Aegean 600, mini round the world race for the maxi class

With near photo finishes, calms, strong winds, sudden gusts, joy, terror and some amazing scenery, this year’s Aegean 600 was like a mini round the world race for the 10 maxi yachts competing within the record-sized fleet of 71.

The Aegean 600 was again organised by the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and Olympic Marine and was the penultimate event in the International Maxi Association’s 2025-26 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge. This, the sixth edition, set sail from the Sounion Peninsula at 1400 on Sunday 5 July with the maxi fleet finishing the anticlockwise lap of the Aegean 600 over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, following a generally faster race than anticipated.

A fantastic race took place for line honours with Claudio Demartis’ longer, sleeker 90ft Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ having to fend off George Procopiou’s wider, more powerful VO70 Aiolos and both having to keep a keen eye on the modern 50 footers Palanad 4 and Daguet 5 that at times were up with the maxi leaders. The 90 footer finally shook off the opposite when she was first out of the lee of Rhodes, late on Monday morning (when Daguet 5 was second on the water). After the ‘upwind’ third section of the course, by the northeasterly turning mark at Agathonissi she had extended to 17 miles. However on the lengthy reaching leg west back to the finish, Aiolos, on her optimum point of sail, reeled in her opponent. In a nail-biting finish, Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ crossed the line on Tuesday at 14:08:27 to take line honours in an elapsed time of 2 days 8 minutes 27 seconds, Aiolos just 2 minutes 9 seconds behind.

For the leader there was drama from the start. As helmsman Lorenzo Bressani explained: “The Meltemi was blowing very hard and in the first 10 minutes we exploded a spinnaker. So then we had to use the smallest spinnaker.” Then on the first night, during the windiest part of the race where competitors saw 40+ knots, they tore their A5 gennaker in a 30-35 knot gust. “It was hard not to break anything in that,” recounted navigator Andrea Micalli. “We got our top speed of 29.5 knots before it broke…”

Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ came fresh from setting a new course record in the Brindisi-Corfu race. Some of her mixed crew of pros and amateurs, had taken part in previous editions of the Aegean 600, however many had not and in the big conditions, which peaked at 37 knots off Kasos, their round the world race veteran boat captain Stefano Spangaro, took command of the manoeuvres - delicate procedures in the gale force conditions.

According to Micalli, they won the race thanks to being first free themselves from the wind hole in the lee of Rhodes. “That was the turning point of the whole race - we gained almost 10-12 miles from there.”

While Aiolos was unable to secure a third consecutive monohull line honours, she defended her IRC Maxi class title by 7 hours 13 minutes, ahead of Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ and the Polish-crewed VO65 Big Sky, skippered by Vendée Globe skipper Zbigniew Gutkowski in third.

“It’s bitter sweet to finish second [on line honours] when it is so close,” said Aiolos navigator Konrad Lipski. “But our result is very good. We’re tired, but happy.”

As predicted before the race, Aiolos made gains on the reaching legs. Compared to the forecast, Lipski felt: “overall the first half of the race was lighter, and the finish stronger - the Meltemi was dying, but we were finished in 14 knots average.” The most wind they saw was 42-43 knots off Kasos, where they broke a downhaul – the extent of their breakage.

During the tense final reach they had benefitted from past experience and local knowledge within their team, including tactician Olympic 470 bronze medallist Panagiotis Mantis. A key moment came when Aiolos passed to the weather side of the race’s second last island, Gyaros, in stronger breeze while her opponent took the shorter route to its lee. At this point Aiolos was sailing some 4 knots faster. “We wanted to pass this area of no wind, in full power reaching mode. We deployed our masthead kite first, then Prosecco attacked - it was super fun,” continued Lipski.

Chartered to a crew led by Mauro Montefusco, the 78ft Nice (ex-Capricorno), finished at 04:55 this morning, followed 36 minutes later by Márton Józsa 60ft DSS yacht Wild Joe, claiming Maxi class fourth and fifth.

The lower-rated maxis had the hardest time at the finish, the Meltemi having disappeared. “It took us four hours to do the last three miles,” confided Stratis Andreadis, who’s Garcia 86 Meliti arrived at 11:40 this morning taking seventh place.

“The race had an epic quality to it,” continued Andreadis. “Like one of the old Whitbreads [Round the World Race] it started downwind in 20-25 knots with big seas (for the Aegean anyway). Then there was this magical evening when we saw the sunset over Santorini. Then it was into the ‘Roaring 40s’ and ‘Screaming 50s’ of Kasos and Karpathos, where our new staysail tack blew off - in true Whitbread style, we screwed it back together with Dyneema.” Here they saw 48-50 knots and under double-reefed main their giant yacht had broached.

“Then we had a little Doldrums off Rhodes where we were becalmed for a few hours, as we were under Simi. Towards Kandelioussa, it was just horrible upwind with the whole mast shaking. On the reach we saw 38 knots under Ikaria and last night was playing with whatever breeze was there. Before Kandelioussa we were abeam of Hagar V and she ended up 40 miles behind us. We were about 40 miles behind Varuna but caught up with her and got 5-6 miles ahead of her. She ended up finishing about 100m behind us.” While Meliti was becalmed Varuna came in with breeze.

“It's different to other races because you have a lot of different wind strengths - you have to be a really sharp sailor to get through it,” Andreadis concluded, promising to return. “It's a great credit to the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club who designed this course.”

The prize-giving will take place on Saturday evening (11 July) where Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ and Aiolos will receive their trophies and Aiolos’ George Procopiou will be once again awarded the George Andreadis Challenge Trophy for the top IMA member.

The IMA’s Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge will conclude with the Palermo-Montecarlo race starting on 18 August.