Gaastra 52 World Championship 2013 - Azzura has early edge

by Giuliano Luzzatto on 6 Mar 2013 Gaastra 52 World Championship 2013. Great start for Azzurra that has taken an early edge after the opening day of the world championship thanks to a bullet and a second place. 'We couldn't have asked for a better day, especially under such unpredictable and difficult wind conditions,' commented Azzurra’s owner and helmsman Alberto Roemmers.

Light winds – from 6 to 9 knots – from the southeast and very shifty conditions in the first two races of the TP52 Worlds in Miami. A difficult race course to interpret with a couple of illustrious victims, right among the US teams, puts an emphasis on Azzurra's performance. In the first race, YCCS-flagged yacht has a good start and attacks Gladiator, a boat that always performs well in light breezes: a spectacular battle at the bottom gate and then a great performance in the following beat gave them the lead and the victory. Gladiator was second while Quantum came third. One couldn't have asked for a better start.

The second race was marked by an increasingly shifty wind that veered south, a situation sailors would better describe as a roulette. Azzurra has a good start in the middle but her opponents further to the right manage to recover many boatlengths as they take advantage of a right shift.

Tactician Vasco Vascotto sees the shift and takes Azzurra to the right side of the course. Ran is unstoppable but Vesper capitulates. In the next beat, the Americans on Rio sail well and manage to momentarily overtake Azzurra but the Italian-Argentineans regain their second place in the last run. Quantum finishes fourth, as it moves up from fifth to the detriment of Vesper.

Azzurra leads the Worlds with an advantage of four points over Quantum and five over Ran, consolidating at the same time its leadership in the overall score table of the 52 Super Series

Quotes of the day

Alberto Roemmers, owner and helmsman: 'We couldn't have asked for a better day, especially under such unpredictable and difficult wind conditions. Vasco did a great job in positioning our boat in the best way possible in what regards the breeze and the rest of the fleet. I would also like to thank the entire crew for their excellent work, as they allowed me to achieve these results in conditions that would normally require from the helmsman significantly more training. In fact, my last regatta was the Copa del Rey last year.'

Guillermo Parada, skipper: 'Such a complicated day doesn't allow us to draw any conclusions, although the boat has shown excellent speed even in such soft breeze. We haven't made any modifications to Azzurra while Quantum mounted a new keel that could possibly give them an advantage. We come out well from a potentially very dangerous day. It's a good start but, in fact, it's only the beginning.'

Racing for the Gaastra 52 World Championship will continue on Wednesday, March 6th at 12:30pm local time (6:30pm Italian time). We will be posting live updates from the race course on Azzurra's Facebook page and Twitter account. Live audio commentary in English is available on 52 Super Series while live tracking from Virtual Eye can be found on our official website Azzura

Gaastra 52 World Championships, Results after 2 races.

1.) Azzurra (ITA) 3 pts (1,2)
2.) Quantum Racing (USA) 7pts (3,4)
3.) Rán Racing (SWE) 8pts (7,1)
4.) Gladiator (GBR) 8pts (2,6)
5.) Vesper (USA) 10pts (5,5)
6.) Rio (USA) 11pts (8, 3)
7.) Interlodge (USA) 11pts (4,7)
8.) Gaastra-Pro (NED) 14pts Azzura TP52