News

Palma de Mallorca, May 8, 2016
Azzurra finishes the test event at PalmaVela in second place overall with the additional satisfaction of having won the first race.

Positive vibes for Azzurra at PalmaVela, the event held in Mallorca that saw nine of the eleven TP52s that will be racing in the 2016 52 Super Series participating. Azzurra is the defending champion in this highly professional and competitive circuit.

It was another day of unstable weather conditions in Palma de Mallorca, with cloudy skies and wind speeds that varied from 8 to 13 knots in the first race. Azzurra won the first race handily. The boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s burgee got an exceptional start and quickly dominated the situation keeping both her adversaries and the wind shifts under control all the way to the finish. Provezza and Bronenosec finished second and third while Quantum finished sixth, a result that she couldn’t discount after having placed even worse yesterday.

The second race, held in breezes at about 9 knots, and charted on a course that was shared by the TP52s, the Wally Class and the Maxi Class. The usual staggered starts and slightly longer legs did nothing to keep the three Classes from overlapping and Azzurra, who had been in control of the TP52 fleet, was soon covered by the huge sails flown by two Wally 100s: Open Season and Magic Carpet on the first upwind leg. From a leading position, Azzurra found herself trying to do damage control and managed to recover positions to finish fourth. The race was won by Quantum followed by Bronenosec, a Russian boat with a team that is largely Italian. Bronenosec closed the event in third place.

Unfortunately, in pre-start maneuvers Alegre and Sled collided and both boats had to withdraw from racing for the day.

The next appointment for Azzurra is May 24th when the Practice Race that opens the first official event in the 52 Super Series, the Scarlino Cup, will be held.

Quotes of the day:
 
Guillermo Parada, skipper: “Today we sailed a lot better. We had a big meeting last night and we analyzed what was going wrong and we changed our attitude today. We ended the meeting deciding to have a good day today for the team. We were able to do that in the first race and were looking good in the regatta standings with a chance to win. In the last race once we positioned ourselves, but since we were sharing the race course with other classes, Open Season, the Wally 100, tacked on us forcing us to tack away from the position we wanted. Then another Wally 100, Magic Carpet, tacked on us also so we had to tack away again. We had to do two tacks on the beat runs which are very expensive in terms of time and also meant that we were in dirty air covered by the Wallys. Those two tacks put us at the back of the fleet but we were able to recover some positions and finish fourth. I think that overall we improved and we are reasonably happy. We were second overall at PalmaVela. We came here to win so we’re not happy with this position, but seeing all the situations of this week we are at least satisfied.”

Vasco Vascotto, tactician:  “It was a very positive day, we got a second place overall so are on the podium at PalmaVela even if we would have liked to be a step higher. But we’re not complaining because we’re feeling good about the boat and we came here for fine-tuning. We got good results consistently in a fleet where all the boats are fast and competitive. Anyone can make mistakes, even the overall winner, Quantum, got two sixth place finishes. It’s going to a fight for every last point once the Super Series begins.”

Palmavela final standings 
1. Quantum Racing  (Doug Devos)  (1-2- 2-1-6-6-1)  13
2. Azzurra (Alberto Roemmers)      (2-5-4-4-4-1-4) 19           
3. Bronenosec (V. Liubomirov)       (3-6-5-2-7-3-2)  21
4. Platoon (H. Mueller-Spreer)       (6-3 -3-6-1-4-6) 23 
5. Ran (Niklas Zennstroem)           (5-7- 1-7-3-5-3) 24 
6. Provezza (Ergin Imre)               (9-1-8-9-2-2-5)  27
7. Alegre (Andres Soriano)            (4-4 -6-8-9-10-10) 41 
8. 41 Paprec (Stephane Neve)        (8-9-9-5-5-7-7)  41
9. Sled (Takashi Okura)                 (7-8-7-3-8-10-10) 43

AZZURRA
Pablo and Alberto Roemmers - Owners
Guillermo Parada - Skipper, Helm
Vasco Vascotto - Tactician
Bruno Zirilli - Navigator
Giovanni Cassinari - Mainsail
Mariano Caputo - Bowman
Juan Pablo Marcos -  Midbow 
David Vera - Pitman
Maciel Cichetti - Trimmer
Grant Loretz - Trimmer
Mariano Parada - Trimmer
Gabriel Marino - Grinder
Alejandro Colla – Grinder
Nicola Pilastro- Grinder
Boat Captain: Pedro Rossi
Coach: Guillermo Baquerizas
Coach: Marco Capitani

52 SUPER SERIES 2016
24 - 29 May - Scarlino 52 Super Series Cup Scarlino (Italy)
27 June  2 July - Audi Settimana delle Bocche - 52 Super Series Porto Cervo (Italy)
24 - 29 July - 52 Super Series Trophy Puerto Portals (Spain) 
13 - 18 September - Menorca TP52 World Championship Mahon (Spain) 
10 - 15 October - Cascais 52 Super Series Cup Cascais (Portugal)

Contact: 
Giuliano Luzzatto
Media Relations
Tel. +39 348 5966160
pressoffice@azzurra.it
www.azzurra.it