Audi Sailing Week - 52 Super Series – It's a difficult day for Azzurra

by Azzurra on 22 Jun 2017 Azzurra had a harder day than expected at the Audi Sailing Week - 52 Super Series even though she got two good starts. Today’s two races were won by Quantum and Ran, the team that is currently in the lead at this event.

Two windward/leeward races were scheduled for today, day two at the Audi Sailing Week - 52 Super Series, and racing got underway punctually at 12:00 noon. Winds were from the southeast at about ten knots and grew to about 12 knots during the second race.

Winners of the day’s races were Quantum and Ran, who is currently at the lead of the event’s provisional scoreboard ahead of Bronenosec who finished sixth and second in today’s races. Azzurra got good starts in both races, but didn’t manage to make the best of the situation. Especially in the second race, where she got an excellent start right on the pin and lead the fleet all along the first upwind leg, with Ran and Quantum behind her.

The Swedish team aboard Ran again showed their excellent boat speed sailing downwind and got to the first gate head to head with Azzurra. Ran managed to inch past and take the lead. Azzurra was right behind, then at the final top mark chose to split off with a gybe set. The choice didn’t pay off, actually it didn’t pay at all, and Azzurra dropped back. She crossed the line in a photo finish with Platoon and was called fifth while the German team was called fourth, but it was very difficult to tell.

Quotes of the day:
Guillermo Parada, Skipper: “It was a hard day, there’s no doubt about that. In the first race we couldn’t tack and we got stuck in the middle of the fleet and lost some positions on the last downwind leg. The boat just didn’t seem to be as fast as it should have been. In the second race we got a good start and were first at the first upwind mark then we were slow again downwind and dropped back to second place. Then our gybe set in the last downwind leg didn’t pay. But the races will go on, we have to reset and be ready for a new day tomorrow, looking for the championship win.”

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: 'We have to be honest and admit to ourselves that today we didn’t sail well. We can cheer up by thinking that in the 52 Super Series overall we’re tied for first place with Platoon, but we’re never going to win the Series if we don’t place better than we did today. We chose to do a gybe set at the beginning of the last downwind leg because arriving in the beat the wind had the maximum right shift. It looked like a smart decision to go to that side right away hoping to get an advantage later, but the wind shifted ten degrees more and we lost some positions.”

The first start call for tomorrow, June 23rd, is scheduled for 12 noon. Winds are predicted to be from the west at 15 to 20 knots.

Porto Cervo 52 Super Series Audi Sailing Week
Standings after three races

1. Rán Racing (Niklas and Catherine Zennström, SWE) (3,7,1) 11 points
2. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS) (6,6,2) 14 points
3. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA) (1,4,9) 15 points
4. Alegre (Andy Soriano, GBR/USA) (5,RDG5,5) 15 points
5. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) (4,4,7) 15 points
6. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA) (RET12,1,3) 16 points
7. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) (8,3,6) 17 points
8. Azzurra (Alberto and Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG) (5,8,5) 18 points
9. Platoon (Harm Müller-Spreer, GER) (7,11,4) 22 points
10. Paprec Recyclage (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) (10,2,11) 23 points
11. Sorcha (Peter Harrison, GBR) (9,10,10) 29 points