Azzurra is 2nd in Coastal race at Audi Sailing Week - 52 Super Series

by Azzurra on 25 Jun 2017 Azzurra finished the coastal race through the Maddalena Archipelago in second place behind the day’s winner: Provezza. Quantum is in third place and tomorrow is the last day of racing at the Audi Sailing Week -52 Super Series.

The boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s burgee was a protagonist in today’s hard fought coastal race, won by the Turkish team aboard Provezza who was in the lead from the start even though she had to contend with Quantum and Azzurra who was also close.

The race that was scheduled for today got underway punctually at 12:00 noon in northwesterly winds that started at 17 and built to 20 knots. There were some stronger gusts about halfway through the race, after the teams rounded the Spargi Island clockwise and passed through Passo delle Bisce following the channel between La Maddalena and Punta Sardegna. After rounding Spargi again the fleet headed back and finished in front of Porto Cervo.

Azzurra was in a good position on the Committee Boat at the start, but was a bit slower than Provezza who was just downwind. Azzurra soon found herself in Provezza’s dirty air. Her team had to maneuver and tack very carefully to get out from under her competitors, but soon she was recovering positions and sailing on the right hand side of the course, closer to Caprera and La Maddalena. Platoon and Ran began a spectacular tacking duel for clean air, but Azzurra disengaged and chose to sail free along Caprera’s coast. Once she neared Spargi she was in third place and began chasing the top teams, Provezza and Quantum. She closed in on Quantum at Passo delle Bisce but couldn’t attack yet.

Azzurra saw her moment just before the finish line when the wind suddenly died between northwesterly breezes and southerly thermal breezes. Azzurra read the conditions right and managed to keep wind in her gennaker and pass Quantum just before the finish line. That’s the kind of performance we expect from this team.

Quotes of the day:

Alberto Roemmers, Owner/helmsman: “It was a really interesting race with a lot of options. The long upwind beat, then a long downwind run. A giant W/L race. We started OK, but didn’t get to the position we wanted. We were almost last then got in the channel and things improved. I helmed upwind to Spargi and managed to pass three boats and in the final leg we were just lucky with the wind. I’m very happy with all the team, they did a really good job. It was a very good day.”

Guillermo Parada, Skipper: “It was a challenging and demanding coastal race. We didn’t start very well and we didn’t feel like we were going very well at the beginning, but slowly we started to recover positions. Alberto did a very good job helming the boat upwind and Vasco positioned us in good spots so we were able to recover to third place. We got a reasonable reach and then on the final run we felt fast again and were lucky because we were in the right place even though the winds were shifting from the northwest to the south. That gave us another opportunity and we passed Quantum and finished second. It’s been a good day, it’s good to feel confident again and we’ll finish tomorrow in the best possible way.”

Vasco Vascotto, tactician: 'Today we sailed well and showed our winning personality. We didn’t get the greatest start and were forced to fight with Platoon and Ràn in the Cannigione gulf. We sailed with gusto and never gave up and were rewarded at the finish were we got the wind shift right: from northwesterly to thermal from the south. This let us recover a position and a point, but in reality we were only consolidating the result of the good work done earlier.”

Tomorrow, June 25rd is the last day of racing at this event, so expect a fight to the finish. The start is scheduled for 12 noon and winds are predicted to be from the northwest at 20 to 25 knots.

Porto Cervo 52 Super Series Audi Sailing Week after six races:

1.Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA) (RET12,1,3,1,4,3) 24pts
2. Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) (4,4,7,4,6,1) 26 pts
3. Rán Racing (Niklas and Catherine Zennström, SWE) (3,7,1,2,10,5) 28 pts
4. Gladiator (Tony Langley, GBR) (8,3,6,5,1,7) 30 pts
5. Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS) (6,6,2,9,2,6) 31 pts
6. Platoon (Harm Müller-Spreer, GER) (7,11,4,3,3,4) 32 pts
7. Azzurra (Alberto and Pablo Roemmers, ITA/ARG) (5,8,5,10,5,2) 35 pts
8. Sled (Takashi Okura, USA) (1,5,9,6,7,8) 36 pts
9. Alegre (Andrés Soriano GBR/USA), (2,RDG7.5,8,8, DNF12, DNC12) 49.5 pts
10. Paprec Recyclage (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA) (10,2,11,11,9,10) 53 pts
11. Sorcha (Peter Harrison, GBR) (9,10,10,7,8,9) 53 pts