The 6-strong fleet of TP52′s and IRC52′s knew already in the morning that a tricky day was awaiting them and, unfortunately, wind conditions followed Wednesday night’s forecast to the letter. The mistral the whipped northern Sardinia for two days was expected to fade away by noon, giving way to a very light and shifty breeze that would rotate to the south and this is what we had today.
The race committee was able to hold two races, the first one after a slight delay, on the wakes of the dying mistral while for the second one we had to wait for the new breeze to pick up after rotating almost 90 degrees. As a result, today’s racing wan’t anything to write home about but it still showed that this year’s 52 Super Series will be an extremely close fight between Quantum Racing and Azzurra, even if the Italian-Argentinean team struggled in today’s conditions.
Both races were won by Quantum Racing, the first one in a definitely easier way while the second one went down to the wire. One bad gybe a hundred meters from the finish line onboard Azzurra proved costly, allowing Quantum to cross the line with probably a one-meter advantage.
Special mention should be given to Tony Langley’s Gladiator that showed consistency and finsihed second in the first race and third in the second one.
Race 2
Quantum Racing won the day’s second race as well but it wasn’t without a fight against both Paprec and Azzurra. Ed Baird helmed the American boat to the lead, rounding the top mark ahead of the other boats, closely followed by Paprec. The French boat’s tactician, Sebastien Destremau, made a perfect call in the first run and Paprec rounded the leeward gate in the lead. Quantum managed to pass Paprec in the second beat and regained the lead in the last weather mark. Paprec and Azzurra were closely behind and it all seemed the Americans would have an easy last run while the French and Italians would fight for second place.
However, while the rest of the fleet opted for the left side of the course in the run to the finish, the French gybed and went on the right, a move that proved fatal. On the other hand, Azzurra was sticking on the left and was the last boat to gybe, putting herself on the layline to the finish line. Quantum and Azzurra converged a hundred meters from the finish. Ed Baird forced Azzurra to a last gybe before the finish line, a move that cost the Italians as crew work was far from perfect. Quantum managed to hold on to their lead but just. Their advantage was probably less than a meter.
The fun part of the race came a few seconds later when in a true Argentinean-Italian way, Vasco Vascotto and Guillermo Parada blamed our photo boat for their loss, accusing us of generating “more than 20 waves” that stopped their boat in the very light afternoon breeze. Ridiculous!
Start of the day's second race. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
Tony Langley’s Gladiator in the first beat. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
Paprec in the first beat. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
Paprec in the first beat. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
Excellent performance by Paprec in the first beat. The French round the first weather mark in second place, ahead of Azzurra. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
The fleet heading down in the first run. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
After a fantastic first run, the French take the lead of the race at the leeward gate. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
Spinnaker drops were often sloppy onboard Azzura. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
Quantum Racing regains leadership in the last weather mark. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
Azzurra and Paprec fight for second place at the last weather mark. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
After almost an hour’s racing, Azzurra and Quantum Racing were neck and neck a hundred meters from the finish line. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
A bad gybe onboard Azzurra hands Quantum the race. Porto Cervo, 14 June 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info