2016 52 Super Series - Azzurra moves up in the rankings

by Giuliano Luzzatto on 29 May 2016 2016 52 Super Series - Light and unstable breezes meant that there was just one race today, that Sled won. At just a day from the end of the event Azzurra is tied for points for fourth place. Tomorrow racing should begin at 12 noon.

Today's forecast was for light breezes, but they didn't kick in. Light breezes began to form in the late afternoon and at about 3:00 PM, a start was called only to be called off seconds before its scheduled time because of unstable breezes. Finally a race got off to a start at 4:50 PM in nine to ten knots at 260°.

Azzurra got a good start on the pin, a position she chose because it was favourable even though breezes were expected to turn towards the right. Immediately after the start breezes turned 30° towards the right and Azzurra was in the wrong place. In spite of this the boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's burgee managed to round the first upwind mark in fifth place, a position she held on to up until the end of the race. There were no tactical opportunities to take advantage of to recover positions.

Sled, in the right place at the right time, won the race by a wide margin, followed by Platoon, Alegre, Quantum and Azzurra. The Italians aboard Xio, after getting an OCS, recovered well and finished seventh after Paprec. Ran, Bronenosec, Provezza and Gladiator all had trouble and finished in the above order. Today's fifth place finish makes Azzurra tied for fourth place with Provezza, who got two first places yesterday.

Quotes of the day:

Guillermo Parada, skipper: 'Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of breeze today so we spent a lot of time waiting. When the breeze finally came we knew that we wanted to go to the right, but at the same time there were 15 degrees of advantage to the pin, so the critical decision was the timing: how quick and how much the wind shift would be and when it would come. We started on the pin on those 15 degrees of bias and waited to see what happened. Unfortunately, the breeze came 30 degrees to the right in less than three minutes. Evidently things are not going our way, it hasn't been our lucky week so far, but we're holding strong and know that sooner or late it will be our time in the sun'.

Bruno Zirilli, navigator: “It was a long hard day for everybody, including the Race Committee. Breezes kept shifting from right to left and were at just four knots at the waterline, seven - eight at the top of the mast. When it looked like breezes were stable at 260° they called the second start, but then it went over 30° to the right. The Committee didn't change the first downwind gate and only changed the course at the next upwind gate. The breeze kept shifting and the last downwind leg was a long run that didn't allow for any change in positions'.

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “I'm sure we'll get better results soon. We managed to tack in front of boats that got the better side of a wind that changed direction by over 30° so I'm sure we don't have to worry.'

Tomorrow, the last day, racing should start at noon in the hopes of getting at least two, possibly even three races in. A weather front from the south is expected to then turn towards the northwest. It should be another day of tough conditions at the Scarlino Cup. The races can be followed on Virtual Eye at website with live commentary in English courtesy of the 52 Super Series.

52 Super Series - Scarlino Cup

Standings after Day 4

1 Quantum Racing, USA (Doug DeVos USA) (1,3,4,3,4,4) 19 pts
2 Platoon, GER (Harm Müller-Spreer GER) (5,2,3,6,5,2) 23 pts
3 Alegre, GBR (Andres Soriano USA) (2,5,8,5,2,3) 25 pts
4 Provezza, TUR (Ergin Imre TUR) (4,9,1,1,6,10) 31 pts
5 Azzurra, ITA (Pablo/Alberto Roemmers ARG) (7,8,6,2,3,5) 31 pts
6 Sled, USA (Takashi Okura USA) (6,1,9,8,8,1) 33 pts
7 Bronenosec, RUS (Vladimir Liubomirov RUS) (9,6,2,7,1,9) 34 pts
8 Rán Racing, SWE (Niklas Zennström SWE) (3,4,7,4,10,8) 36 pts
9 Xio/Hurakan, ITA (Marco Serafini ITA) (8,7,5,9,7,7) 43 pts
10 Paprec FRA (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin FRA) (11,11,11,11,9,6) 59 pts
11 Gladiator, GBR (Tony Langley GBR) (10,10,10,10,11,11) 62pts