Azzurra is in Florida ready to begin the 2017 season

by Giuliano Luzzatto on 16 Jan 2017 Azzurra's 2017 season officially starts today with the first Practice Race in the 52 Super Series.

Azzurra's team headed out from port very early this morning to make the best use of the last few available hours to pin down the final details of boat's fine tuning ahead of today's Practice Race. Today was a day on the water that doesn't count for points, but is the first official gathering in the 52 Super Series 2017.

There are 11 TP52s racing in southern Florida, and all are ready to sail at the top level. The teams didn't have much time to make improvements on their boats because the 2016 season had its final event in Portugal just three months ago. The TP52 Class races under a Box and not a One Design rule, so this is a Grand Prix category, where each team is encouraged to experiment and innovate within the Class rules. But there wasn't much time for experimenting after getting the fleet from Portugal to Florida.

As always, Azzurra has a team of top sailors aboard and this season they include some new entries. Klaus Lange, the Rio Olympian in the 49er Class, just celebrated his 21-year-old birthday here in Key West and sailed today as Azzurra’s mid-bowman substituting the principal mid-bow, Juan Pablo Marcos, who will arrive in Florida shortly after having participated in the Cape Town- Rio de Janeiro race finishing just last night. This season, Azzurra will be able to count on the experience of sailor Ciccio Celon, headsails trimmer during Alinghi’s winning defense of the America's Cup.

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: 'Here we are, at the eve of Azzurra’s sixth season, but this team has eleven years of experience under their belts in the TP52 Class. We still have a strong feeling of loyalty and responsibility towards the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, and this first day of the season starts still feels like the first day of school. Starting tomorrow we’ll see if we did a good job on our homework over this short break. As always, we worked hard but we know that the other competitors did too.”

Racing will begin tomorrow January 16th at 11AM local time, 5:00pm Italian time.

Entry List - Quantum Key West Race Week:

• Alegre
• Azzurra
• Bronenosec Gazprom
• Gladiator
• Interlodge
• Paprec Recyclage
• Platoon
• Provezza
• Quantum Racing
• Ran Racing
• Sled

52 Super Series 2017

• Quantum Key West Race Week - Key West, Florida, January 15 – 20
• 52 Super Series Miami Royal Cup - Miami, Florida, March 6 – 11
• TP52 World Championship 2017 -Scarlino, YCS, May 15 – 20
• Porto Cervo 52 Super Series Sailing Week - Porto Cervo, YCCS, June 20 – 25.
• Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week - Puerto Portals, CRPP, July 23 – 28.
• Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week - Mahón, CMM, September 18 – 23.