Azzurra holds on to 2nd place at the Rolex TP52 World Championship

Azzurra holds on to 2nd place at the Rolex TP52 World Championship

Azzurra holds on to 2nd place at the Rolex TP52 World Championship

Sport

By Azzurra
21/07/2018 - 22:11

Azzurra places sixth in the day’s coastal race that was won by Quantum in unstable conditions with frequent changes of position in the fleet. Overall, Azzurra is still in second place tied with Alegre and seven points behind Quantum Racing.

The 23nm coastal race at the Rolex TP52 World Championship was full of surprises and changes in position except for Quantum, leader of the race from the first beat to the end.  Behind the American team there were frequent changes due to unstable wind and to different tactical choices made along the way. The race was along a course that began with a windward/leeward section, two nm long per leg followed by another leg that was much longer and that brought the fleet to round an upwind mark off Cabo Raso and a gate at the mouth of the Tago river to then double back and finish in front of the Cascais port. Wind went from 12 knots at the start to 18-20 over the long run and then the beat that ended the race.

Azzurra started at good speed on the left, tacking immediately on port to the right where most of the fleet was sailing, but she had to tack twice to get out of her adversaries’ dirty air. She was starting to recover positions along the run and was fifth at the windward mark off Cabo Raso, fighting off Provezza. The fight continued along the run and the two teams passed and re-passed each other several times. Same situation for Phoenix, Sled and Alegre, teams that were all alternating positions behind Quantum. The finish was very close and saw the three teams finish in the above order behind Quantum. The last leg saw Luna Rossa recover: after slipping back to last place after getting tangled in fishing gear, she managed to get her bow just ahead of Azzurra whose team was pushing to pass Provezza and control in the same time Onda, both of whom were downwind. The day’s sixth place finish still leaves Azzurra in second place overall at this event, but tied for points with Alegre.

Guillermo Parada, skipper, commented on the day: “I would call this a grey day, we should have started on the right, not the left and Quantum did a good job from there. They got their bow ahead of us and that forced us to do two extra tacks that cost us a lot in terms of our position. From there we had chances for recovery and sometimes we gained some positions, sometimes we lost some. Along the last beat heading back we had to decide either to protect ourselves from Luna Rossa that was recovering positions from upwind or to cover Provezza and Onda. We took the second option, passing Provezza but getting passed by Luna Rossa. But there are still four races to go and tomorrow the wind should be stronger, let’s hope that will allow us one last try for this world championship.”

Tomorrow racing is scheduled to start an hour earlier: at noon local time, 1 PM CEST.  The forecast calls for wind from the northwest that should be stronger than today’s. Racing can be followed in real time with commentary in English on the sites www.52superseries.com and www.azzurra.it, on Azzurra’s Facebook page and on Virtual Eye.

ROLEX TP52 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Provisional Results after 5 races

1.Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) 2,1,3,4,1 p.11
2. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto and Pablo Roemmers) 1,2,2,7,6 p.18
3. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) 4,4,5,1,4 p.18
4. Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) 8,3,7,2,3 p. 23
5. Luna Rossa (ITA) (Patrizio Bertelli) dnf 10, 6,1,3,5 p. 25
6. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) 3,5,6,6,9 p. 29
7. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) 5,9,4,5,7 p. 30
8. Phoenix (RSA) (Hasso/Tina Plattner) 6,7,8,8,2 p.31
9. Onda (BRA) (Eduardo de Souza Ramos) 7,8,9,9,8 p.41
 
52 SUPER SERIES 2018

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May 23rd - 27th, Sibenik, Croatia

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

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July 17th - 21st, Cascais, Portugal

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August 21st - 25th, Mallorca, Spain

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

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