Azzurra wins the first race in 52 Super Series Sailing Week Menorca

by Azzurra on 19 Sep 2017 There were two windward-leeward races scheduled today at the Menorca 52 Super Series, but shifty unstable northerly winds forced the Race Committee to abandon the second. Racing got underway punctually at 12:30 CEST in breezes at 13 knots and choppy seas.

The week started in the best of ways for the boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's burgee: a clean win that lengthens her lead on her competitors: Azzurra now has 8 points on Platoon and 10 on Quantum. A good sign, but the event has just begun and all teams need to stay on their toes.

Azzurra started on the left, third from the pin, fast and perfectly on time. While the rest of the fleet was compact, Azzurra was free and skipper Guillermo Parada to helm powerfully through the waves that were up to three meters. Azzurra's lead only increased during the race. Paprec and Sled got good starts while Gladiator was right behind Azzurra on first upwind leg.

Azzurra's closest competitors in the Series overall, Platoon and Quantum, didn't get good starts, but recovered positions. Especially Quantum, who finished fourth after having rounded the first upwind mark ninth. Platoon finished in sixth place. The final downwind leg saw winds dying down to 8-9 knots, shifting up to 60 degrees, and getting puffy and undependable. Gladiator and Sled took advantage of the situation, and recovered a bit on Azzurra, but the YCCS boat's leadership was never in discussion.

After the first race there was a long wait in the hopes of more stable conditions, but in the end the Race Committee called the fleet back to port. Tomorrow's forecast sees medium to light winds from the northeast in the morning that will become light and from the south in the afternoon. There could be a lull during the transition between these fronts. This forecast has brought the Race Committee to anticipate tomorrow's start to 11:00 AM.

Quotes of the day:
Guillermo Parada, Skipper: 'This is the way we dreamed of starting the event, but at the same time it doesn't really mean anything because we still have a long and demanding week ahead. We need to keep calm and do our thing and have trust in ourselves. Most of all we need to keep doing what we have learned during the season and that has brought us here in this position. Nothing has really changed from yesterday, we got a good start, but we still have a long way to go.'

Vasco Vascotto, Tactician: 'We were ready, concentrated and confident for this first race and the result shows it, this really feels good. But we are still only a little bit ahead. Tomorrow is another day and we have to sail motivated and charged up, we can't rest on today's laurels. Our skipper was great, he got a perfect start putting us right where we wanted to be. He helmed fast which isn't easy in seas this choppy. We got the advantage and we stayed in tune with the wind.'

Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week after one race:

1. Azzurra (Alberto and Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG), (1) 1 p.
2. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) (2) 2 p.
3. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA), (3) 3 p.
4. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA), (4) 4 p.
5. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) (5) 5 p.
6. Platoon (Harm Müller-Spreer, GER), (6) 6 p.
7. Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE), (7) 7 p.
8. Paprec Recyclage (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) (8) 8 p.
9. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS), (9) 9 p.
10. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA) (10) 10 p.
11. Sorcha (Peter Harrison GBR) (11) 11 p.

52 Super Series Provisional Scoreboard Overall

1. Azzurra (Alberto e Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG), 173 p.
2. Platoon (GER, Harm Müller-Spreer), 181 p.
3. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA), 183 p.
4. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) 210,3 p.
5. Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE), 227 p.
6. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS), 244 p.
7. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA), 257 p.
8. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) 291,6 p.
9. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA), 307,3 p.