52 Super Series 2018: A difficult coastal race for Azzurra

Azzurra hasn’t been finding her stride in the shifty breezes along the Dalmatian coast and today’s coastal race was won with a handy margin by Sled. Platoon is currently first overall in the first event in the 2018 52 Super Series.

Today’s 35 nm coastal race followed a course that threaded its way through the islands off Šibenik, It was practically a solo performance by Sled, who was in first place right from the start.  The Japanese/American team, with New Zealander and 35th America’s Cup champion Ray Davies as tactician, read the unstable and shifty winds funnelling through the hilly and irregular landmass correctly. As they progressively lengthened their lead on the rest of the fleet, the French team aboard Paprec managed to fight off a final assault on the part of Platoon who recovered positions up to third place.
 
Azzurra got a good start tacking to port to sail on the right hand side of the course that was favourable. She rounded the upwind mark together with Gladiator, in third place. At the downwind gate the light breezes died down and Azzurra got stuck in a wind hole and dropped back to seventh place. The long upwind leg through the islands saw frequent changes of position in the compact fleet. Winds built back up to 12 knots and even higher along the run. Azzurra was in seventh place when she hoisted her gennaker and passed Alegre and Onda. But she missed her chance approaching the island Dugo where Alegre covered her and the rest of the fleet caught up.

At the end of the day Azzurra placed tenth which is not satisfying, but could be a spur to do better in the rest of the event.  

The current scoreboard sees Platoon in the lead of this event, followed by Quantum and Onda.
At the end of the day Azzurra placed tenth which is not satisfying, but could be a spur to do better in the rest of the event.  

The current scoreboard sees Platoon in the lead of this event, followed by Quantum and Onda.

Tomorrow there are two windward/leeward races scheduled and winds are expected to be at 7 to 15 knots from the southwest. Starting time has been pushed back to 1 PM. As always, racing can be followed via Virtual Eye on the website 52superseries.com and on azzurra.it. Azzurra’s Facebook and Twitter accounts will have real time updates directly from the regatta course.

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “It wasn’t a good day for the blue team. We were always just a little bit off positioning ourselves where we wanted to be and we made a couple of tactical mistakes and messed up a couple of manoeuvres. With a fleet this competitive, you pay a high price for even the smallest error. But the boat speed is still good and we’re in good spirits. It’s just something we have to work through and we will. Tomorrow is another day and we’re looking forward to going back out and showing what we can do."

Sibenik 52 SUPER SERIES Provisional Results after 3 races

1. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (1,4,3) 8 p.
2. Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (4,1,8) 13 p.
3. Onda (BRA) (Eduardo de Souza Ramos) (2,7,5) 14 p.
4. Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) (12,3,1) 16 p.
5. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (5,9,4) 18 p.
6. Paprec Recyclage (FRA) (Jean Luc Petithuguenin) (6,12,2) 20 p.
7. Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley) (10(+2 PEN),2,7) 21 p.
8. Luna Rossa (ITA) (Patrizio Bertelli) (7,5,9) 21 p.
9. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers) (3,10,10) 23 p.
10. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (9,8,6) 23 p.
11. Phoenix (RSA) (Hasso/Tina Plattner) (8,6,11) 25 p.
12. XIO Hurakan (ITA) (Marco Serafini) (11,11,12) 34 p.
 
 52 SUPER SERIES 2018

Sibenik 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week
May 23rd - 27th, Sibenik, Croatia

52 SUPER SERIES Zadar Royal Cup
June 20th - 24th, Zadar, Croatia

ROLEX TP52 World Championship Cascais 2018
July 17th - 21st, Cascais, Portugal

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week
August 21st - 25th, Mallorca, Spain

52 SUPER SERIES Valencia Sailing Week
September 18th - 22nd, Valencia, Spain