Azzurra is tied for the lead in the second event of 52 Super Series

by Azzurra on 8 Mar 2017 With two second place finishes today Azzurra is tied for points with Platoon for the lead in the provisional results in the second event in the 2017 52 Super Series, the Miami Royal Cup.

The first day of racing in the waters off South Beach saw heavy seas and stiff south easterly breezes at 17 to 20 knots. Racing got underway as planned at 3:00 PM, a later than usual starting time scheduled in the hopes that the weather would be calmer later in the day, as it was.

The first race saw Azzurra in the lead for almost half of the race, thanks to a wise tactical decision to sail alone on the right hand side of the course. Quantum managed to pass Azzurra along the second upwind leg after having rounded the gate on the right while Azzurra chose the left. The two boats kept these positions to the end of the race, followed by Platoon in third place.

The second race was held almost at sundown and saw spectacular duels with many changes of positions: Bronenosec was initially in the lead followed by Platoon, Azzurra and Provezza, all tailed closely by Quantum. The race had a photo finish ending with Platoon ahead of Azzurra by just a couple of meters. Provezza and Quantum finished with just a length's difference followed by Bronenosec in fifth place.

But the second race also saw an unfortunate collision between Gladiator and Sled who crossed too close on different tacks. Sled is at fault, but both boats suffered heavy damage.

The provisional results see Azzurra and Platoon tied for the lead, followed by Quantum just one point behind. But this is only the first day of racing in a five day event that promises to be thrilling.

Quotes of the day:

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “We got a good, solid start especially considering that the seas were very rough and the winds were heavy. Getting back to the docks with two good results and no major breakage is already good. Unfortunately, two boats were damaged today and we hope that at least one of them will be able to continue racing. Even before the event started Paprec lost her rig, so it's obvious that these conditions put too much stress on the boats. We need to sail very, very carefully. Luckily, tomorrow the breezes are predicted to be lighter, we'll have to see if the waves die down too. We made a lot of changes after Key West to improve our light air upwind speed and we hope to get the chance to prove it.”

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “Today's result is very good and a nice surprise. I'm a little sorry that we didn't win the first race. We let ourselves be tempted by what seemed like five degree advantage on the left mark of the gate, our competitors had already decided to split from us and they made the better choice. If we had been just a little luckier we could have gotten two wins today, but it's OK. We're tied for points for the lead and very sorry for Gladiator who suffered some serious damage that wasn't her fault.'

Tomorrow's conditions should be lighter, and racing is scheduled to get underway at 11:30 AM local time. Fans can follow the racing in Virtual Eye and from Thursday March 8th to the event’s end on Saturday March 11th live footage from the races on the event website. Azzurra will post directly from the regatta course to her Facebook page and Twitter account.

52 Super Series

2017 Miami Royal Cup standings after two races

1 Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer, GER) 3,1 4pts
2 Azzurra (ITA) (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers, ARG) 2,2 4pts
3 Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos, USA) 1,4 5pts
4 Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre, TUR) 5,3 8pts
5 Rán Racing (SWE) (Niklas Zennström, SWE) 4,8 12pts
6 Alegre (GBR) (Andy Soriano, USA) 8,6 14pts
7 Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley, GBR) 7, RDG (7), 14pts
8 Bronenosec (RUS) (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS) 10,5 15pts
9 Sorcha (GBR) (Peter Harrison, GBR) 9,7 16pts
10 Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura, USA) 6, 12 (DSQ) 18pts
11 Paprec (FRA) (Jean Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) DNC 12, DNC 12 24pts