Event
Straight into the major league
Convention says it takes five or six editions before a new 600-miler can join the ‘Classics Club’. The Aegean 600 did it in two years...
Offshore racers are always looking for new challenges to test their boat and themselves, this is a fundamental driving force for our sport.While this challenge is inherent to the game due to the inevitable changes in wind and sea even on the same race course sailed at the same time of year, sometimes new venues will be attractive for teams seeking to enhance this challenge and their enjoyment of the sport to further hone their offshore skills. The Aegean 600 offers this challenge. Building on the success of the
second edition of the race in 2022, the third edition coming in July 2023 (7-15) will offer both returning and new teams an opportunity to experience what has been called “the perfect 600-mile race”. This is a bold claim of course, but one borne out from the race’s format, its setting and the exuberant feedback from those who participated in 2022. The Aegean 600 course was designed by experienced offshore racers who know that 600 miles is the perfect length to test all the skills a team needs to demonstrate their abilities in offshore sailing: preparation, safety, seamanship, navigation, proper sail selection and trim, and the efficient pacing of crew work in what can be sustained and demanding weather conditions. The organisers from the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) have
68 SEAHORSE
a decades-long heritage in racing yearly in the Aegean Sea. They know the weather, the seas and the islands very well. Entry is open to monohulls and
multihulls, with scores calculated using ratings from IRC, ORC or both for monohulls, and MOCRA for multihulls. Double-handed entries are welcomed and are eligible for the overall Aegean 600 handicap trophy. Starting and ending the race in
the same place is considerably less logistic hassle than a point-to-point race. This helps compress the timelines for teams to participate and still have some of their season left for more sailing. The shoreside venue is centralised
at OlympicMarine in Lavrion, a world- classmarina with large docks, deep water to accommodate all boat sizes and full services of a large boatyard formaintenance and repairs of sails, standing and running rigging, engine, plumbing, electronics, woodworking, composite repairs and so on. There are restaurants on site, shops for provisioning, a logistics hub for shipping and transport – and Athens international airport is only a short drive away. The racecourse is a scenic tour
of the legendary islands of the southern Aegean Sea, with a start and finish is just a few miles from Olympic Marine and positioned off the cliffs of Cape Sounion where the
Above: rather appropriately the Aegean 600 starts and finishes off Cape Sounion, directly beneath the 2,500-year- old Temple of Poseidon. Organised by the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club, it’s open to monohull and multihull yachts of all sizes
ancient temple of Poseidon – built in the fifth century BC to honor the ancient Greeks’ God of the Sea – overlooks sailors and boats as it has for 2,500 years. There is no more symbolic setting for the beginning and end of a yacht race than this iconic feature. After the start the fleet heads southeast passing the island of Milos to port, a gate to sail through the stunning Caldera of Santorini, then east and northeast towards Kassos, Karpathos and Rhodos islands left to port. At the town of Rhodes at the east end of the island – the site of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven ancient wonders of the ancient world – the course turns west towards Kandelioussa left to starboard, then northeast to Kos left to port, then northwest again to Kalolimnos left to starboard, with Farmakonissi, Agathonissi and Patmos islands left to port. The course then heads back to Attica with a gate at Mykonos and the Dilos strait, then a final run to the finish at Cape Sounion leaving Kea island to port. Not only does this course challenge navigators for routing around and even through these islands, but the near-constant northerly Meltemi provides the 15-25kt power needed to complete this course in three to five days of exciting sailing. In and around the
NIKOS ALEVROMYTIS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126
