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Porto
Raft is at the top of the map with Lavrio at its bottom. The island is 2.5 nm to the east of Lavrio is
Macronesos. Its name means Long Island
in Greek as it is 8 miles long and 1.5 mile wide. Today the arid island is uninhabited but
served as a site of exile during the Greek civil war (1944-49).
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The day
before the race my brother and I sail Okyrhoe from Lavrio to Porto Rafti a 12
nm distance in slightly less than 2 hours.
The wind was moderately strong from aft a point of sail that J 92’s excels
at. It was one of the most enjoyable
sails of the entire season.
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Aerial
view of Porto Rafti bay. The island of
Rafti is at its entrance while Raftopoula islet is further in and to the west.
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On
Saturday, October 8th, the participating boats are jockeying for a
good position just before the starting gun.
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The
race committee prepares to give the start signal.
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Okyrhoe
is leading the fleet. It is sailing past
Rafti Island flying its blue asymmetrical spinnaker.
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The
first five boats are near the point where they exit the bay and turning south
towards the finish line outside the port Lavrio. Okyrhoe, our J92 is in first position and Mount
Kandili, our friend Stathis boat built by Sonata in Australia with its blue and
white spinnaker, is in fourth place with 10-15 more boats following the
leaders.
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Aerial
view of the course heading south towards Lavrio. The strait is between the eastern shore of
Attica peninsula and the island of Macronesos.
To the east of Macronesos the island of Kea is visible on a clear day.
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Next
day on Sunday the race was a classic triangle around the buoys. Nikos our skipper is at the helm as customary
during the races.
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At the completion of the Grand Prix Regatta (four races) Okyrhoe was first. I included the list of the first 15 of the 27 sailboats that participated in the Grand Prix
regatta in the picture above (please click on the table for a magnified view). Many friends and family crewed in Okyrhoe's 2016 season. I will mention the names of all participants starting with
our skipper Nikos Spigos, his wife Alexandra, his children George and Vasilis,
his older brother Dimitris and his nephew John.
A special mention is made to the Tridemas cousins (Kostas and Vagelis)
the former, a most able sailor, who sailed with us in our passage from
Spain to Greece. Nathanael Dimitris an
experienced sailor who also made the crossing from Spain to Greece on his J105
boat graciously advised us when we were preparing for our trip. Syris Alecos a talented cinematographer and friend
who recorded the videos of the early summer races. Alecos an experienced sailor and bicycle
enthusiast also crewed in key races.
Stathis Yannacopoulos, the skipper of Mount Kandili, is our friend from
the Lavrio Yacht Club. An interesting
group are those who came from afar to race. They were; Goulountas Manos who came from Berlin,
Germany, Palioudakis George from Rethemnon, Crete, John Spigos who came from
Dublin, Ireland and Kamarotos Stylianos from Amsterdam, Holland. I am listing the following in alphabetical
order and were Bahakis Yiannis, Derani Katerina, Kostiopoulou Mirto and her
daughter Daphne, Klavdianos Dionysis, Kontos Harris, Koutris Kostis, Kountouris
Andreas, Skotida Kynthia and last but not least Zannes Nikos Okyrhoe’s anointed
photographer who also crewed at our legendary passage when our J92 was called
Vol de Nuit. My brother and I sincerely thank all of them for making 2016 a
successful but above all a most enjoyable season.
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