Under perfect sunny skies and brisk northerly winds, the introductory events in the 5th edition of the annual AEGEAN 600 started with perfection both on and off the water.

On the water at midday today the Attica Warm-Up Race offered teams the opportunity to taste what lies ahead for them starting on Sunday’s start of the main event, the 605-mile race around the Aegean islands. Thirteen of the 60 boats entered in the main event chose to go out and test themselves and their boats in quite fresh conditions, with winds between 15-25 knots reaching even higher gusts over a 10.6-mile course.

In IRC scoring the top three boats were Maks Vrecko’s Elan 450 KARPO from Slovenia, followed by Patroklos Tottas’s XP-44 ANTELOPE from Greece and Yves Gosjean’s Neo 430 Roma AFAZIK IMPULSE from France in third. In ORC scoring KARPO was second and ANTELOPE third, while the race was won by the X-362 Sport PEGA HELLENIC NAVAL ACADEMY led by skipper Dimitrios Alevizakis.

After the race teams returned to shore and the other crews continued with their preparations at the host venue at Olympic Marine, representatives from all teams came to the Technohull Lounge for a Skippers Briefing. Here the topics discussed included some tips on local weather conditions around the islands, an overview of the start and finishing procedures, questions about the Sailing Instructions, and a plea from the media team to share their video and photo content to help them tell the abundance of stories coming from everyone’s experiences during this great race.

The day concluded and evening started with an Opening Ceremony led by Ioannis Maragkoudakis, President of the AEGEAN 600 Organizing Committee and Commodore of the Hellenic Offshore Race Club (HORC). His inspiring words and welcoming remarks led to an evening of great food and entertainment that epitomizes what Greeks are well-known for everywhere: world-class hospitality.