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Every
year several sailboat races take place in the Aegean Sea. This year 76 sailboats from 15 nations
participated in the Aegean Regatta from the island of Patmos to the island of
Rhodes.
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| The first leg of the race was from the island of Patmos to the island of Astypalea. It was a 50 nm passage during which a 10-15 knot north wind propelled the boats in their southern course. Okyrhoe was 2nd out of the starting line. The large spinnaker was used all the way to the uninhabited islet Levitha. After rounding the next waypoint Cape Exopetra we reached the finish line at sunset, 16th of the 48 boats. |
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Astypalaia is a charming island that belongs to
the Dodecanese chain, an archipelago of twelve major islands in the
southeastern Aegean Sea. The small town with the white houses and the
Venetian Castle on the hilltop is reminiscent of the architecture seen in the
Cycladitic group of islands to its north and west.
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| The second leg of the race from Astypalea to Nisyros was a stretch of 40 nm that was sailed at broad reach in moderately strong north winds. |
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| Okyrhoe reached the finish line near the port of Mandraki at 3 pm. |
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The
early arrival allowed plenty of time to visit the beautiful island that is known
for its famous active volcano. I have
described the island of Nisyros in detail
in a prior post in 2014.
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The
third race from Nisyros to Rhodes was 50 nm and took place in shifty light northerly
winds. Okyrhoe reached the finish line
at night in 28th place in corrected time. There was a fourth and final inshore around
the buoys race on Sunday in moderately strong 20-25 knots winds. This was our best race with Okyrhoe finishing
5th in its class. We moored
at Rhodes newly constructed beautiful marina.
Okyrhoe is the boat bearing the number 75 on her bow and flies proudly
the Lavriotiki Yacht Club flag.
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For
those interested to learn about Rhodes the largest of the Dodecanese chain of
islands, you may wish to refer at four posts I wrote in 2014. The first was about the Knights of Rhodes, the second was about Diagoras whom I described as the happiest man who ever lived, the
third about Rhodes itself and the
final about one of the eight wonders of antiquity the Colossus.
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| In closing, I will mention only the boats that took first place in the three categories. In the IRC category first came Shak Shuka an A 35 from Turkey which skipper was Hasan Uktu Cetiner. First in the IRCi category was Black Jack-Status Maritime from Greece a GP 42 with P. Mantis at the helm. First in the ORC Club category was Ipsili an Elan 40 from Greece with D. Sofitsis as its skipper. Okyrhoe a J92 came 22nd. Her skipper was my brother Nikos Spigos. The interested reader can find photographs, videos and detailed results of the race at the AegeanRegatta site. |
