 22 p.
4. Luna Rossa (ITA) (Patrizio Bertelli) (7,2,6,9 penalty 2,1) 27 p.
5. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (1,10,8,2,7) 28 p.
6. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (4,1,7,10,6) 28 p.
7. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (3,6,3,8,8) 28 p.
8. Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) (8,9,5,1,10) 33 p.
9. Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley) (10,7,9,7,5) 38 p.
10. Onda (BRA) (Eduardo de Souza Ramos) (8,9,DNF11,2,9) 40 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
