Azzurra climbs back up in the standings at TP52 Super Series

by Azzurra on 26 May 2016 Azzurra climbs back up in the standings showing excellent form. Today was Provezza's day with two bullets; Azzurra took second in race two, while Quantum still has the overall lead.

This morning Azzurra left the dock at Marina di Scarlino impatient to put yesterday's unsatisfactory performance behind her. The 10 to 14 knot southwesterly wind was slightly stronger and more stable than forecast, allowing the race committee to run two perfect windward-leeward races, starting punctually at 1300.

The first race got off to an inauspicious start when the umpires penalized Azzurra just a few seconds before the gun with the fleet fighting for the pin end to take the favored left side. After doing her penalty turn, Azzurra began an excellent comeback, finishing in sixth position thanks to the steady nerves of the crew. The first race was won by Provezza, followed by Bronenosec and Platoon and with Quantum in fourth edging out Xio Huracan, the other Italian boat which is getting better each race.

Azzurra won an excellent start on the right end of the line in the second race, breaking Quantum's cover, while Provezza had another excellent day with a perfect pin end start. Azzurra and Provezza rounded the top mark together, while Provezza's inside position gave her the lead over Azzurra on the downwind leg, who, while ably keeping Quantum behind her, continued to attack the Turkish team.

Today the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's TP52 demonstrated that she still merits the number one on her bow and that the team is firmly intentioned to keep on the same course for the rest of the Scarlino Cup.

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “It was a better day for us, in the last race it felt as if we had finally started racing. At the beginning of the day it could have become a disaster: at the start of the first race we got a penalty that put us at the back of the fleet. I'm not very convinced it was a real penalty, but there it was, so at that stage we needed to stay really cool to avoid the regatta turning into a disaster, but the team stayed firm and we recovered six positions. In the second race we got a nice clear start on the right of the fleet and we got to the top mark right behind Provezza, and from there on the race was a little easier for us. So we had a better day and are looking forward to improving tomorrow.”

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “After a day like yesterday we had no time to lose. In the first race we sailed beautifully, recovering from a penalty in the pre-start: everyone wanted to start on the left, so the pin end was quite crowded. From last place we managed to climb back into sixth. In the second race we were very close to putting our bow in front of Provezza at the first mark: today's performance is right on target to bring us back into the top positions in the circuit. In any case there's one boat that's going better; the others are up and down, while we are constantly improving and intend to continue this way!

The splendid panorama of the Tuscan Archipelago will be the backdrop for tomorrow's costal race, with Cerboli and Palmaiola Islands as marks.

52 Super Series - Scarlino Cup
Standings after two days

1 Quantum Racing, USA (Doug DeVos USA) (1,3,4,3) 11 pts
2 Provezza, TUR (Ergin Imre TUR) (4,9,1,1) 15 pts
3 Platoon, GER (Harm Müller-Spreer GER) (5,2,3,6) 16 pts
4 Rán Racing, SWE (Niklas Zennström SWE) (3,4,7,4) 18 pts
5 Alegre, GBR (Andres Soriano USA) (2,5,8,5) 20 pts
6 Azzurra, ITA (Pablo/Alberto Roemmers ARG) (7,8,6,2) 23 pts
7 Sled, USA (Takashi Okura USA) (6,1,9,8) 24 pts
8 Bronenosec, RUS (Vladimir Liubomirov RUS) (9,6,2,7) 24 pts
9 Xio/Hurakan, ITA (Marco Serafini ITA) (8,7,5,9) 29 pts
10 Gladiator, GBR (Tony Langley GBR) (10,10,10,10) 40 pts
11 Paprec FRA (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin FRA) (11,11,11,11) 44 pts