Another 16 teams finished the Aegean 600 by sunset on July 9, as the Meltemi wind returned to the race course after a difficult 24 hours of light and shifting conditions. Organisers from the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and Olympic Marine were expecting a further 22 teams to finish through the night and into the following morning, with the remaining boats making their way west to the finish at the Ancient Temple of Poseidon at Lavrion, Greece.
A weak low-pressure system moved through the course area the previous day and overnight, bringing headwinds and light air to teams approaching the transit gate at Mykonos and the southward turn at the island of Kea. The northerly Meltemi returned through the morning, and while not at full strength, it was sufficient to move many teams west and then south to the finish. The breeze was expected to continue assisting those arriving overnight.
Teams returning to their berths at Olympic Marine were in good spirits despite the late-race delays.
“We are extremely happy to be here, and not just to be here but also happy to have done well in ORC 2, we did not expect that,” said Maks Vrecko, whose Elan 450 KARPO IDRIJA (SLO) was among the day’s finishers. “I think this race is the most difficult of all 600 races because the Meltemi is so unpredictable, it has its own temperament.”
Paris Kyriacopoulos, who also finished on his XR 41 XIPHOS (GRE), reflected on the range of conditions the fleet encountered.
“The Aegean Sea is obviously a very interesting sea,” he said. “It can deliver high wind speeds – we saw up to 43 knots at the crossing at Kasos – and then after Mykonos where we were stuck last night with 0 knots. Yet this is the nature of offshore racing, where not all boats face the same conditions all the time. We were quite unlucky to sail into that Low.”
“Nevertheless this was an amazing race, we enjoyed it very much, and as a tactical challenge this was one of the highest ones we have ever faced and it was a fun race.”
The XIPHOS team also donated unused food from the race to the Holy Metropolis of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki Spiritual Center of Saint Apostle Andrew in Lavrion, to help the church feed people in need, and urged other finishing teams to follow suit.
IRC standings remained unchanged, with Antoine Magre’s Mach 50 PALANAD 4 (FRA) leading, followed by Frederic Puzin’s Carkeek 54 DAGUET 5 (FRA) and George Procopiou’s Volvo 70 AIOLOS (GRE) in third. Those three teams also head the IRC Zero class.
In ORC scoring, Jon Desmond’s TP52 FINAL FINAL (USA) and Claudio Demartis’s Reichel/Pugh 90 PROSECCO DOC SHOCKWAVE 3 (ITA) hold first and second overall and in ORC Zero. Paval Stolba’s JPK 10.30 MARY S (CZE), after finishing late in the afternoon, was placed third overall and leads ORC Three.
The Double Handed division was unchanged. Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciani on their JPK 10.80 COLOMBRE (ITA) lead in IRC scoring, while Andrezej Rozycki and Maciej Marczewski in their JPK 10.30 PNEUMA (POL) continue to lead in ORC scoring. Stuart Austin’s Outremer 4x QUICK DECISION (GBR) maintains the Multihull division lead, with only one boat still on the course in that division.
The race can be followed via the YB tracker at https://pro.yb.tl/aegean6002026. Daily race analysis is provided by veteran offshore race commentator Dobbs Davis of Seahorse Magazine, with video available on the event’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/kRGn8CQpk6c.
Originally published by Aegean 600.
