Azzurra leads the 52 Super Series at two days to the end

by Azzurra on 22 Sep 2017 Azzurra is holding off the attacks of her closest competitors for the season’s title in the 52 Super Series, and is still in the lead overall both in the Menorca 52 Super Series event and in the Series overall. First places today went to Platoon and Bronenosec.

Unstable winds from the south at 10-12 knots that died down to eight - nine in the final race: shifty conditions made for changing positions in the fleet in both of the windward-leeward races run today. Azzurra got two excellent starts, but in both of today’s races she had to fight harder than expected because of the shifty and unstable conditions. Other teams suddenly found themselves in a good spots after starts that looked bad at first. It was just a question of being in the right place at the right time.

The first race saw Platoon win, followed by Quantum. Azzurra fought hard and recovered positions up to sixth place after having lead the fleet in the early stages of the race only to drop back in the capricious breezes. Provezza was third, Paprec fourth, but her result only counts in the Menorca 52 Super Series and not overall in the 52 Super Series 2017 because her team was absent for the better part of the season.

Azzurra got a good start in the second race too, but Bronenosec edged away from the right hand side, gradually lengthening their lead on the rest of the fleet to win. Quantum got lucky on the right side of the course and managed to round the upwind mark third after trailing behind the fleet at the start. She managed to place second. Azzurra had to fight again: she was in the tightly packed leading group but rounded the upwind mark fifth. She managed to steadily recover positions and finish third thanks to hard work and determination on the part of the entire team. Platoon limited the damage to her position overall by placing sixth after trailing the fleet along the first two legs, further proof of just how hard it was to read the winds today.

“Today has cost me years,” joked tactician Vasco Vascotto. “The stress of these unstable breezes is making my hair turn white. But our heads are in a good place, and for sure we aren’t giving up two days before the end of the season. Today we got two good starts and both times the situation changed and was better for the boats that started worse. In the first race we did well and fought hard to recover positions we lost after getting what seemed like a good start.”

Skipper Guillermo Parada, had these words: “It was a very tricky day out there. We got two good starts, especially in the first race, but we were a little bit unlucky. We choose to tack on a big right shift to leeward of one boat that was leading, we ran out of breeze 50mt from them, then all of a sudden we were chasing the entire fleet that was arriving at the top mark. So it was very stressful but at the end we managed to hang strong and were recovering positions one by one. We finished sixth, but Paprec doesn’t count overall so it’s as if we finished fifth and we managed to save that race. In the second one we had a clear start and made Quantum and Bronenosec tack to the right and they were first and second on the beat. Once again we were fifth or sixth, but we managed to place third in the end. So overall we did a good job. For sure we haven’t been lucky, but we have done a good job on damage control.”

Tomorrow racing is scheduled to begin at 12 noon and, conditions permitting, three races will be run to recover some of the races lost. The forecast is for winds from the est northeast at 7 to 12 knots. Live streaming of the races with commentary in English is on the websites www.52superseries.com and www.azzurra.it.

The Menorca 52 Super Series, final and decisive event in the 52 Super Series 2017, will conclude Saturday, September 23rd.

52 Super Series Provisional Scoreboard Overall

1. Azzurra (Alberto e Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG), 185 p.
2. Platoon (GER, Harm Müller-Spreer), 190 p.
3. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA), 194 p.
4. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) 226,3 p.
5. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS), 250 p.
6. Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE), 252 p.
7. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA), 281 p.
8. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) 304,6 p.
9. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA), 333,3 p.

52 Super Series – Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week, after 4 races:

1. Azzurra (Alberto e Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG) (1,4,6,3) 14 p.
2. Platoon (Harm Müller-Spreer, GER), (6,2,1,6) 15 p.
3. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA), (4,7,2,2) 15 p.
4. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS), (9,1,5,1) 16 p.
5. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) (2,3,7,4) 16 p.
6. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) (5,6,3,7) 21 p.
7. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA), (3,8,8,10) 29 p.
8. Paprec Recyclage (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) (8,9,4,9) 30 p.
9. Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE), (7,10,9,8) 34 p.
10. Sorcha (Peter Harrison GBR) (11,5,10,11) 37 p.
11. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA) (10,11,UFD12,5) 38 p.