Please select your home edition
Edition
A+T Instruments BFD 2024 Leaderboard

Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week - Day 1

by 52 Super Series 22 May 2019 06:09 AEST 21-25 May 2019
52 SUPER SERIES Menorca day 1 © Max Ranchi / www.maxranchi.com

Azzurra make dream start to 2019 in Menorca

Menorca has been good to Azzurra when the 52 SUPER SERIES has visited in the past. In 2016 they turned a corner at the Menorca event to convert a bad season to a clear win the last event of the season in Cascais. And in 2017 the Italian-Argentine team clinched the season-long series title, partying long into the night in Mahón.

Today the Roemmers' family team made a very strong start to the 2019 52 SUPER SERIES with a second and first from the first two races to jump out to a clear early lead at the Menorca 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week.

In light winds, just six to 11 knots of patchy breezes, it was the brand-new, straight-from-the-wrapper Bronenosec that took first blood in Race 1, Day 1 of 2019, to give Russian owner Vladimir Liubomirov the best welcome back to the world's leading grand prix mononhull circuit after a year out.

With Croatian sailing hero Sime Fantela, the 470 Rio gold medal winner, promoted to the helm on what was his first ever 52 SUPER SERIES race, Bronenosec led all the way round the course to take the first winning gun of a highly anticipated season.

Azzurra started best in the second contest, nailing the pin end of the line to be sure that they like Bronenosec in the first heat could not be challenged at all after the windward mark.

While the three-time circuit champions Azzurra had a standout day, the 2018 champions Quantum Racing made a modest start to their title defence with an eighth in the 11-boat fleet in the day's first race followed by a fifth to lie seventh overall.

Skipper helm of Azzurra Guillermo Parada smiled on the dock:
"We are happy with the start to the season but there is a certain relief after all the winter jobs, the testing and training that we have done to confirm that the boat is going well and we are able to fifth in conditions that were previously a weakness, light airs were not our strength and so we have focused our efforts in particular on this. So more than the results today, which after all is just one day in what we hope with be 25 days of racing, we feel that the boat is going well."

The champions have five key crew changes to their title winning line up and, although they won the PalmaVela warm up regatta a week ago, today they twice came off second best as they sought key positions on the start line at both starts.

During the second contest their return from the lower reaches of the fleet to earn fifth was more like the usual Quantum Racing, an improvement on Race 1. Quantum held an early second place at the first windward mark but dropped to finish eighth. They were forced to the unfavoured right of the second upwind and suffered badly.

The new French team on the circuit, Team Vision Future who sail the 2015 former Sled, showed well in the second race only just losing their fifth to Quantum Racing on the finish line.

The obvious tension and excitement of the first day of a highly anticipated season has dissipated and it is down to business on what promises to be a long and challenging season.

Results after Day 1: (two races)

1. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto / Pablo Roemmers) (2,1) 3pts
2. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (5,2) 7pts
3. Bronenosec (RUS) (Vladimir Liubomirov) (1,7) 8pts
4. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (6,3) 9pts
5. Phoenix 12 (RSA) (Tina Plattner) (7,4) 11pts
6. Phoenix 11 (RSA) (Hasso Plattner) (3,10) 13pts
7. Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (8,5) 13pts
8. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (4,11) 15pts
9. Team Vision Future (FRA) (Jean Jacques Chaubbard) (10,6) 16pts
10. Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) (9,8) 17pts
11. Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley) (11,9) 20pts

For full results, visit bit.ly/2wkggTj

Racing at the Menorca 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week starts on Tuesday 21st May and finishes on Saturday 25th May. The boats can be tracked online or via the 52 SUPER SERIES app with live commentary and expert analysis throughout each race. Shows start 15 minutes before racing is due to begin.

Related Articles

52 Super Series Porto Cervo practice race
The loss of the last 'dress rehearsal' is something of a disappointment Although there was just enough breeze to execute a couple of meaningful practice starts, the breeze dropped away and thereafter proved insufficient to allow the planned two short official practice races to be sailed today off Porto Cervo. Posted on 22 Sep
Exceptional Line-Up for Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
Over 240 remarkable yachts will take to the waters of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez Over 240 remarkable yachts will take to the waters of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez from September 27 to October 5, carried by the lively winds of late September that extend the Tropezian summer with its golden light. Posted on 18 Sep
52 Super Series Porto Cervo preview
Spectacular Sardina will see teams looking to finish 2025 on a high note Teams on the 52 SUPER SERIES head to the renowned YC Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo for the final event of the season, 52 SUPER SERIES - Porto Cervo - Range Rover regatta, all sharing the same, universal ambition, to finish on an absolute high note. Posted on 17 Sep
Range Rover main sponsor for 52 Super Series Week
The event will mark the conclusion of the YCCS 2025 sporting season The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda will bring its 2025 sporting season to a close with the final leg of the 52 Super Series, one of the world's premier professional grand prix circuits. Posted on 4 Sep
Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Overall
It's a certain kind of Magic… On the 52 SUPER SERIES' return to the Mediterranean after two regattas in the Atlantic, 2025 circuit leaders American Magic Quantum Racing scored a resounding victory today on the Bay of Palma, Mallorca, lifting the top prize. Posted on 23 Aug
Bulwarks and Bulldust – Show 4 Season 2
Bulwarks and Bulldust welcomes Jack Macartney into the Captain's Chair This week Bulwarks and Bulldust speaks with Jack Macartney, legendary Australian sailor, Sydney to Hobart winner, RTW racer, 18-footer driver, and co-owner of Cannafox. Posted on 23 Aug
Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Day 4
American Magic Quantum Racing go into final day with an 18 point lead American Magic Quantum Racing have given themselves what appears to be a relatively straightforward task as they now go into the final day of the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week with a margin of 18 points with two races still to sail. Posted on 22 Aug
Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Day 3
American Magic lead at the midpoint Doug DeVos' American Magic Quantum Racing emerge with a slender one point lead overall at the end of a long mentally and physically demanding three race programme today on the Bay of Palma at Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week in Mallorca. Posted on 21 Aug
Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Day 2
Sled move into contention with race win. Takashi Okura's Sled move into second place on the 12 boat leaderboard some five points behind Andy Soriano's regatta leaders Alegre which took a well earned second in the only contest to be sailed today. Posted on 20 Aug
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez preview
Here, there is no prize money - only the pursuit of glory True to tradition, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez honours each of its 19 classes with awards presented in the pure Corinthian spirit inherited from the legendary Nioulargue. Here, there is no prize money - only the pursuit of glory. Posted on 19 Aug
Rolly Tasker Sails 2023 FOOTERRooster 2025MarkSetBot