Record fleet starts tomorrow at the Aegean 600

After months and even years of planning for some, followed by hard work in preparation over the past week at Olympic Marine, 71 teams from 21 nations will finally be ready to start tomorrow in the 6th annual edition of the AEGEAN 600. Organizers from the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) will set the starting line just south of Cape Sounion with a turning mark placed at the base of the sea cliffs where the 2500-year old Ancient Temple of Poseidon overlooks the scene.

It is here in one of the most spectacular venues in offshore sailing that the fleet can be seen and cheered on by friends and family for their start of an epic 605-mile journey throughout the Aegean Sea. And it is here that days later each team will come back to finish this race.

Yesterday pre-race activities included a chance to test their boat, sails and crew in the Attica Warm-up Race where numerous teams came out to a course area just east of Olympic Marine to sail a 7.7 mile course. Unlike last year’s blustery conditions, yesterday’s race was held in a rather benign 5-10 knot northeasterly, which was still enough to get in some practice for the crews to be ready for the main event.

This was followed by the race’s Skipper’s Meeting and a Welcome Reception where teams had the chance to enjoy a generous helping of Greek hospitality courtesy of the organizers and sponsors, as well as have fun with socializing with other teams and posing for pre-race crew photos.

And today some teams took advantage of taking a tour to see the Temple of Poseidon up close before they see it from the sea tomorrow.

This was also a time to reflect on this race and what’s ahead before leaving their berths at Olympic Marine on Sunday to head to the starting area.

Stratis Andreadis is racing his Garcia 86 Maxi MELITI, namesake of many of his father George’s famous world champion offshore designs. This MELITI is a little more comfortable - “I'm racing a boat that has air conditioning, a generator and a coffee machine,” he says - although he thinks they can do well if the famous Meltemi winds remain strong. He also has high regard for this place and this race.

“Some of the last unexplored race courses in the Mediterranean lie in the Aegean, so it's great to take part. The Aegean 600 can become one of the great races, if it's not already. It's a tactical race testing all points of sail, with strong winds and parking lots. It is a great race where great sailors, tacticians and navigators find their legs.”

These year’s fleet is large and diverse, with boats racing from 30 to 90 feet in length, and crews ranging from two in the Double Handed division to well over a dozens on the Maxis. Among the Double Handed entries is BELLEROPHON (USA), Leslie Moeller’s Pegasus 50 that he’s racing with British shorthanded offshore racing legend Pip Hare. Both are competing for the first time in an AEGEAN 600.

“Ever since the Aegean 600 started, I knew it was one of the 600 mile races I really wanted to do,” said Hare. “It's such a challenging course in a beautiful place.”

After I bought this boat in Slovenia, I was looking for races to do and this one looked really good,” said Moeller. “Lots of wind and then maybe no wind, but lots of fun I hope.”

With all the twists and turns in the race course, and a huge variety of wind speeds, both acknowledge this will be a challenging course, particularly for Double Handed teams. Moeller said “Since this is our first race, we'll be racing people who have had this experience a lot of times. So we're interviewing as many people as possible.”

“It's all about wind shadows, big gusts in the channels, more wind shadows,” said Hare. “I think for us we need to be careful not to change sails too much because for a double handed team this can quickly exhaust you.”

Another team new to this race is PROSECCO DOC SHOCKWAVE 3 (ITA), Claudio Demartis’s Reichel/Pugh 90. Tactician Andrea Micalli discussed aspects of this race they are focused on leading into tomorrow’s start. First question: why is he here?

“Many people on board our boat have been taking part in this race before,” he said. “So I've heard many good stories and a lot of adventures and I'm very much looking forward it.”

The network of references to this race also extends beyond their team and has helped inform them of what’s ahead.

“Luckily, I have many Greek friends, which I've been interviewing before. The tricky part is that [this race] is very variable, meaning that it's not something that you can actually plan before. I've been told that the race should be split in different races one by one. And this is very challenging for a boat the size of ours, for example, which needs [a lot of] planning action to be made at the right moment.”

There is speculation that PROSECCO will be a strong contender for Line Honors, but Micalli is cautious about this prediction. 

“I don't like to think we are the most favored to win,” he said. “On the contrary, we are not trained with this boat in as much breeze as we will see at the start or the first part of the race. So we are just focusing on making things right. And even though our boat is the biggest, it's not [necessarily] the fastest. Many boats are made for downwind and reaching, and it will be very tricky to keep them behind. But we'll do our best to stay ahead of the competitors and make the most of the race.”

Due to what can sometimes be some grueling conditions on this course, Micalli also mentions another important point: keep the boat and crew intact.

“I like to think that to finish first, first you have to finish,” he said. “So we have to minimize the breakages and concentrate on the reliability of the boat and the crew. So it's really a matter of teamwork and preparation before the race, this is our goal. We've been training a lot for this race and I hope everything will be okay.”

Michal shared his view of the forecast and conditions for their race: in sum, it will be varied.

“We have been looking very much at the weather forecast. It appears to be quite windy at the beginning, quite soft in the middle with an increase at the end. So we are just focused on making things right at the beginning without breaking anything, and be safe at the rounding mark in Rhodes, which will be the drop of the wind at a certain point.”

Interviews with Hare, Moeller and Micalli can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOnzk3bkOdU.

Indeed, the island of Rhodes has in past races been an important hinge point where leaders can become followers and vice versa. To help assess this effect on the fleet during the race, veteran offshore race commentator Dobbs Davis of Seahorse Magazine will provide a race analysis show uploaded daily on the race’s YouTube channel. This show will highlight positions of the fleet using their YB trackers, existing and forecasted wind conditions, and discussions on the strategic and tactical options that the teams will face on the course.

Learn more about this year's race and all previous editions of the AEGEAN 600 at www.aegean600.com. Here there are numerous resources: press releases, photo and video archives and much more.