2015 TP52 World Championship - Azzurra maintains its lead
by Azzurra Sailing Team on 17 Jul 2015
Azzurra at the lead - 2015 TP52 World Championship Pedro Martinez / Martinez Studio
Azzurra’s lead in the TP52 World Championship is further consolidated with her consistent strong placements today. She is now leading the second placed boat by 14 points.
With a win in the coastal race and a second place in the windward/leeward race that came before it, Azzurra finished a long day on the water in the best of ways consolidating her leadership in the 52 World Championship with 14 points on the second placed boat in the provisional rankings: Bronenosec.
In the first race of the day, a classic windward/leeward course, Azzurra was second in a photo finish ending where she was edged out by Alegre. The race gave proof of her team’s reactivity: after a difficult start where she was squeezed between two boats, Azzurra managed a starboard tack just before a wind shift that allowed her to recover positions and get to the head of the fleet. Only Alegre managed to stay ahead of the YCCS boat, winning the race by half a length.
The coastal race was about 18nm long and saw a big wind shift to the left. Azzurra got a start right on the pin then made the correct choice between staying in the best spot and controlling the part of the fleet that was heading towards the right hand section of the course where the land formation created a lift. The Italian team Xio Hurakan was first at the upwind mark, Azzurra was fourth. Second at the downwind gate, the YCCS boat recovered meter by meter until she was in the lead. She won handily placing before Bronenosec and Platoon. Azzurra’s historic rival, Quantum Racing, managed to recover positions overall today closing with third and fourth place finishes.
Guillermo Parada, Azzurra’s skipper had these words: “It was a long but important day for the team, we are happy and enjoying this sweet moment because we know that we still have some hard days in front of us. When you have a day like this you need to enjoy it. I’m very happy, the boat is sailing fast and we wanted to thank our supporters and shore team and everybody who has been helping us have days like today.”
Vasco Vascotto, tactician: 'We sailed well and are back with the boat speed that we couldn’t quite find the past couple of days. This is good news for us. We are very satisfied, now we have to stay calm and concentrated at the same time. When you’re ahead you can get lax, but our competitors are still hungry.
52 World Championship Puerto Portals after six races
1. Azzurra, ITA (Pablo/Alberto Roemmers ARG) (2,7,2,3,2,1) 17 puntos
2. Bronenosec, (Vladimir Liubomirov RUS) (9,3,10,2,5,2) 31 pts
3. Alegre, GBR (Andres Soriano USA) (7,2,7,10,1,6) 33 pts
4. Quantum Racing, (Doug DeVos USA) (3,11,3,9,3,4) 33 pts
5. Platoon, (Harm Müller-Spreer GER) (1,5,6,12,8,3) 35 pts
6. Provezza, (Ergin Imre TUR) (11,6,1,1,10,7) 36 pts
7. Phoenix, (Eduardo de Souza Ramos BRA) (4,12,4,4,4,12) 40 pts
8. Sled, USA (Takashi Okura JPN) (6,1,12,7,7,8) 41 pts
9. Rán Racing, (Niklas Zennström SWE) (5,4,5,6,11,10) 41 pts
10. Paprec (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin FRA) (10,9,11,8,9,5) 52 pts
11. Gladiator, (Tony Langley GBR) (DNF/13,10,9,5,6,11) 54 pts
12. Xio/Hurakan, (Marco Serafini ITA) (8,8,8,11,12,9) 56 pts
2015 Calendar 52 SUPER SERIES
18 to 23 May: Valencia (Spain)
8 to 13 June: Porto Cervo (Italy, Sardinia)
13 to 18 July: Puerto Portals (Spain, Mallorca)
3 to 8 August: Palma de Mallorca (Spain)
15 to 20 September: Cascais (Portugal)
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