20:00, Friday 30th June 2023, Alimos, Greece.
One may call the month of July as the prime time of offshore racing sailing in Greece since the Aegean600 and the 60th Aegean Rally take place, organised by Hellenic Offshore Racing Club(H.O.R.C). Team OPTIMUM-Samos Steamship is completing preparations to compete in both events with OPTIMUM S, a demanding feat that very few Teams can achieve. The 3rd edition of the Aegean600, with a start on Sunday July 9th this year under the Poseidon Temple in Cape Sounio, not only boasts a record of 47 entries from 17 countries but a significant jump on the quality and depth of the sailing teams entered. It seems that the mythical 600 course and the prevailing fresh t-shirt sailing conditions along with the well known greek hospitality is secret no more. ROLEX should take notice. With less than two weeks to regroup, comes the start of the 60th Anniversary of the Aegean Rally one of the oldest and unique events in the sailing world. Unique because every edition boasts a different course of about 300 miles and 2 or 3 different island stopovers, so no-one ever gets enough or bored. Team OPTIMUM celebrates its 30th season and will try to repeat podium finishes in both events.
“We have focused all our buildup program to peak in July. All Team OPTIMUM members put their time, effort and will invest most of their free time this year in July to achieve the best possible result in these two events. Some may think of Team OPTIMUM as a professional team but all Team OPTIMUM members are just people with day jobs that share the passion of offshore racing and have created what we internally call the OPTIMUM spirit. That spirit led us to numerous victories over the past 30 years and allowed Team OPTIMUM to be on the favourites list in every race entered. More importantly the OPTIMUM spirit held us tight together and focused at hard times and allowed us to overcome and be today stronger than ever before. That spirit was identified by Samos Steamship back in 2019 during the 52nd Andros Race and became partners ever since, striving for excellence and development across the board. That spirit keeps Team OPTIMUM members that are not actually sailing onboard for various personal reasons, to stay in the loop and offer their support in myriad ways, and fuel the spirit and the OPTIMUM story further. Keep pushing ahead!”, says former Team OPTIMUM bowman Christos Chatzidimitriou since 2002 and Team OPTIMUM Technical Head ever since, enthusiastically offering his exceptional knowledge and skills to present our weaponry ready for battle year after year!
In addition, OPTIMUM Sailing Academy (O.S.A.) Dehler 30ods LAVORO III and OPTIMUM 4, in their second year of existence, prepare to enter two 6-member newcomer teams in the 60th Aegean Rally. O.S.A. aims to introduce passionate sailors of all ages and sex to hardcore demanding offshore sailing and the 60th Aegean Rally fits perfectly the bill. Apart from LALIZAS S.A. and Quantum Sails supporting O.S.A. operations, one or two more top notch companies might support O.S.A. and underwrite the dual entry in the Aegean Rally and beyond. The two O.S.A. teams have been training and racing daily and weekend races mainly in the Saronic Gulf since end of March, posting mid fleet results and some podium finishes on their way to prepare their way to experience racing in the Aegean Sea.
Stay tuned, prime time news to follow..!