Lavrion, Greece, July 7, 2026. The Aegean’s Meltemi winds held strong enough to push the first finishers of the Aegean 600 home in near-record time, with the leading boats arriving last night and this morning.
Claudio Demartis’s Reichel/Pugh 90 PROSECCO DOC SHOCKWAVE 3 (ITA) took line honours with an elapsed time of 2 days, 0 hours, 8 minutes and 27 seconds. That is just three hours off the course record set in 2023 by the Farr 100 LEOPARD 3 (MON). The finish came under the Ancient Temple of Poseidon, with the race organised by the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and hosted by Olympic Marine.
Only two minutes behind, George Procopiou’s Volvo 70 AIOLOS (GRE) crossed the line after an intense boat-for-boat battle that pushed both teams to their limits.
Andrea Micalli, tactician on SHOCKWAVE, described it as a memorable debut in the race. “Being my first AEGEAN 600, for me personally this was a fantastic experience. There are many memories coming from this race, but I should say that during the first night getting a gust of 30-35+ knots and still having a Gennaker up with the waves breaking and surfing the boat was fantastic – very scary at the time, but fantastic once we are talking about it now. The boat was prepared all winter for this specific event and we are all super happy to have tested and trained what we expected and found in this beautiful race.”
Helmsman Lorenzo Bressani, a veteran of the event, highlighted the boat’s raw speed. “This race was the fifth time for me. I have participated in all the big races in the Mediterranean, and this one is unique because the downwind portion of the first leg is very exciting, especially in this boat which is very fast downwind. We broke the top speed record of this boat at over 30 knots!”
Procopiou reflected on the conditions and the race’s continued growth. “The race every year is better in terms of organization and in terms of participation. The conditions were excellent and challenging, with a lot of wind and a lot of waves – we were wet from the first hour all the way to the finish line.”
Two hours after AIOLOS finished, Antoine Magre’s Mach 50 PALANAD 4 (FRA) and Frederic Puzin’s Carkeek 54 DAGUET 5 (FRA) crossed in close succession. The two boats had fought over the final 100 miles of the race, coming within two miles of each other at the Mykonos gate. DAGUET held a narrow lead there before PALANAD slipped through and held on all the way to the finish.
Magre was candid about how the race compared to his Atlantic experience. “This was my first race in the Mediterranean. But for us this was a great race, very different from what I’ve seen in the Atlantic, and very fun: a great course, very intense, some tricky places in terms of wind, and very technical. Everyone is very happy and happy to finish because this was very tiring!”
The remainder of the fleet is still spread across the northern and eastern reaches of the course. More finishers are expected tonight, then throughout the day and night tomorrow.
In IRC overall scoring, PALANAD leads, followed by DAGUET and AIOLOS in third. In ORC overall scoring, Pavel Stole’s JPK 10.30 MARY S (CZE) remains the leader, with Patrick and Vincent Harris’s MOWGLI OF PORTSMOUTH (ESP) in second and Paris Kyriacopoulos’s XR 41 XIPHOS (GRE) in third.
The Harris brothers also lead the ORC Double Handed division. Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciani, racing their JPK 10.80 COLOMBRE (ITA), maintain their IRC Double Handed lead from yesterday. Stuart Austin’s Outrider 4x QUICK DECISION (GBR) has taken the lead in the Multihull division.
The race can be followed via the YB tracker at https://pro.yb.tl/aegean6002026. Daily race analysis is being provided by veteran offshore race commentator Dobbs Davis of Seahorse Magazine, with video available on the event’s YouTube channel.
Originally published by Aegean 600.
