Azzurra is in Menorca for the start of the 52 Super Series
by Giuliano Luzzatto 20 May 2019 16:06 BST
21-25 May 2019
Azzurra - 16th Sail Racing PalmaVela © Nico Martinez / Azzurra
The 2019 edition of the 52 Super Series is kicking off in the Balearic Islands. After PalmaVela, a warm-up event for this highly professional and competitive keelboat fleet, the season will officially begin tomorrow with the Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week.
Azzurra's performance at PalmaVela was a positive crescendo, and she finished this warm up event in third place tied for points with the second placed team. So yet again in 2019, Azzurra is poised to be a top contender for the title in the 52 Super Series. The boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's burgee and sponsored by the Roemmers family will be keeping a close eye on her historical rival, Quantum Racing. Another dangerous contender is Platoon, whose team has been placing in the top spots consistently. Last year's season conclusion at Valencia saw Quantum in first place and Azzurra in third, tied for points with Platoon in second place.
The TP52 circuit has raced often in Mahon: fans will remember Azzurra's win here in the 2017 52 Super Series. It could be a setting that brings good luck as Riccardo Bonadeo, the YCCS Commodore said: "Every year the 52 Super Series gets a bit more competitive and Azzurra is more than willing to play the game. The TP52 circuit is the apex of competitive sailing and competition is in our yacht club's DNA. Here you'll find the best sailors and the most innovative technology applied to sailing. We are doubly happy that Azzurra, a sporting symbol of our club, is racing in the 52 Super Series thanks to our club members, the Roemmers family, and that the season will be ending in Porto Cervo, with its final event in September hosted by our Club."
Skipper Guillermo Parada had these words on the day before the 2019 season's start: "We are very focused on our sailing because we don't want to make the mistakes we made in the early races at PalmaVela when we were concentrating more on tuning the boat. We know that we are heading for a challenging week: the wind will be shifty and there will be a long swell. The outcome will be down to which team makes the fewest errors and sails most consistently. After PalmaVela we came here to train, so I think we'll sail well."
There will be a fleet of eleven boats including Azzurra racing in Mahon and any team could be the winner. Even the Series' debutantes, the French team named Team Vision Future showed their stuff at PalmaVela. Racing will begin tomorrow at 1 PM CEST and the forecast for the early part of the week calls for unstable conditions with light and shifty breeze.
Updates in real time straight from the regatta course will be posted on Azzurra's Facebook page. On the websites azzurra.it and 52superseries.com fans can find virtual tracking with commentary in English.