Audi Settimana delle Bocche – Quantum Racing at the Double in Sardinia

by 52 Super Series on 6 Jul 2016 With Doug DeVos stepping on board to steer his boat for the first time in the 52 Super Series since winning the Copa del Rey in Majorca last August, Quantum Racing won the second regatta of the season, the Audi Settimana delle Bocche.

Once again it was their superior level of consistency which contributed most to their overall victory. Only on the first race of the first day, when DeVos took the helm for the opening race of the regatta, did the team finish in the lower half of the fleet. But after Monday’s practice race was cancelled due to a strong Mistral wind it was entirely understandable when the Quantum Racing start was not as sharp as usual. Otherwise they managed to stay in the top half of the fleet through the nine races, winning three times and – most especially – converting one potential bad one to a fourth place ‘counter’ after starting early. The Quantum Racing team won by six points ahead of Niklas Zennström’s Rán Racing. Azzurra, winners of the regatta last year, finished a disappointing third, winning only one race and retiring from the last race with a gear failure.

Terry Hutchinson added:

'I think the best thing in this regatta was we had a helmsman swap, and it is great measure of the team and the platform he has provided for us, that he can step in and we continue to race at a high level. That is an indication of him as a sailor and the team from shore team to sail designers, to bow to back on the boat. Winning in Scarlino was great because we wanted to start the season on the right note and now the expectations we all have and we want to do right by Doug. It is awesome.”

The fleet was racing at the highest level yet. Peter Harrison and his crew of Sorcha – formerly Rio and Synergy – loved their first ever experience of the 52 Super Series. Having been successful in the Caribbean with the well optimised Botin partners hull sistership to XIO, the previous Quantum, Harrison and his crew were intent on stepping up their programme to the highest level of competition. They positively thrived on the intensity of the racing and came away with a couple of very promising scores – a fourth and a second – and were usually in the thick of the action.

Speaking before the regatta started, Peter Harrison said:

“We have very modest expectations. We are very aware that we are the new kids on the block compared to many of the fleet who have been racing consistently and improving over the last few years. We are just looking to do as well as we can.”

Zennström and his crew struck a rich vein of regular results too – going 2,2,4,1 mid regatta – but they slumped on the penultimate race for a ninth. That ultimately cost them their chance of their first overall regatta win since they started 2015 by triumphing in Valencia.

Four different teams led the regatta at different stages, Bronenosec, Provezza, Rán Racing and Quantum Racing. And the points table finished as tight as ever behind Azzurra. The home Costa Smeralda team tied on points with Platoon which took fourth on countback, Provezza in fifth were only one point further back. Then Alegre and XIO finished on the same points in sixth and seventh – a great result for Marco Serafini’s XIO team with tactician Tomasso Chieffi showing how well he knows the Costa Smeralda – and Tony Langley’s Gladiator in eighth.

Sardinia offered a good range of conditions, from barely sailable 5-6kts to a full 22kt Mistral finale when Gladiator and Rán Racing showed the way on the last day, but it was Quantum Racing which prevailed, winning their fourth 52 Super Series regatta in a row, their second back-to-back of the 2016 season.

Doug DeVos:

“We just keep at it. Don’t give up. Don’t get frustrated. Each and every person onboard is working. Every wave downwind we are working. We just never give up.”