Azzurra ready for Puerto Portals 52 Super Series

Azzurra - 52 Super Series © Martinez Studio

Azzurra is ready for the fourth event in the 52 Super Series, that's set to begin tomorrow at 1 PM CEST in the waters off Puerto Portals, Mallorca. There are 10 TP52s at the event that will see its final day of racing on Saturday August 25th.

Azzurra has arrived at the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week after placing as runner-up at the TP52 World Championship in Cascais in July. The fourth event in the series is predicted to have light and unstable breezes, not ideal conditions for Azzurra, whose team has always sailed best in stronger winds. But the Palma Bay has often seen the boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's burgee get podium results and Azzurra's team is determined to continue the positive trend that they captured in Cascais, at the season's third event that was also the world championship.

Azzurra is currently third in the season's overall results, 29 points behind the leader, Quantum Racing. She is 10 points behind Sled, currently the second placed team overall. Azzurra has to keep a close eye on Luna Rossa, in fourth place and just one point behind her, and Platoon, currently four points behind. Naturally, no teams in the fleet should be taken lightly: Alegre is getting more and more competitive, Phoenix has shown that they can shoot for the top positions, Provezza won here last year and Onda, currently behind overall, started off the season with a bang.

Gladiator is back for the Puerto Portals event after her absence at Cascais, and now has the young and talented New Zealander Peter Burling aboard as tactician. This helmsman won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics in the 49er class and brought the America's Cup back to New Zealand.

Quotes of the day:

Riccardo Bonadeo, the YCCS Commodore, had these words on the eve of the event: "At the World Championship in Cascais we saw Azzurra back in top form, sailing well and getting the same excellent results that her team has gotten us used to. I want to thank the team for their hard work, sure that in the upcoming event at Puerto Portals they will keep on performing at the same levels. We all know how competitive the 52 Super Series is and the rules of sportsmanship teaches us to respect our competitors because everyone has the same desire and drive to win. On the part of the YCCS, I want to extend special thanks to the Roemmers family, our club members and Azzurra's owners. In the difficult times at the beginning of this season they redoubled their efforts to get the team back in the game."

Guillermo Parada, skipper: "Here we are in Puerto Portals, Mallorca for the fourth event in the season. We aren't where we want to be in the season's overall results, not where we expected to be, but at the World Championship in Cascais we finally started to get good results again. It should be a week of very light breeze here, a complex situation for us, but we have been working very carefully on the boat set up and I'm confident that we'll have a good week."

Santiago Lange, tactician: "I'm really happy to be back sailing with Azzurra in the 52 Super Series after the Sailing Worlds in the Nacra 17 class (the olympic foiling catamaran, where he was third crewed by Cecilia Carranza). The upcoming event will be challenging for us. We performed well in Cascais in windier conditions and here the conditions should be more Mediterranean which weren't great for us at the beginning of the season. I don't know if we did better in Cascais because of the windier conditions or because we've gotten better, maybe it was a bit of both, but we'll see soon. The important thing is that we stay concentrated. We have improved as a team and are sailing better, let's see what happens next."

Starting tomorrow August 21st there will be two windward/ leeward races per day up to Saturday the 25th. Races are scheduled to begin at 1 PM CEST, conditions permitting. Racing can be followed via Virtual Eye and on the websites 52superseries.com and azzurra.it. There will be updates from the course on Azzurra's Facebook page and Twitter account.

Entries:

Alegre – Andy Soriano (USA/GBR), 2018 Botin
Azzurra – Roemmers Family (ARG/ITA), 2018 Botin
Gladiator – Tony Langley (GBR), 2017 Botin
Luna Rossa – Patrizio Bertelli (ITA), 2018 Botin
Onda – Eduardo de Souza Ramos (BRA), 2018 Botin
Phoenix – Hasso/Tina Plattner (RSA), 2018 Botin
Platoon – Harm Müller-Spreer (GER), 2018 Vrolijk
Provezza – Ergin Imre (TUR), 2018 Vrolijk
Quantum Racing – Racing Doug DeVos (USA), 2018 Botin
Sled – Takashi Okura (USA), 2018 Botin

52 Super Series 2018, overall ranking:

1. Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) 96 p.
2. Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) 115 p.
3. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto and Pablo Roemmers) 125 p.
4. Luna Rossa (ITA) (Patrizio Bertelli) 126 p
5. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) 129 p.
6. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) 133 p.
7. Phoenix (RSA) (Hasso/Tina Plattner) 147p.
8. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) 163 p.
9. Onda (BRA) (Eduardo de Souza Ramos) 184 p.
10. Gladiator (GBR) (Tony Langley) 218 p.