Coastal Race Falls Victim to Capri Calms

Capri, Italy (May 22, 2014) – The coastal race for the BARCLAYS 52 SUPER SERIES at Rolex Capri Sailing Week had to be abandoned when the light breeze shut down and left the crews becalmed before the fleet had reached the first turning mark.

Vesper, with Gavin Brady calling tactics, had made the best start off the pin end of the line and were looking good early on as the leaders tacked upwind in the gentle southeasterly breeze. However, they were first to run out of the breeze, which allowed Gladiator to pass.

After erring slightly to the west on the beat Azzurra, Paprec and B2 became separated from the fleet in a different breeze. At one point they were under gennakers pointing in the same direction.

The leaders Tony Langley’s Gladiator and Jim Swartz’s Vesper were drifting gently towards the windward mark off the rocky Faraglioni pinnacles at Capri’s SE corner when the Bay of Naples went glassy smooth and the race committee decided to pull the pin and abandon the race.

Racing returns to windward-leewards Friday and Saturday for the BARCLAYS 52 SUPER SERIES fleet.

Overall standings remain after 4 races

1. Vesper, USA, (Jim Swartz USA) (5,2,1,6) 14pt
2. Azzurra, ITA, (Alberto Roemmers ARG) (3,3,7,1) 14pts
3. Quantum Racing, USA, (Doug De Vos USA) (4,1,6,4) 15pts
4. Rán Racing, SWE, (Niklas Zennström SWE) (2,8,2,5) 17pts
5. Phoenix, BRA, (Eduardo de Souza Ramos BRA) (1,7,3,8) 19pts
6. Provezza 7, TUR, (Ergin Imre TUR) (6,4,8,2) 20pts
7. Gladiator, GBR, (Tony Langley GBR) (9,6,5,3) 23pts
8. Paprec, FRA, (Jean Luc Petithugenin FRA) (7,5,9,7) 28pts
9. B2, ITA, (Michele Galli ITA) (8,9,4,9) 30pts

Quotes
Gavin Brady (NZL) tactician Vesper (USA)
“If come to Capri then you have to expect this, just like if you go to San Francisco you have to be ready for lots of tide and lots of wind. If you come here to Capri you just have to be ready for it, to be work through these light spots. We were ready for this three months ago when our owner Jim Swartz said he wanted to come here. We did not feel too bad when the race got banged off. You win some you lose some. We were joking at the start of the day that whoever was leading at the last mark would likely be last across the finish. We were not holding our breath.”

Source: BARCLAYS 52 SUPER SERIES media

2014 BARCLAYS 52 SUPER SERIES
Rolex Capri Sailing Week – May 20-24 – Capri, Italy
TP52 World Championship – June 10-14 – Porto Cervo, Italy
Copa del Rey – August 4-9 – Palma, Spain
Royal Cup Marina Ibiza – September 17-21 – Ibiza, Spain

Photo by: Martinez Studio