Azzurra retains her overall lead in difficult conditions

by Giuliano Luzzatto on 17 Sep 2015 With second and fifth place finishes today, Azzurra is holding on to her leadership overall in the 52 Super Series 2015 with just a few races to go before the end of the Series which closes with the end of the Cascais Cup on Sunday.

Azzurra closed a day of racing in variable weather conditions and rough seas with two solid finishes - a fifth place in the first race and a second place in the second.

Azzurra got two good starts today with her planned tactic of not forcing her hand to preserve the leading margin gained over the course of the season. The first race was won by the American boat Vesper who has shown its stuff in past events of the 52 Super Series and now is back in top form. Second place was won by another American boat, Spookie, while third place was contested between Quantum, Platoon and Azzurra who ended up finishing third, fourth and fifth respectively.

The second race began after a long wait that saw westerly winds at about 10 knots become northerly winds with gusts of up to 20 knots. Spookie showed her stuff, holding off Azzurra who managed to pass her a couple of times, and winning the second race. Quantum placed third after an excellent recovery while other boats who had gotten good starts and were in the leading positions made tactical errors in the first downwind leg.

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “It was a good and challenging day. There were a lot of changes in wind speed and direction and big waves: very demanding conditions especially for tacticians. I think that overall we should be happy. We got two good starts and were in control of the situation and were able to make our own decisions. Unfortunately, in one race we weren’t able to hold Quantum back and they passed us but in the second race we were able to hold them back. We only lost one point, we’re two races closer to the end of the season and we’re very close to the leaders in this event so overall we achieved our goal for the day. There are things to improve and we have to talk as a team tonight but hopefully we’ll do even better tomorrow.'

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “We can’t complain about our final result but in all honesty I have to admit that I made some mistakes. To put it simply, I didn’t sail well and that bothers me. I want to be hard on myself and strive to sail better each and every day. But today as we were leaving port I could have sworn that the day was going to go just the way it did.”

Tomorrow the starting signal is scheduled for 1:00 PM local time, 2:00 PM CEST time, with a windward/leeward race followed by a short coastal race of about 15 nm on the roster. Winds are predicted to be light from the northwest with sea state diminishing.

52 Super Series - Cascais Cup after two races

1. Spookie pt. 3
2. Quantum pt. 6
3. Vesper pt. 7
4. Azzurra pt. 7
5. Platoon pt. 9
6. Provezza pt. 13
7. Bronenosec pt. 15
8. Gladiator pt. 15
9. Sled pt. 15
10. Paprec pt. 21
11. Alegre pt. 22
12. Xio Hurakan pt. 23