Audi Azzurra Sailing Team. Image copyright Azzurra/Jesus Renedo.
by Guiliano Luzzatto
Audi Azzurra Sailing Team showed its determination in today's inaugural race day of the Audi MedCup by claiming a clear victory in the second race after a difficult first competition.
Azzurra took her first start of the season well but was unable to find the right pace during the race and following shifts up and down the fleet, which saw her in second place at one stage, finished a disappointing fifth. The perhaps unexpected winner of the first race was the Russian team Synergy. Azzurra immediately redeemed herself in the second race: after a difficult first windward leg the boat shifted into turbo for the downwind run thanks to an excellent gybe set. From that point on the Audi Azzurra Sailing Team crew were in perfect harmony with the wind and the boat and a clear victory was theirs with an overwhelming lead over second-placed Container.
Guillermo Parada, skipper: "In the first race we made some mistakes and tried to manage the situation that arose while in the second we reacted, even if we were in fifth place at the first windward mark. Thanks to a well called gybe set we caught up with the others and went on to control the fleet and win. We are happy with second place in the provisional standings, two points from the lead."
"We need to stop making mistakes," commented strategist Vasco Vascotto, "today we paid dearly for our mistakes but we know we can sail better and in the second race we did. We got the chance to do a gybe set and surprised the rest of the fleet and that was the turning point in the race. From tomorrow we will have to be more careful because you don't always get these chances and in the Audi MedCup, as we saw today with Synergy, you can go from first to last in a second."
The provisional overall scores after the first day of racing are:
1. Container p. 4
2. Audi Azzurra Sailing Team p. 6
3. Quantum Racing p. 6
4. Synergy Russian Sailing Team p. 7
5. Ran p.10
6. Bribon p.11
7. Audi Sailing Team powered by All4One p.12
Audi Azzurra Sailing Team
Audi MedCup
