Day 1: Preview
The 52 Super Series will get under way today with two planned races off Barcelona which should start around 1230hrs to 1300hrs after an initial delay waiting for the wind to settle.
Maria Torrijo, who has been the principal race officer for several years on the Audi MedCup Circuit is retained as race officer for the 52 Super Series which runs on the same course area here as the Wally fleet and the Soto 40’s at this regatta.
Today we would have sea breeze conditions, maybe 10-12kts from the S and SW and maybe it will drop away a little later in the afternoon but it should be fine for racing.
Maria Torrijo
Chris Larson (USA) tactician Gladiator (GBR):
We are in pretty good shape. We are looking forwards to a light airs regatta here in general the boat goes well in the light airs conditions and so if we just sail the boat like we have sailed in the last couple of events I am sure we will be fine. We have a really fast boat in under 10kts. I think our goal is not to finish last, as it is for any boat, but it will be pretty darn easy to finish last in this fleet. So we are looking for some good finishes and to sail like we know we can sail and see how it goes.
Chris Larson
Hopefully we can keep the interest worldwide in seeing the Circuit is viable and getting owners out here to play. I think we need to put wheels back on the boats so that it is more attractive again to owner-drivers. Are we catering to professionals or owners who want to sail their own boats. Right now if we can get a couple of other boats then that is a decent increase in the fleet size, and that – for me- is one thing to level the field.
In general that can make it more appealing to other people.The new boat is different, we are very confident with it for this season. It feels different, it is more forgiving especially upwind. Downwind the last boat was good, but compared to the others here when we were at Palma Vela we felt alright. It is different.
I still think this is the best boat to sail. The competition level is high. All the boats are very even, Gladiator is the fastest in light winds, RAN is the fastest downwind, Quantum is very similar. So there will be a lot, lot of fun.
We have a couple of new buys but the afterguard and trimmers are the same. So the speed group (those who control the speed of the boat effectively) are the same and we have sailed together with that group for three years. We feel confident, we know each other. We feel we can win for sure, but it is easy. Last year before the last regatta we were only two points behind Quantum Racing and the year before we were third, and so this group can win I am sure.Vasco Vascotto (ITA), tactician Audi Azzurra Sailing Team (ITA)
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