52 Super Series – Puerto Portals Week – Azzurra concludes with a win

by Azzurra on 29 Jul 2016 Azzurra closes the Puerto Portals Sailing Week in Mallorca, the third event in the 2016 52 Super Series, with a win that feels like a wish for good luck in the events to come. Quantum is the Series’ current leader, followed by Azzurra.

There couldn’t have been a better remedy for the sixth place that Azzurra got in today’s first race than winning the second race and closing the Puerto Portals Sailing Week on a high note. The boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s burgee sailed a perfect second race getting a strong start right on the pin and sailing with the tactics to win in the Palma Bay’s thermal breezes. Azzurra got to the first upwind mark alongside Quantum, but edged the American team out with bold and smoothly executed maneuvering. The YCCS boat fought the Americans off downwind and managed to put them behind her.

This excellent result comes thanks to the hard work and long hours put in by the entire team and bodes well for the World Championships that will be held in Mahon in September. Unfortunately, the day’s win wasn’t enough to put Azzurra into second place at Puerto Portals. In fact, in the final race Bronenosec edged out Provezza by just a few centimeters and placed third. With Azzurra and Bronenosec tied for points, the Russian team got the higher step on the podium having placed first more times, as in the first race today.

Azzurra will stay in the Palma Bay where she will be racing next week in the Copa del Rey, an event that is not part of the 52 Super Series this season. Azzurra will sail with TP52s and other off-shore racing boats under IRC rating. This event will be an occasion to put Azzurra through her paces further.

Quotes of the day:
Guillermo Parada, skipper: “It’s always nice for the whole team to finish with a win, not only for the boys on the boat, but also for the shore team. Our sailmaker Michele Bella and sail designer Juan Garay have been working so hard for the last 10 days, really working night and day trying to modify our sails to help us go quicker. I think they really deserve an applause. Obviously finishing third when you’re tied for points for second isn’t nice but it is what it is. Bronenosec won four races so they deserved to beat us. But we have a lot of info and learned a lot and we still have some fine-tuning to do. So we want to get to the Worlds in the best possible shape.”

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “Congratulations to the winners, they have been sailing well and using their boat’s performance to the best advantage. We’re catching up with them though. In Costa Smeralda we finished third tied for points with the fourth placed boat. In this event we finished third tied for points with the second placed boat. We have to make sure that we don’t loose precious points and stay close on the heels of a very fast boat. They have been winning everything since the 2015 Copa del Rey and that means they have a very fast boat. We’re working hard and staying humble, trying to discover their secrets. We’re counting on catching up with them soon.”

52 Super Series - Puerto Portals Sailing Week
Final Standings
1 Quantum Racing, USA (Doug DeVos USA) (4,1,4,5,1,1,1,3,2,2) 24pts
2 Bronenosec, RUS (Vladimir Liubomirov RUS) (1,5,1,8,5,3,8,1,1,3) 36pts
3 Azzurra, ITA (Pablo/Alberto Roemmers ARG) (6,4,2,2,2,4,2,7,6,1) 36pts
4 Provezza, TUR (Ergin Imre TUR) (2,7,5,1,3,2,9,6,4,4) 43pts
5 Platoon, GER (Harm Müller-Spreer GER) (5,6,3,3,7,5,3,9,5,5) 51pts
6 Rán Racing, SWE (Niklas Zennström SWE) (7,9,6,7,6,7,4,2,3,6) 57pts
7 Sled, USA (Takashi Okura JPN) (3,2,8,6,4,9,7,5,8,9) 61pts
8 Alegre, GBR (Andrés Soriano USA) (8,8,9,4,8,8,6,4,7,7) 69pts
9 Gladiator, GBR (Tony Langley GBR) (9,3,7,9,9,6,5,8,9,8) 73pts
10 Xio/Hurakan, ITA (Marco Serafini ITA) (DNS) 110pts

Overall 52 Super Series after three events:
1. Quantum Racing, 78 puntos.
2. Azzurra, 135 p.
3. Platoon, 140 p.
4. Rán Racing, 140 p.
5. Bronenosec, 145 p.
6. Provezza, 146 p.
7. Alegre, 157 p.
8. Sled, 165 p.
9. Gladiator, 206 p.
10. Xio, 232 p.
11. Sorcha, 281 p.
12. Paprec, 282.2 p.