The Meltemi that sent the fleet off to a fast start on day one of the sixth edition of the Aegean 600 has held into day two, giving competitors 15-20 knots of breeze and fast reaching and downwind conditions through the first half of the 605-mile race. The event is organised by the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and Olympic Marine.
At the front of the fleet in elapsed time, Claudio Demartis’s Reichel/Pugh 90 PROSECCO DOC SHOCKWAVE 3 (ITA) and George Procopious’s Volvo 70 AIOLOS (GRE) were match racing through yesterday and into the night, including a transit of the caldera at Santorini. SHOCKWAVE took the lead and extended until wind holes in the lee of Rhodes allowed Frederic Puzin’s Carkeek 54 DAGUET 5 (FRA) to move into second. AIOLOS subsequently reclaimed second place two-thirds of the way up the upwind leg towards Kandelioussa.
Most of the faster boats passed through the Santorini transit gate after dark, though the back third of the fleet was treated to daylight views of the volcanic caldera in the early morning hours.
At the halfway point near the northern end of Rhodes, SHOCKWAVE’s average speed was 12.6 knots, short of the 13.6-knot average the Farr 100 LEOPARD 3 (MON) posted when setting the monohull course record in 2023. Whether SHOCKWAVE can close that gap depends on the strength and direction of the Meltemi across the eastern half of the course and the depth of any wind holes in island lees.
At the 30-hour mark, DAGUET 5 leads on IRC corrected time, followed by another French entry, the Mach 50 PALANAD 4, with Russ Whitworth’s TP 52 FINAL FINAL (USA) third. In ORC scoring, Pavel Stole’s JPK 10.30 MARY S (CZE) leads overall, with Paris Kyriakopoulou’s XR 41 XIPHOS (GRE) ahead on the water heading for Rhodes and third-placed PNEUMA (POL), Andrzej Rozycki’s JPK 10.30, just clearing Kasos.
Rozycki, sailing with team mate Maciej Marczewski, leads the ORC Double Handed division. Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciani’s JPK 10.80 COLOMBRE (ITA) retain their lead in IRC scoring, and Michalis Aftias and Stathis Balomenos’s Outrider 4x LYNX (ITA) hold their lead in the Multihull division.
Several retirements were recorded in the first 24 hours, with no serious injuries reported. Those who withdrew include Alexander Shehu’s Farr 40 ARMAGGEDON (GRE), Fabrizio Scime’s Oceanis 46.1 FELIX III, Andrea Ruckstuhl’s Pogo 36 VOYAGER (FRA), Armando Ortolano’s Solitaire 1740 AGERAS (GRE) and Arto Linnervuo’s Infinity 52 TULIKETTU (FIN).
The Finnish retirement was a bitter one given the speed potential of the DSS-equipped Infinity 52. Linnervuo said: “We had to retire from the race after damaging our foil in order to avoid further damage to the yacht. We were really happy with our performance and felt that this was our race. We really enjoyed this magnificent race course and were sad when having to stop racing. We are looking forward to returning to AEGEAN 600 race in the future to finish the job!”
