Azzurra remains in the top three at the Audi Settimana delle Bocche

by Azzurra on 30 Jun 2016 Azzurra is still in a top position on the scoreboard after a good coastal race and a windward/leeward race in Costa Smeralda.

The third day of racing at the Audi Settimana delle Bocche saw breezes kick in a bit late. The Racing Committee decided on a 12 nautical mile course that took the fleet from Porto Cervo to the Secca di Tre Monti between Sardinia and Caprera, and back. The course was beautiful and challenging and short enough so that the windward/leeward race that had to be abandoned yesterday could be recovered.

The coastal race saw Azzurra finish in fourth place, still at the head of the event, but with just one point on Provezza who won the race followed by Ran and Bronenosec in second and third place. Azzurra got a good start but was in fifth place at the first mark. From there the race heated up with an exchange of positions that saw, on the leg towards Pevero, a spectacular battle between Azzurra, Alegre and Quantum who finished fourth, fifth and sixth.

The following windward/leeward race saw Azzurra get a good start upwind on most of the fleet that was grouped around the pin. Bronenosec, however, covered Azzurra on the first upwind beat and Azzurra finished sixth. Quantum won the race ahead of Ran, who got consistent second place finishes today. Quantum is also currently ahead in the temporary results.

Quotes of the day:

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “We got a very nice race the first race. We enjoyed it. We were in the front of the group, then in the middle, then we came back. It was a good race and we were in a good position. The second race we had an OK start then weren’t able to stay at the front of the group. On the first beat Bronenosec tacked on us and we had to tack twice and that cost us. From there we started to drop back. On the second beat we went to the right and the wind went to the left so we lost a couple more positions. It’s a pity but we’re three points away from the leading boat and there are two days to go so I think we have a real chance at winning the event.”

Vasco Vascotto tactician: “We are happy with our coastal race. Even if we were in fifth place at the top mark before run through the Passo delle Bisce, we were just a half boat length from the first boat, the fleet was so tightly packed. In the windward/leeward race the pin was the best starting point, but we went a bit farther right, not the best position. Boats passed us both on the left and on the right, so we have to analyze our performance and figure out quickly what’s not right in our tuning. It was neither a good day nor an bad one, but too bad we didn’t get a few more points on the leading team in the 52 Super Series 2016.”

Audi Settimana delle Bocche, Standings after day three
1 Quantum Racing, USA (Doug DeVos USA) (9,1,3,6,1) 20pts
2 Rán Racing, SWE (Niklas Zennström SWE) (2,6,10,2,2) 22pts
3 Azzurra, ITA (Pablo/Alberto Roemmers ARG) (8,4,1,4,6) 23pts
4 Provezza, TUR (Ergin Imre TUR) (3,3,11,1,8) 26pts
5 Bronenosec, RUS (Vladimir Liubomirov RUS) (1,11,8,3,4) 27pts
6 Xio/Hurakan, ITA (Marco Serafini ITA) (6 DNS/13,2,7,5) 33pts
7 Platoon, GER (Harm Müller-Spreer GER) (7,2,7,9,9) 34pts
8 Gladiator, GBR (Tony Langley GBR) (5,8,4,8,11) 36pts
9 Sled, USA (Takashi Okura USA) (11,7,6,10,3) 37pts
10 Alegre, GBR (Andres Soriano USA) (10,5,9,5,DNF/13) 42pts
11 Sorcha GBR (Peter Harrison GBR) (4,9,12,11,7) 43pts
12 Paprec FRA (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin FRA) (12,10,5,12,10) 49pts

Tomorrow, July 1st, the Racing Committee is planning two windward/leeward races scheduled to start at noon.