Quantum Key West Race Week - Azzurra hangs on to third place

by Giuliano Luzzatto on 18 Jan 2017 Azzurra is still in third place after a difficult day on the water. Quantum moves up to second place behind the leader, Platoon, who is just five points ahead of Azzurra.

Day 2 in the Key West Race Week had conditions similar to yesterday’s with winds from the Southeast at 16 to 20 knots and choppy seas. Azzurra’s third and eighth place finishes for the day barely reflect how difficult the day was. Nevertheless, she is still in third place tied with Bronenosec.

In the first race Azzurra got an excellent start at the center and had a good upwind leg. She rounded the mark behind Gladiator. The two boats stayed in the top two positions until Azzurra challenged Gladiator on the last downwind leg. She had almost overtaken her when her team noticed from under the enormous A2 gennaker that a J 111 was bearing down on them. In the attempt to avoid collision, Azzurra’s A2 was torn on the J111’s mast and in just a few seconds Azzurra slipped back from a likely first place to third. Provezza took advantage and finished second. Ideally, the 52 Super Series should always be held on a course of its own, without other boat Classes in the way. Azzurra paid dearly for the damage she suffered because her A2, the ideal sail for these conditions, was out of commission for the rest of the day.

Azzurra got another excellent start in the second race, but the Committee could not see her well as she was covered by other boats. In the confusion she was called OCS, then the Committee realized their error after she had already gybed to turn back. The race was abandoned and the start was called again.

Azzurra got another good start on the pin, just ahead and leeward of Quantum. The American team was slowed down by Azzurra, and had to tack losing a position to Interlodge. Unfortunately for Azzurra, Quantum found a good breeze at the center of the course and took the lead. Azzurra missed her moment to tack, and got stuck on the left between other boats while the breeze shifted towards the right. At the first upwind mark Azzurra was seventh in a tightly packed fleet and couldn’t work her way out partly because she didn’t have her A2 anymore.

Racing will begin tomorrow at 11am local time, 5:00pm CET. Fans can watch live footage from the races on the website.

Quotes of the day:

Guillermo Parada, skipper: 'Yesterday I said that we had better results than we deserved, but I think that today went just the opposite. We were fighting for first place in the first race and didn't see a J 111 sailing on our same course upwind. We got a penalty and tore our gennaker, we had to drop it, change it, and do a penalty turn and lost at least one place, if not two. We finished third. The worst thing was that we also broke our only A2 and that ended up compromising our second race.'

“In the second race we got a very good start, but were called early. By the time we were turning back the Committee realized that we really hadn't been early and the race had to be abandoned, unluckily for us because we were leading the pack by a long way. We got a good start again but without an A2 we were very, very slow and paid a price in the traffic trying to sail with just an A4. At some stages we were almost last but we fought hard and risked a little on the last run with another kite. It is what it is, we're five points from the lead with six races to go. We're happy because the boat is sailing well, and we're looking forward to the next three days.'

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “Today we could have been celebrating a fantastic day, but instead we’re here going over what went wrong. I’m happy and sure that things will get better; the boat is sailing well. I think that today’s bad luck has a bit to do with the unlucky number 17. It’s better to trip up early and then improve than to curse bad luck in the final races. There’s still an entire season ahead.

In the first race we were just about to pass Gladiator and get first place, but we hadn’t noticed a J 111 upwind from us. We barely avoided a collision, but our gennaker tore on their mast and we got a penalty. From first to third and but we avoided damaging the boats.'

“In the second race we got an excellent start but the Committee called it off because there were other boats in OCS and they called our hull number by mistake. On the second time around we were alongside Quantum, and forced them to tack. Too bad that in doing that we lost our own chance to tack. To top it off Quantum went on to win while we got stuck in the fleet for the rest of the race and couldn’t recover. But I repeat, I’m feeling confident about the rest of the season.”

52 Super Series

2017 Quantum Key West Race Week standings after four races.

1 Platoon (GER) Harm Müller-Spreer (GER) 1,1,6,6 14pts
2 Quantum Racing (USA) Doug DeVos (USA) 3,7,4,1 15pts
3 Azzurra (ITA) Alberto and Pablo Roemmers (ARG) 6,2,3,8 19pts
4 Bronenosec (RUS) Vladimir Liubomirov (RUS) 7,4,5,3 19pts
5 Provezza (TUR) Ergin Imre (TUR) 8,9,2,2 21pts
6 Rán Racing (SWE) Niklas Zennström (SWE) 4,6,9,4 23pts
7 Sled (USA) Takashi Okura (USA) 2,5,8,11 26pts
8 Interlodge (USA) Austin & Gwen Fragomen (USA) 5,8,11,5 29pts
9 Gladiator (GBR) Tony Langley (GBR) 10,10,1,9 30pts
10 Alegre (GBR) Andy Soriano (USA) 11,3,7,10 31pts
11 Paprec Recyclage (FRA) Jean-Luc Petithuguenin (FRA) 9,11,10,7 37pts