Azzurra wins a race and stays in the lead at the Miami Royal Cup

by Azzurra on 11 Mar 2017 With an excellent first place finish in the first race followed by an eighth place finish in the second race Azzurra is still in the lead in the Miami Royal Cup with ten points advantage on the second placed boat. Tomorrow is the final day in the second event in the 2017 52 Super Series, the Miami Royal Cup.

With just one day of racing left to go, the Miami Royal Cup is nearing its close. Once again breezes were light and unstable, but the Racing Committee still managed to get racing underway shortly after 2:00 PM in breezes at six to nine knots.

The boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's burgee got a good start in the first race and was at the top of the fleet with Sorcha and Platoon. Azzurra's tactics approaching the first mark were excellent and she got ahead, gradually lengthening her lead on the rest of the fleet and reading the wind shifts correctly. A well-deserved 'orchestral' first place in the words of Cathrine Roemmers, Pablo Roemmers' wife who was guest aboard Azzurra today.

Clouds moving over the regatta course during the second race made winds even more unstable than ever. Azzurra's team didn't made any errors but was often in the wrong spot for breezes. After recovering positions to sixth place she dropped back again and finished eighth in a race that was won by Sled followed by Gladiator. Quantum finished in fifth place, partially making up for her ninth place finish in the first race after being called in OCS at the start.

Quotes of the day:

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “Another day down and only two races before the end of the event. The first place in the first race came easily, but in the second race we were slower from the beginning and always in the spots with less wind. We had a reasonable race, but it shows how difficult the conditions are in Miami. If we thought things were going to be easy after winning the first race, our result in the second race shows that the only easy thing in the 52 Super Series is loosing points. But a first and a eighth is ok if you average it out. Let's see if tomorrow boat speed in light wind.'

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “Things were going great, then we lost it, but let's not complain too much about the eighth place in the second race. We're ten points ahead of the second placed boat, eleven on the third and sixteen on the fourth. That's OK, we're human and we have excellent but human competitors: nobody can win all the time. In the second race the wind was very spotty along both legs. We did our best but I guess it wasn't good enough. Still, it was very difficult to predict the breezes. We just have to keep working hard and learn from our mistakes. We've got to be ready for tomorrow, the event's final day.'

Cathrine Roemmers, guest: 'Today it was a real luxury for me to be guest aboard Azzurra, we have had a really interesting week here in Miami and the event is treating us well. I couldn't be happier for the whole team. Every time you leave the port to race in a regatta you have to earn your win and I was very pleased to see many of the boats performing well today. Especially Azzurra of course, but the level of competition is high and it's always a pleasure to be with the best of the best.'

Tomorrow, March 11th will see the final two races in this event. 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 app. Azzurra will post directly from the regatta course to her Facebook page and Twitter account.

52 Super Series Miami Royal Cup, results after seven races

1. Azzurra (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG), (2,2,1,1,2,1,8) 17 points.
2. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) (5,3,3,4,4,5,3) 27 p.
3. Platoon (GER, Harm Müller-Spreer), (3,1,8,2,7,3,4) 28 p.
4. Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA), (1,4,6,7,1,9,5) 33 p.
5. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) (7, RDG5.5, RDG5.5, RDG5.5,6,7,2) 38.5 p.
6. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS), (10,5,2,6,8,2,7) 40 p.
7. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA), (6, DSQ12,5,9,3,6,1) 42 p.
8. Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE), (4,8,4,3,10,8,10) 47 p.
9. Sorcha (Peter Harrison, GBR) (9,7,9,8,5,4,6) 48 p
10. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA) (8,6,7,5,9,10,9) 54p.
11. Paprec (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) (DNC12, DNC12, DNC12, DNC12, DNC12, DNC12, DNC12,) 84p