This year's AEGEAN 600, organized by the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and co-organised by Olympic Marine, has in its 4th annual edition once again proven to be among the world's most challenging 600-mile races. The largest-ever turnout of 69 entries from 24 countries encountered a huge range of conditions that competitors needed to conquer to complete the course – from dead calms to gale-force winds – provided a suitable test of skill for any offshore sailing team, professional and amateur alike. All teams on all boats were challenged this year.
The start on Sunday afternoon was, as always, spectacular: with spectators lining the cliffs above Cape Sounio at the Ancient Temple of Poseidon the fleet got off to a fast start in the teeth of a brisk Meltemi. The two MOD 70's quickly sped off towards the first island at Milos at amazing speed, and with the fastest monohulls not far behind they transited the gate through the caldera of Santorini within several hours of the start. The bulk of the fleet made that transit in the dawn hours of Monday.
On the downwind leg to Kassos, however, tragedy struck one entry: two crew members on board the Pogo 44 HEAVEN (FRA) fell overboard on Monday afternoon while struggling with their spinnaker, and while both were retrieved quickly one was severely hurt in the incident and succumbed to her injuries. News of this terrible accident devastated all participants in the event: sailors, organizers and fans. At the Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening HORC announced it has commissioned a commemorative remembrance and award for next year in honor of Ganna Konontchouk, the fallen crew on HEAVEN.
When the fleet encountered gale force winds and huge seas at the south end of the course near Kassos and Karpathos, fortunately this was at headsail reaching angles, making this manageable for most teams. However, the next hurdle that lie ahead in the lee of Rhodes treated the fleet differently depending on their timing: the fast boats managed to slip through without serious delay, whereas the remainder of the fleet hit a wall at Limnos, some wiggling through at low speed while others stopped and drifted in circles for hours.
While zig-zagging around the islands of the eastern Aegean, the fleet leaders proceeded at record pace and the middle and back of the fleet struggled in lighter conditions hopping from one hole to another behind these islands. Even the two MOD 70's hit some of these speed bumps en route westwards towards the finish at Cape Sounio, where they set a new Multihull Record of 1D 13H 18M 52S. The fastest monohulls fell into holes as well, one big one in particular in the lee of Ikaria that stopped them for hours, enough to fall just short of breaking the Monohull record set last year.
After five and a half days of racing all entries had completed the course, as well as most of the 30 retired teams had returned to the venue at Olympic Marine. All will have plenty of stories to tell and memories to share about this exceptional 4th edition of the AEGEAN 600.
Final results (top three):
Maxi (IRC scoring)
AILOS (GRE) Juan-K VOR70 George Procopiou
L4 (DEN) Juan-K VOR70 Joern Larsen
LUCKY (USA) Juan K 88 Bryon Ehrhart
IRC One
BLACK PEARL (GER) Botin 56 Stefan Jentzsch
AIOLOS (GRE) Juan-K VOR70 George Procopiou
L4 (DEN) Juan-K VOR70 Joern Larsen
IRC Two
ARTIE III (MLT) HH 42 Lee Satariano
NEOMIND (GER) Neo 430 Roma Sascha Schröder & Manuel Polo
AFAZIK IMPULSE (FRA) Neo 430 Roma Yves Grosjean
IRC Three
LANN AEL 3 (FRA) MN 35 Didier Gaudoux
CHESTRESS (ITA) J109 Leonardo Petti
NOISY OYSTER – Selma Racing (POL) J122 Olivier Parchet
IRC Double Handed
AETHER (GRE) Dehler 30 OD Jerry Petratos & Evi Delidou
IRC Overall
BLACK PEARL (GER) Botin 56 Stefan Jentzsch
ARTIE III (MLT) HH 42 Lee Satariano
NEOMIND (GER) Neo 430 Roma Sascha Schröder & Manuel Polo
ORC One
NEOMIND (GER) Neo 430 Roma Sascha Schröder & Manuel Polo
ARTIE III (MLT) HH 42 Lee Satariano
CHOCOLATE 3 (SUI) Farr 52 Francois Bopp
ORC Two
BEDOUIN (AUS) Swan 53 Linda Goddard
NOISY OYSTER – Selma Racing (POL) J122 Olivier Parchet
ANTELOPE (GRE) XP 44 Patroklos Tottas & Akis Tsalikis
ORC Three
CHESTRESS (ITA) J109 Leonardo Petti
ASSANTE (GRE) Bavaria 36 Alkis Georgiadis
SUSANO'O (GRE) Italia 11.98 Stelios Zompanakis
ORC Double Handed
AETHER (GRE) Dehler 30 OD Jerry Petratos & Evi Delidou
ORC Overall
NEOMIND (GER) Neo 430 Roma Sascha Schröder & Manuel Polo
ARTIE III (MLT) HH 42 Lee SatarianoCHOCOLATE 3 (SUI) Farr 52 Francois Bopp
X-YACHTS (ORC-scored)
ANTELOPE (GRE) XP 44 Patroklos Tottas & Akis Tsalikis
ARTEMIS-SELMA RACING (POL) X^6 Artur Skrzyszowski
AQUA NOMIS (AUT) XP 44 Julian Kircher
MOCRA
ARGO (USA) MOD 70 Jason Carroll
ZOULOU (FRA) MOD 70 Erik Maris
PICOLOME (ITA) Rapido 53XS Aldo Fumagalli
Final results can be found at www.aegean600.com, as well as many other resources of photos, videos and information on the race and the teams.
Race and race analysis videos made by Dobbs Davis of Seahorse Magazine are on the event's YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/channel/UCUZJ6RLffsOcgIccIwCAT_A
Text Credits: AEGEAN 600
Photo Credits: AEGEAN 600/Alen Photography & Deea Buzdugan
Video Credits: AEGEAN 600/ICARUS Sports
