Cascais, Portugal. 15th October 2016. If there was a team that could beat Quantum, that team was aboard Azzurra. And so it was: the American team's long series of wins was finally broken in the final event of the TP52 season and it was broken by the boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's burgee here at the Cascais Cup.
Azzurra left port this morning as leader of the provisional score with five points on Quantum, who still wanted to fight to the end. In the first race Azzurra got a good start, but Quantum caught the lucky shift and won the race. Azzurra finished third.
The second race was perfect: Azzurra got an excellent start and was windward of Quantum. She controlled her rival while keeping an eye on the rest of the fleet and was in the lead at the upwind mark. She held on to her lead throughout and was winner of the Cascais event. Quantum was covered by other boats and fought back finishing sixth.
Skipper Guillermo Parada had these words: “It was a good day for us. In the first race we started windward of Quantum to see if we could control them, but the wind shifted to the left and they gained a bit on us. But we stayed in contention and we got third and kept our advantage heading into the final race. In the second race we started to the right of the Committee Boat and were able to control Quantum and we went on to win”.
Azzurra has won nine out of the past eighteen races, proof that she is again in top form after months of hard work. The turning point was the Copa del Rey in Palma, not part of the Super Series circuit, but where Azzurra competed. In Palma she won her class and began to find the tuning that would improve her performance. TP52s are grand prix sailing boats that race with a box rule, just like in Formula 1 car racing: it is not a One Design class. This means that the boats have to be tuned constantly to keep up with the latest developments and a wide variety of small technological differences can make a big difference in a boat's fine tuning. That's what makes this highly competitive circuit more interesting but also more difficult than others.
The upcoming season will begin in January in Key West, Florida. The year 2016's circuit winners will have to keep an eye out for her in 2017.
Pablo Roemmers, owner: "This is a good end to this year's season. We came to Cascais with securing second place in the 52 Super Series as our main goal. Quantum was too far ahead for us to be able to capture the lead in, so our objective was not to win the season, but to get second place. Our second goal was to win the Cascais Cup and we did. We only have one bad race here and got great results overall. We are happy and looking forward to next season. We're starting in Key West and are feeling strong and ready. I have spoken with all the top brass, Princess Zahra, my father, Commodore Bonadeo: everyone is happy and we're confident in sustaining Azzurra's team and keeping a strong and united crew in the future."
Riccardo Bonadeo, YCCS Commodore: “In the name of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda I wish to thank the Roemmers family who have helped us once again to keep the historic name Azzurra in the first pages of sailing history. I wish to thank the whole team, our club members, for all the teamwork and effort they have put in even in the most difficult times. These are real sportsmen and true champions, they deserve the win here at Cascais after all that hard work. Bravissimi!”
Guillermo Parada,skipper: “Finishing the season with another win and closing a season by winning an event is always nice. But we have to keep working and keep learning because Key West is right around the corner. We will get right back to work and stay focused. It was a tough season for us, we started slow and couldn't find the answers to our problems, and we had a lot of hard meetings. But we stayed together and kept improving and luckily by the end of the season we started to see the results of our hard work. Palma was a turn around and in Mahon we started winning again and we stayed strong here. It has been a hard season but satisfying in the end. We want to congratulate Quantum who was very, very strong and we learned a lot from them. We have ended the season as better sailors."
Vasco Vascotto, tactician: “Winning the last few races here makes us feel good, we worked out our problems and that already would be a win in itself. We still have to work hard over the short time before the next season starts in January. But even though least year we finished the season as leaders, Quantum won the last two events and that showed that their boat was tuned better than ours. Now it's us coming up from behind, but we have to be careful and work hard to stay on top."
EGNOS 52 SUPER SERIES Cascais Cup
1 Azzurra, ITA (Pablo/Alberto Roemmers ARG) (1,1,2,8,1,2,3,1) 19 pts
2 Quantum Racing, USA (Doug DeVos USA) (4,2,3,3,5,3,1,6) 27 pts
3 Sled, USA (Takashi Okura USA) (2,6,4,2,2,8,5,2) 31 pts
4 Platoon, GER (Harm Müller-Spreer GER) (5,7,7,1,6,7,2,3) 38 pts
5 Bronenosec, RUS (Vladimir Liubomirov RUS) (8,8,1,4,4,1,7,8) 41 pts
6 Rán Racing, SWE (Niklas Zennström SWE) (7,3,8,5,9,5,8,5) 50 pts
7 Provezza, TUR (Ergin Imre TUR) (3,4,9,6,3,9,9,9) 52 pts
8 Alegre, GBR (Andrés Soriano USA) (10,10,5,7,10,6,6,4) 58 pts
9 Gladiator, GBR (Tony Langley GBR) (6,5,10,9,8,10,4,7) 59 pts
10 Phoenix, USA (Richard Cohen USA) (9,9,6,10,7,4,10,10) 65 pts
52 SUPER SERIES season overall standings
1 Quantum Racing, 140 pts
2 Azzurra, 199 pts
3 Rán Racing, 241 pts
4 Platoon, 245pts
5 Provezza, 248 pts
6 Bronenosec Gazprom, 251 pts
7 Sled, 275 pts
8 Alegre, 283 pts
9 Gladiator, 342 pts
52 Super Series 2017
Quantum Key West Race Week, January 15 - 20.
52 Super Series Miami Royal Cup, March 6 – 11.
TP52 World Championship, Scarlino, May 15 - 20.
Porto Cervo 52 Super Series Sailing Week, June 20 – 25.
Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week, July 23 – 28.
tbd: Mahon or Valencia, September 18 - 23.
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
Pedro Rossi- Grinder/Boat Captain
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