Azzurra moves up to second place at the Rolex TP52 World Champonship

With two second place finishes and a fourth today Azzurra has moved up in the provisional results and is trailing the event’s current leader, Platoon, who got two bullets and a fifth place today, by seven points. Thanks to breeze from a north westerly gradient that from 15 knots built up to 18 over the course of the first race, the Race Committee managed to run three races and recover at least one of the races that was abandoned yesterday due to stormy conditions.  

Azzurra got steady results for a total of eight points. In fact, the only team who go a better score than she did today was the event’s leader, Platoon, with seven points total for the day. The three races were all hard fought and Azzurra was always amongst the first teams at the start, with her adversaries always close on her heels. Especially in the first two races, Azzurra’s team showed their skill in recovering positions up to second and fourth places after having slipped back to halfway in the fleet because of contemporary attacks by other teams. 

Guillermo Parada, skipper, was happy when his team got back to the dock: “We got a good average today for sure, and we’re happy about it. Too bad about the second race where at the offset mark at the end of the first beat we left a door open for Platoon who snuck in leeward. We couldn’t do our gybe set but they did and that is how they won. We dropped back from second to seventh place then recovered up to fourth place, but we could have done better. It was my mistake.

Today was an unusual day weather wise. Only one of the forecast models showed gradient winds for the whole day but that’s what we had. The funny part is that it stayed strong, from 14 to 18 knots. The racing was great with lots of changes of positions because the wind was coming from the land. All in all we had a good day, but Platoon had an outstanding day with two bullets and a fifth place. Tomorrow we’re hoping to get two races in to recover those seven points that put Platoon ahead of us. We have to do things right and sail smart to made life as hard as possible for them.” 

Alberto Roemmers, owner: “It was a good day for us, too bad about the mistake we made at the mark in the second race. There we ended up fourth instead of first, but other than that it was a good day. Two seconds and a fourth is nothing to complain about and tomorrow we are going to give it our all.”

Tomorrow sees this World Championship’s final two races scheduled. Racing will be streamed from start to finish on the 52 Super Series website and on www.azzurra.it. Live updates straight from the course will be posted on Azzurra’s Facebook page, while a selection of the best images will be on Instagram: www.instagram.com/azzurrasailing/
 The forecast calls for thermal breeze between 8 to 15 knots. 

Rolex TP52 World Championship  
Provisional results after 7 races
Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (4,5,2,3,1,1,5) 21 p.
Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto Roemmers) (2,9,4,5,2,4,2) 28 p.
Bronenosec (RUS) (Vladimir Liubomirov) (5,8,3,6,6,3,1) 32 p.
Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (10,4,5,1,8,2,6) 36 p.
Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) (9,1,1,2,9,10,8) 40 p.
Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (1,7,8,4,4,7,9) 40 p.
Phoenix 12 (RSA) (Tina Plattner) (3,3,7,7,5,5,11) 41 p.
Phoenix 11 (RSA) (Hasso Plattner) (8,2,9,9,11,8,4) 51 p.
Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley) (6,10,6,8,7,9,11) 57 p.
Team Vision Future (FRA) (Jean Jacques Chaubard) (7,6,10,10,10,6,10) 59 p.
Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (12 DNF,12 DNC,12 DNC,12 DNC,3,7,3) 61 p. 

52 SUPER SERIES 2019

Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week, 
May 21th - 25 th, Menorca, Spain.

Puerto Sherry 52 Super Series Royal Cup, 
June 18th - 22th Cadiz, Spain.

Cascais 52 Super Series Sailing Week, 
July16th - 20th Cascais, Portugal.

Rolex TP52 World Championship Puerto Portals 2019, 
August 25th - 29th Mallorca Spain.

Audi 52 Super Series Sailing Week, Porto Cervo
September 23th - 28rd Sardinia, Italy.

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
Sail performances: Gonzalo Ramos Vertiz