Pressure on Rán

Six points separate first and second, Rán Racing from Alegre. And from third placed Sled to Alegre there are just three points. Sled are under pressure from Bronenosec who are just five points behind. Then Azzurra, in turn, are another four points back.

So Rán certainly have the upper hand going into the final two races of the Ford Vignale Valencia Sailing Week, but remember with the 12 boat fleet there are still a maximum 24pts more points on the table. And even the top two boats have shown how easy it is to slip to two bad races back to back. Add in the pressure that comes on Super Saturday, two deciding races, and really is it all quite open.

We are expecting a lighter sea breeze than yesterday. One feature here in Valencia is that the sea breeze takes time to build and it comes in late. So the first race is likely to see 6-9kts but still light and shifty in places, then it usually moves a little right as the heating continues – but the pressure seems to build from the left. It is not the most straightforward race course but in general the teams have really enjoyed the challenges it brings.

Morgan Larson explains the Rán Racing view of today’s Finale:

With this fleet of you are not pushing hard you are going to be out the back door pretty quickly. Sometimes the more conservative plan is to be aggressive and I think that is our plan.
There is always a little pressure on you when you are leading the board going into the final day. Saying that we talked about it this morning, saying how well it has gone so far. It is easy to have a bad one. We need to keep our heads on straight and be able to dig ourselves out if we are having a bad race, Niklas believes in the team and in himself then we can overcome. We will try to sail our own race. There are a couple of other boats in the frame and if we focus on Alegre then we can get ourselves in trouble. We just look forwards and try to minimise our risks.
Morgan Larson, tactician, Rán Racing

Meantime last night in front of the the famous Veles e Vents building Azzurra’s official christening took place. The boat was first christened in March in Valencia where she was built, at the Port America’s Cup. This technical launch was followed by her winning test run at PalmaVela and now her official racing debut in the 52 SUPER SERIES 2015. Last night the Princess Zahra Aga Khan baptized the third TP52 named Azzurra, the successor to to two previous Azzurra TP52s. Azzurra’s owners, the Roemmers family, and top board members of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda were present along with many guests including representatives of all of the other boats competing in the 52 Super Series. At 5:30 PM the Princess broke a bottle of Dom Perignon on Azzurra’s bow on the first try: a good sign for the rest of the boat’s career.