A weakening Meltemi has shifted the Aegean 600 from a breezy sprint into a test of patience and tactical nerve, with light southerly breezes now gripping the western end of the course near the finish at Cape Sounio.
Organisers from the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and Olympic Marine had finished 14 teams by sunset on 8 July, with 51 still on the course. The light air is most pronounced south of the rhumb line between the transit gate at Mykonos and the northern end of Kea, where boats turn south towards the finish.
The conditions made for an unusual sight when the 12th finisher, Chris Hemans’s Cookson 50 VARUNA (USA), drifted across the line with a double-reefed main. The reef was not a response to the dying breeze, but to damage discovered during racing.
“We were having a fantastic race having a close battle with our sistership FOREVER K (ITA) until yesterday dawn south of Kos we noticed significant damage to the mainsail track about 3 meters from the top of the mast,” Hemans said. “After going aloft twice we determined we should not try to continue to race without reefed the main down below where the track was mangled.”
Despite the setback, Hemans remained positive. “We did this race last year for the first time, and this was much better – we had much more wind and much more fun.”
With lead boats visibly slowing on the YB tracker, some teams have made bold tactical moves to avoid the light-air roadblock. One option has been to head south from Mykonos rather than following the rhumb line northwest, seeking the forecast southerly breeze in that region.
Richard Fromenin’s JPK 10.80 COCODY (FRA) has tried this in IRC Class 2, deviating more than 12 miles south of the rhumb line near the island of Syros. The move looks to be paying off, with COCODY edging ahead of a pack of boats struggling near the island of Gyaros. Michael O’Donnell’s J121 DARKWOOD (IRL) has been trying a similar route, though how much ground either team gains will only become clear as the night unfolds.
The dying breeze is expected to favour faster boats in both elapsed and corrected time. The overall IRC standings are unchanged from the previous day, 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. ORC overall leaders have shifted towards quicker entries: Jon Desmond’s TP52 FINAL FINAL (USA) sits on top, with Claudio Demartis’s Reichel/Pugh 90 PROSECCO DOC SHOCKWAVE (ITA) second and Claudio Bernoni’s Cookson 50 FOREVER K (ITA) third.
In the Double Handed division, Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciani on their JPK 10.80 COLOMBRE (ITA) hold the IRC lead, while Andrzej Rozycki and Maciej Marczewski in their JPK 10.30 PNEUMA (POL) lead in ORC scoring. Stuart Austin’s Outremer 4x QUICK DECISION (GBR) continues to lead the MOCRA division.
The race can be followed on the YB tracker at https://pro.yb.tl/aegean6002026. A daily race analysis from veteran offshore race commentator Dobbs Davis of Seahorse Magazine is available on the event’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/ErNqRwFShjg.
Originally published by Aegean 600.
