Azzurra gets double wins on the second day of the Miami Royal Cup

by Azzurra on 9 Mar 2017 Two first place finishes in today’s two races mean that Azzurra is at the lead in the provisional results of the 2017 52 Super Series, ahead of Platoon and Provezza. The Miami Royal Cup will conclude on Saturday, March 11th.

The boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s burgee was the day’s star following yesterday’s strong performance where she finished tied for first place overall with Platoon. In winds from the southeast that were never over 14 knots, but were patchy and shifty, Azzurra got her first race win of the 2017 season in the day’s first race. She then doubled that total winning in the second race too, confirming that this is the team and the boat to watch. Today, Azzurra was helmed on the upwind legs by her owner, Alberto Roemmers.

In the first race, Azzurra got an excellent start on the pin and took and held on to the lead. Shifty and patchy winds on the final downwind leg let Bronenosec almost catch up to her at the finish line but Azzurra held off the Russian team and captured the victory. Bronenosec finished second followed by Provezza. The next runners up in yesterday’s provisional results, Platoon and Quantum, finished eighth and sixth respectively, poor performance that has cost them points.

Conditions were similar in the second race. Azzurra got another excellent start on the pin and was at the head of the fleet along the first upwind leg until she was slowed down by a fishing buoy that she caught approaching the mark. The YCCS boat dropped further back to sixth place after a gybe set done in the hopes of finding better wind along the difficult first downwind leg, but managed to recover positions to third place on the following upwind leg. She completed her excellent recovery on the final downwind leg, edging out Platoon to finish first, thanks to excellent tactical calls.

Quotes of the day:

Alberto Roemmers, owner: “It has been a very important day for us; after all the work that they have been doing recently, the team needed a day like this. I want to congratulate Guillermo Parada for the two starts he got today right on the pin. The race course was very complicated and a good start didn’t necessarily equal a win as we saw in the second race where it was difficult for us to get ahead. Only on the last run everything went well and we managed to finish first. In short, it has been a great day and the crew worked perfectly. They really deserve this joy.”

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “Today we had a perfect day results wise and we're especially happy because we have recovered upwind speed. That gives us more confidence on the race course because we know we'll have that working for us. Today we got two clean starts, Vasco and Cole made good choices in a mix between wind shifts and wind pressure and the crew did its job perfectly. In the second race we got a good start and were able to tack and cross in front of the fleet then chose the middle of the course but got passed from the right and the left. On the first run we chose the left and that didn't pay, but out of the gate we got a big lift upwind for three minutes. That was enough to get in front of Platoon and position ourselves to win in the final run. Everything clicked and you have to enjoy that because you know that tomorrow will be a new challenge.'

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “Today was exceptional, and we sailed better than we have in a long time. We got excellent starts, we maneuvered well and I even think that my tactical choices were right. We have been sailing well the past couple of days even though yesterday we were a little off and could have done a little better. But today we sailed cleaner and got results. The boat’s speed is improving, and we’re finally seeing the results of a lot of hard work. Let’s hope we’re as competitive tomorrow and in the future as we were today.”

Tomorrow racing is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 AM local time with up to three W/L races.

Fans can follow the racing in Virtual Eye and from tomorrow March 9th to the event’s end on Saturday March 11th live footage from the races on the website.

52 Super Series Miami Royal Cup

Results after four races

1. Azzurra (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG), (2,2,1,1), 6 points
2. Platoon (Harm Müller-Spreer, GER), (3,1,8,2), 14
3. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR), (5,3,3,4), 15
4. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA), (1,4,6,7), 18
5. Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE), (4,8,4,3), 19
6. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS), (10,5,2,6), 23
7. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA) (8,6,7,5), 26
8. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA), (6, DSQ12,5,9), 32
9. Sorcha (Peter Harrison, GBR) (9,7,9,8), 33
10. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) (7, RDG/7, DNC/12, DNC/12), 38.
11. Paprec (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) (DNC/12, DNC/12, DNC/12, DNC/12), 48