The anniversary 60th Aegean Rally started with one of the most difficult and demanding sailing races of all time.
The distance of 77 nautical miles from Vouliagmeni to Syros proved to be particularly difficult for the sailors who were called upon to face the ultimate rough sea in the Aegean. For most of the 77 nautical mile distance, apnea prevented the boats from developing speed.
The almost complete lack of wind forced the skippers to readjust their plans at sea. Seeing that they would not be able to reach Syros in the time limit stated in the announcement of the event, they were forced to abandon the race midway.
In the final results of the “Performance” class, the “Optimum S Samos Steamship” of Liva-Lazou won the apnea race, with the “VELOS” of Olympian Mantis-Kagialis following and the “BANA BIOLETTA 4” of Giorgos Sykaris coming in third place.
Results
Apnea and the absolute cold in the Aegean put a ban on the finish of the boats in the “Sport” category in the first Vouliagmeni-Syros race.
The captains of “Optimum S Samos Steamship”, Periklis Livas and Nikos Lazos, appeared with their statements, satisfied with winning the first place. “It took us 17 hours to cover the distance from Vouliagmeni to Ermoupoli with an average hourly speed of about 4 nautical miles. We had a lot of patience and perseverance and we were well trained from the AEGEAN 600 that took place the week before. Our victory is important, but the Aegean Rally, as we know, is always judged in the last race” emphasized Pericles Livas and Nikos Lazos added: “The most difficult part was below Kythnos when we stopped for several hours. There even we began to calculate the time we would reach Syros. We wanted to beat the finish time limit. We must hold on to our victory and invest in it. Our competitors are experienced and lurking.”
The awarding of the prizes of the 1st sailing race will take place on Sunday evening with a view of the sunset at “KINI” offered by “ONEX NEORIO SYROS”.
At noon on Sunday, a delegation of “Jotun Hellas”, which for a successful year is the main sponsor of the Aegean Rally, toured the Syros Shipyards. After the end of the tour, the general manager of “Jotun Hellas” Nikos Markakis and the member of the board of directors, Dimitris Zarogiannis, had the opportunity to meet and thank the CEO of ONEX, Mr. Panos
Xenokostas for his contribution to the 60th Anniversary Rally of the Aegean.
And this year the “Aegean Rally” also has an environmental mark.
On July 28, the crews will carry out a symbolic cleaning of the coast in Ios. This is the action “To save our seas” organized in recent years by the Panhellenic Offshore Sailing Association. In the organization of the 60th Rally of the Aegean, the participating Club is the Nautical Club of Syros, while like every year, this year too the boats of the “Rally of the Aegean” will be accompanied by a ship of the Navy
The program of the 60th Aegean Rally, which includes many events in Syros and Ios, is as follows
Tuesday 25 July 11:00
Race 2: Syros – Ios, distance 68.50 NM
Thursday 27 July 11:00
Race 3: “Periplus Ios”, distance 36 NM
Saturday 29 July 11:00
Race 4: Ios – Sounio, distance 82 NM
The 60th Aegean Rally is organized by the Panhellenic Offshore Sailing Association (POIATH) with the support of the Navy and the exclusive sponsorship for the eighth consecutive year by JOTUN HELLAS. Sponsors are the companies A. KORONAKIS S.A., NISOS beer, the TECHNAVA company, the ONEX shipyard from Neorio in Syros, FRESH LINE cosmetics as well as the G4S-Telematix company that provides the vessel tracking system. Suppliers are DIRFYS natural water, LUX orange juice, and CHICAGO sailing shoes. Communication sponsors are the television stations ALPHA, STAR and NOVA, which is also the official television broadcaster of the event. Also communication sponsors are the newspaper KATHIMERINI, the radio station ERA SPORT 101.8, the sports newspaper SPORTIME, the magazines SKIPPER ON ONDECK, SAILING WORLD, and the sports news site APEX.
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