Provezza is owned and skippered by prominent Turkish yachtsman Ergin Imre. He has a long history in big boat sailing dating back some 30 years also to the IOR days, and spanning IMS as well as One Design offshore racing. Provezza have been on the 52 SUPER SERIES circuit since 2013 when they dipped a toe in the water at the Royal Cup in Palma.
A well resourced team which has proven very competitive over the years, they have two regatta wins to their credit – topping the table in Portals in 2017 and again when the fleet went to Puerto Sherry in 2019 and they won a heart stopping last day finale. That season they started well with a second in Menorca and win in Puerto Sherry but they lost their mast in Majorca and that compromised the rest of the season one way or another.
The team made big changes for 2019, John Cutler moving from the coach boat to the helm and Hamish Pepper coming in as tactician. They enjoyed a fantastic start to the season second in Menorca and then winning outright at Puerto Sherry, relishing the conditions found at the new venue on the Bay of Cadiz. Although they were fifth in the strong breezes in Cascais they were certainly shaping up as title contenders until they unfortunately lost their mast in Puerto Portals.Although they replaced it quickly with a spare that was express shipped from Valencia they lost four races of a no discard season. The replacement rig was not as efficient as the newer mast and the team could not compete as well as they would have wanted, finishing fifth, 20 points behind Bronenosec.
New on the team in 2022 was ex Azzurra lynchpin Cole Parada who sails as strategist and runners trimmer. New team members for 2023 include Pietro Mantovani as grinder, Brad Farrand as floater, Daniel Fong moves to kite trimmer and Grant Loretz is on the team as upwind trimmer.
The Provezza team are competitive by nature but Ergin Imre enjoys the whole ambience of the 52 SUPER SERIES, loving the cut and thrust of competition on the water but making sure he and his team enjoy their times together off the water too.
