Despite some lacklustre overall finishes so far this season the Audi Azzurra Sailing Team approach this third regatta of the season buoyed by a level of confidence because they are sailing on waters they know well and have been successful on, not just in the 52 Series but also in other classes. And of course, representing Sardinia’s Yacht Club Costa Smeralda there is added pride to be competing on the closest thing there is to their home waters. They are a team which are especially strong in the muscular breezes.
The Mistral has been blowing since last night and this morning there has been up to 30kts in the gusts on the race area. But there seems a certain confidence that racing should get under way today for the 52 Series’ Region of Sardinia Trophy. Two windward-leeward races are scheduled for the 52 Series, while the 40 Series programme is preparatory: two practice starts and their official practice race.
The local team on XXII-Sardegna will therefore answer their first start guns today and get a proper test in strong winds in the 40 Series fleet. Francesco Bruni (ITA), Audi Azzurra Sailing Team tactician said this morning: “With these conditions it´s going to be a rough day, our forecast says we should expect 25+ knots today but looking outside it already looks over 30 knots. We´ll have to wait and hopefully we´ll be able to go out this afternoon. If we race, it´ll be in hard conditions. We are excited to be back in Cagliari, last year with Matador we won by a big margin and it was by far our best trophy. As an Italian team we are glad to be back, I´m excited, we´ll try to perform at the best of our capacities here in Cagliari, that´s our goal and we are focused on that. Psychologically, competing at home has helped us in the past, we´ve done very good championships here in Italy. So far it´s been good so I just hope it stays the same this year.”
Leaders of the 40 Series are still the Iberdrola Sailing Team, Skipper-helm Jose Maria Torcida explains: José María Torcida (ESP), Skipper, Iberdrola Sailing Team (ESP): “It´s well known that Cagliari has great sailing conditions. We´ll have the regular thermal winds from the south here for the next two days so it will be fun to sail. Our goals for this regatta don´t change much, we want to stay at the top of the scoreboard and try to win one more trophy. We´ll also see where can we improve with the boat in terms of sails, trimming and the mast, a few things in which we´ve been working this last couple weeks. The changes on our boat are so small that I don´t think that we´ll see big results. The practice race will be a good chance to check on these things and see how everyone else is doing”. | 
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