A brisk Meltemi of 25 to 30 knots greeted the 6th edition of the Aegean 600 at Cape Sounio on Sunday, sending the fleet off on a boisterous start to the 605-nautical-mile race around the Greek islands. Skies were blue, but a rolling sea state had boats burying their bows into the troughs and throwing spray back over the decks, a proper soaking despite the fine weather. Reefed mainsails and small jibs were the order of the day as the fleet worked upwind to the turning mark below the Ancient Temple of Poseidon, before bearing away south for the first 62-mile leg to Milos.
Sixty-six monohulls and five multihulls started the race. Three of the monohulls and, just now one multihull, have already retired. The wind’s easterly bend early on delayed gennakers going up among the fast boats, but as the Meltemi backed north through the afternoon the big sails came out. At the front, Claudio Demartis’s Reichel/Pugh 90 Prosecco Doc Shockwave 3 has held the overall line honours lead throughout, but there has been a shuffle behind her. Jean-Pierre Dreau’s Daguet 5 has moved up into second, pushing George Procopiou’s Volvo 70 Aiolos back to third on the water.
Among the New Zealand interest is Aether, one of two Dehler 30s in the fleet and one of its two smallest boats, sailed two-up by Greek skipper and owner Evi Delidou and Kiwi sail designer Andrew Hall, the only New Zealander in this year’s race. Nearly 22 hours in, Aether sits 41st on overall line honours out of the 63 monohulls still racing, having sailed 172 nautical miles with 437 nautical miles remaining to the finish, at a progress speed (VMG) of 8.0 knots.
On handicap the picture is more encouraging for the pair. Aether is 5th in IRC Double Handed from 10 entries, with a corrected estimated elapsed time of 3 days 8 hours 42 minutes 11 seconds, and 7th in ORC Double Handed from 11 entries, with a corrected estimated elapsed time of 2 days 22 hours 42 seconds. She sits 33rd in IRC Overall at time of writing, a position that has already shifted since this article was drafted, underlining just how fluid the standings are this early in the race. Nearby on the water, Aiolia is the closest boat to Aether at just 2.2 nautical miles, with Trinity+ only marginally further back at 2.3 nautical miles.
At the front of the handicap fleets, Periklis Livas and Simon Sweetman’s Dehler 30 Optimum 4, Aether’s sister ship, has extended its ORC Double Handed lead to 7 nautical miles ahead of Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciani’s JPK 10.80 Colombre. In IRC Overall, Daguet 5 now leads from Palanad 4 and Final Final, while the same trio top IRC Zero. In ORC Overall, the Czech Mary S holds the lead from Final Final and Forever K. Michalis Aftias and Stathis Balomenos’s Outrider 4x Lynx continues to lead the multihulls on overall line honours.
The fleet is now closing on the volcanic caldera at Santorini, a nine-mile transit through the collapsed crater beneath the island’s cliff-top villages, before pushing on south towards Kassos, Karpathos and Rhodes. For Delidou and Hall, with the bulk of the course still ahead, the real test of the Aegean 600, the parking lots and wind shifts through the middle section, is only just beginning.
Results are provisional. Follow the race at pro.yb.tl/aegean6002026.
