Nautical Club Kalamaki,
Athens, Greece. 16th December 2021, 08:46
Very few offshore sailing Teams around the world have clocked 28 years uninterruptedly. Team OPTIMUM managed so and aims to reach a 50th anniversary! Key decisions made early on and partnerships oriented to preserve and transfer lessons learned after thousands of hard racing and training miles to the young and coming generation seem to prescribe a prosperous and challenging future. In 2021, a 16-year old run the show on the pointy end of our 52 footer, a 26-year old was calling the shots in the far back to the 30-year old helmsman who led a passionate mixed gender crew of all ages to achieve great results. Doesn’t get more motivating than this and Team principals Periklis Livas and Nikos lazos backed by our partner/sponsor Samos Steamship finalised the deal for OPTIMUM S, a Carkeek 47 Grand Prix (ex.INDIAN) that will arrive in Greece in early March 2022 all the way from Fremantle, Australia. INDIAN Sailing Team campaigned her since new from 2014 until 2021, successfully racing inshore, coastal and offshore including three Rolex Sydney-Hobart races.“Even before the sale of OPTIMUM 3 we had been looking for possible boats to replace her. We have seen and raced against a sister-ship to INDIAN, BLACK PEARL in ROLEX Middle Sea Race in 2014 and 2018.
Although shorter in length she was significantly faster than OPTIMUM 3 and seriously modern and good looking. She employees all the technology and design evolution in hull shape, cockpit layout, sails, rig and systems configuration except foiling. More importantly C47 is built with offshore racing in mind but remains very competitive in coastal and inshore racing in the right hands. Although Team OPTIMUM has a strong crew lineup and can easily get 15 members to race onboard, we felt that downsizing to a boat with a crew requirement of 12 would be a benefit as we can compete in more races with the same budget by rotating crew. Finally, since she is almost three tons lighter than OPTIMUM 3, the loads are much less which allows younger crew and women to fit in easier. We are very happy with our choice of weapon and excited and thankful for the relation, cooperation and handover process with INDIAN Sailing Team”, confess Team co-Principal Nikos Lazos.
“Allow me to add the importance of three more built-in features that make the C47 ideal as OPTIMUM S. She has a two-piece mast tube, an easily removable bowsprit and keel attachment arrangement that allows easy packing and transportation on 40’ flat rack container. The OPTIMUM dream is to campaign OPTIMUM S internationally in most of the key offshore races around the world carrying the Greek flag, and ease of packing and shipping becomes essential. The OPTIMUM Offshore Racing Academy employing the three affiliated Dehler 30 One Designs AETHER, OPTIMUM 4 and LAVORO III will provide the path and opportunity to those keen to put the time and effort to contribute to the OPTIMUM S international ambitions. All Team OPTIMUM members are hugely thankful for the full-hearted support from Samos Steamship Co. of the Inglessis family and their commitment in Team OPTIMUM for three more years. This allows for early planning and step by step execution which is the base for success”, explains Team co-Principal Periklis Livas.
“Contributing in Team OPTIMUM has been a rewarding experience since June 2019. We have learned from each other and worked together productively, achieving more than we aimed for. We feel comfortable in this partnership and we decided to up our OPTIMUM play in an international level since Samos Steamship is used to operate in such an environment for more than 140 years. This ambition required new advanced hardware to stand a chance to flourish and we enjoyed the process of carefully selecting OPTIMUM S among various candidates within certain criteria and budget constraints. After a 5-month process, INDIAN ticked all boxes but happened to be as far away as could possibly be. However, we were not discouraged and we were lucky the sellers proved to be very kind and professional and we have a deal on the making. Samos Steamship is keen to offer its international expertise across the world’s oceans and make the OPTIMUM dream come true”, shares John Inglessis on behalf of Samos Steamship Co.
Expect to see fireworks in our base in Nautical Club Kalamaki on arrival of OPTIMUM S, followed by hard work and taking on tough challenges for the next three years. Only then we’ll find out if we wrote another chapter in the OPTIMUM book or we started writing a whole new OPTIMUM book volume!!!
Stay tuned, join and enjoy!