(Friday 6th May, Palma de Mallorca) – It proved to be a slightly long and frustrating day for the TP52 fleet at Gaastra Palma Vela regatta as only one windward leeward race could be completed because the early 9-10kts NE breeze died away. The second race was abandoned on the second windward leg. Despite a long, fruitless wait the fleet returned to shore with just the one race completed.
After a modest opening on Thursday, scoring 5,7 from their first TP52 races since last year’s World Championships in Porto Portals in July, Niklas Zennström’s Rán Racing bounced back with a good victory, finishing ahead of Quantum Racing which now leads the class by six clear points ahead of Azzurra.
Harm Mueller Spreer’s Platoon lie third and only three points separate third from sixth.
An all encompassing debrief on Thursday night sharpened the focus on Rán Racing. They achieved objective 1, fighting more assertively for the key starting spot on the line, and that was the platform they needed to build on to win.
In terms of the battle for third to seventh in the fleet it remains every bit as close and tightly fought as it was during last season. Platoon, which has Jordi Calafat sailing as strategist and now sailing with Quantum Sails, holds third place but are just one point ahead of Rán. Bronenosec and Alegre are just one point further back.
Rán Racing owner-driver Zennström said:
It was good. Our first racing day was a bit rusty yesterday, but today we did exactly what we said in the debrief last night. We wanted to be a bit more aggressive in the start, it is always better to be the pin end boat rather than second one up and that is what we did. We were more assertive.
The fleet here is great, it is all very even and good. We feel well prepared for the season ahead and all our crew manoeuvres were good. We need to just get some more racing under our belts. This is a tune up regatta and so we want to come out of it having learned and be well set up for the 52 SUPER SERIES.
Morgan Larson, tactician on Rán Racing alongside strategist Adam Beashel added:
It was a great start from Niklas and the guys and it was an easy from there. Adam picked the left and we hung on to that the whole time. Yesterday we did not start as well as we should have and we had some bad strategy. And it made it challenging. And so today was good for the guys to remember that we can win.
We have a way to go. We have to work on everything. But the boat is in good shape. It is as good as it can be. I will miss one regatta – Portals because I will be at the Extreme Sailing Series – but for me I just have to get my head around this type of sailing again.
That is challenging. I think it is easier to go the other way, from the TP52 to the Extreme, this is the most competitive sailing in the world. Every one of these teams is extremely good. I think the boats are so even and the talent level is so high. That make it really close. We need to get back to where we were last year.
Vasco Vascotto, tactician Azzurra:
We had a plan that with the wind at less than 030 degree we should go right, and I think a lot of the other guys thought the same and unfortunately for us the wind went left all the time. And it went all the way to 315 which is a strange number for Palma. It is OK. This is not the time to be lucky, not at this stage of the season. Quantum Racing are sailing well. They are fast and smart but we are happy.
Gaastra Palma Vela After Race 3:
1 Quantum Racing (Doug DeVos, USA) 5pts, 1,2,2
2 Azzurra (Alberto Roemmers, ARG) 11pts, 2,5,4
3 Platoon (Harm Müller Spreer, GER) 12pts, 6,3,3
4 Rán Racing (Niklas Zennström, SWE) 13pts, 5,7,1
5 Gazprom Bronenosec (Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS) 14pts, 3,6,5
6 Alegre (Andy Soriano, GBR/USA) 14pts, 4,4,6
6 Provezza (Ergin Imre, TUR) 18pts, 9,1,8
8 Sled (Takashi Okura, USA) 22pts, 7,8,7
9 Spirit of Malouen Paprec (Stephane Névé, FRA) 26pts 8,9,9
