News

Cape Town, South Africa, March 3, 2020

The boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s burgee has taken the lead of the provisional overall results after two days of racing. The first event in the 2020 season will end on March 6th.  

With two excellent second place finishes in the two races held today in Table Bay, Azzurra is now in the lead of the provisional results in the 52 Super Series. In westerly wind that built from 14 knots up to 20 in the second race, the Race Committee wisely chose to position the race course in a northerly area that was less affected by the landmass than yesterday’s so that the racing fleet had more options for tactical decisions. Table Mountain’s famous “shadow” still made for unpredictable conditions that were difficult to read, but generally speaking the left side of the course was better.  

In the first race Azzurra started on the pin, gaining ground on the rest of the fleet on a long starboard tack and getting to the mark just behind Phoenix 11, who up until then was looking unbeatable in her home waters. The teams kept those positions to the end of the race with Provezza coming in third. Unfortunately, during the race there was a collision between Alegre and Sled and both teams had to withdraw while Alegre also got two penalty points.  

The second race got underway in shifty westerly winds that clocked in at 19 knots at the masthead but were at about 16 on the water’s surface. The Race Committee repositioned the race course further north and Azzurra changed tactic by starting towards the centre right on the Committee Boat side to have more sailing options open. She got to the first mark side by side with Bronenosec and Provezza, but chose to round it third to avoid risks. Along the next run Azzurra rolled Provezza by manouvering perfectly on the final gybe before the gate and stayed in second place until the end. Provezza slipped back to eighth place after fighting hard with Phoenix 11 who finished seventh. This position cost the South African team their provisional lead at this event that was captured by Azzurra. Unfortunately, Sled had suffered too much damage to be able to take part in the race and was given a redress score of 5,5 points.

Guillermo Parada, skipper: “We’re happy that we’re getting consistent results on such a complicated race course and with so many wind shifts and changes in pressure. It’s thanks to the whole team and to the boat that we’re feeling fast and reactive which is just what we need to get ourselves out of tricky situations. Lots of boats had collisions today, they got penalties and they made errors: for us, just staying out of trouble was already an advantage. But today is just one day out of many, we have to keep working hard and sailing well.”

Michele Paoletti, tactician: “It seems like things are going well: we sailed well, we’re fast and we’re getting good starts. We did everything we could to stay out of trouble and in the top positions. I’d like it if we could keep this up because these races are like marathons: you have to be consistent and not take too many risks and we have to keep that in mind. The boats are very quick and if you can stay in clean air away from your adversaries it makes all the difference. Guille got two great starts and from there we got good results again today.” 

Tomorrow racing starts at the same time, 12:30 SAST South African Standard Time (11:30 CET) with wind conditions forecast to be similar to today’s. Racing can be followed on the tracker Virtual Eye, on the website azzurra.it, on the 52superseries app or the website 52superseries.com. Live updates from the race course will also be posted on Azzurra’s Facebook page. 

Odzala Discovery Camps 52 SUPER SERIES V&A Waterfront – Cape Town 
Provisional Results after 4 races
1. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers) (4,2,2,2) 10 p.
2. Phoenix 11 (RSA) (Hasso Plattner) (1,3,1,7) 12 p.
3. Sled (USA) (Takashi Okura) (3,4,RDG6,RDG5.5) 18.5 p.
4. Bronenosec (RUS) (Vladimir Liubomirov) (2,10,7,1) 20 p.
5. Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (5,8,4,5) 22 p.
6. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (6,6,3,8) 23 p.
7. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (7,1,DNF11+2,4) 25 p.
8. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (9,7,8,3) 27 p.
9. Phoenix 12 (RSA) (Tina Plattner) (8,5,5,9) 27 p.
10. Paprec (FRA) (Jean-Luc Petithuguenin) (10,9,6,6) 31 p.

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52 SUPER SERIES 2020 Calendar

Odzala Discovery Camps 52 SUPER SERIES
V&A Waterfront - Cape Town
March 2nd - 6th 2020, Cape Town

Rolex TP52 World Championship Cape Town 
March 31st - April 4th 2020, Cape Town

Royal Cup 52 SUPER SERIES Scarlino 
May 12th - 16th 2020, Scarlino

Audi 52 SUPER SERIES Porto Cervo & TP52 20th Anniversary Invitational
June 16th - 21st 2020, Porto Cervo

52 SUPER SERIES Valencia Sailing Week
July 18th - 22nd 2020, Valencia

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week
September 15th - 19th 2020, Puerto Portals

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AZZURRA
Pablo and Alberto Roemmers - Owners
Guillermo Parada - Skipper, Helm
Michele Paoletti - Tactician
Bruno Zirilli - Navigator
Giovanni Cassinari - Mainsail
Mariano Caputo - Bowman
Juan Pablo Marcos -  Midbow
David Vera - Pitman
Grant Loretz- Trimmer
Ciccio Celon - Trimmer
Mariano Parada - Trimmer
Gabriel Marino - Grinder
Alejandro Colla – Grinder
Nicola Pilastro - Grinder
Pedro Rossi- Boat Captain

Guillermo Baquerizas - Coach
Gonzalo Ramos Vertiz - Sail performances
Juan Garay - Sail Designer
Jean Martin Grisar - Sailmaker
Matias Blanco - Logistic
Sarah O' Kane - Logistic
Timothy Houghton- Rigger
Javier Feliu - Shore Crew
Ross Hunter - Boat Builder
Iñigo Losada - Physical Trainer
Miguel Moret - Physiotherapist
Sebastian Carera - Chiropractor

Media team
Cathrine Roemmers - Social Media
Giuliano Luzzatto - Press Office

Contact:
Giuliano Luzzatto
Media Relations
Tel. +39 348 5966160
pressoffice@azzurra.it
www.azzurra.it
https://www.instagram.com/azzurrasailing/