Azzurra stays in the lead in the 52 Super Series - Miami Royal Cup

by Azzurra on 10 Mar 2017 With an excellent second place finish in the only race raced today Azzurra is still in the lead in the Miami Royal Cup. Conditions were very light and unstable so there was only one race today.

The third day of racing in the waters off South Beach saw very light breezes from the east/ southeast at six to nine knots, much lighter than had been predicted. The fleet left port then had to wait two and a half hours for the breeze to stabilize. Racing only got underway at 3:00 PM.

The day's only race saw Azzurra get a good start to the left of the course, close to Sled, who got a fast start and gave Azzurra a hard time for the whole race. Quantum didn't get a very good start but still managed to take the lead at the first upwind mark, showing her full potential in light wind conditions.

The American team won just as Azzurra was catching up along the last downwind leg. The rest of the fleet fought it out, passing and getting passed. Azzurra was always amongst the top four boats but had to take advantage of even the tiniest puff to stay ahead of Sled and Provezza, who finished third and fourth place respectively. Racing was then called off for lack of wind. Azzurra is still in the lead in the Miami Royal Cup for 11 points on Quantum racing, second, and Provezza, third.

Quotes of the day:

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “Today was a very tough day tactically and it was very difficult to place the boat on the correct geometry. There were a lot of wind holes and the breeze was shifty and we really felt the ocean current too. It was very challenging and potentially very risky. Overall we did a good job, we had good clean start and were able to make the choices we wanted at the beginning of the race. Boat speed was ok, but Quantum still has something extra in today's type of conditions. We tried to be the best of the rest. We're pleased with our second place today because the conditions were very challenging and it would have been easy to make mistakes and loose points. Now we need to analyze the data and see how we can improve in the light air conditions that are predicted for the next couple of days. It will all depend on our light air speed.'

Tomorrow, March 10th conditions should be similar to today's. Racing is scheduled to get underway at 1:00 PM local time, 7:00 PM CET. Fans can follow live streaming with commentary in English from the regatta course on the 52 Super Series website or app. Azzurra will post directly to her Facebook page and Twitter account.

52 Super Series Miami Royal Cup, results after five races

1. Azzurra (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG), (2,2,1,1,2) 8 points.
2. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) (5,3,3,4,4) 19 p.
3. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA), (1,4,6,7,1) 19 p.
4. Platoon (GER, Harm Müller-Spreer), (3,1,8,2,7) 21 p.
5. Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE), (4,8,4,3, 10) 29 p.
6. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS), (10,5,2,6, 8) 31 p.
7. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA) (8,6,7,5,9) 35 p.
8. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA), (6, DSQ12,5,9,3) 35 p.
9. Sorcha (Peter Harrison, GBR) (9,7,9,8,5) 38 p
10. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) (7, RDG8, RDG8, DNC12,6) 41 p.
11. Paprec (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) (DNC12, DNC12, DNC12, DNC12, DNC12) 60 p