Sunday, November 10th 2013 was a very important day for Sports around the world. It was the day of the ORIGINAL Marathon, the 31st Athens Marathon! As a Sport Team, OPTIMUM Yacht Racing Team, sees the Marathon as the ultimate test of human endurance and two OPTIMUM team members were registered to compete: Kostis Afentakis, Optimum bowman and Vaggelis Karas, Optimum pitman, both loyal team members for more than 10 years completed successfully the Marathon Classic and brought additional pride to OPTIMUM YACHT RACING TEAM.
On water now, Team OPTIMUM scored 1st place on race 2 of the Winter Championship Series that is organized by Yacht Club Greece. Due to light winds the Race Committee Race selected to shorten the 35 mile coastal race down to 26 miles to Faliron-Lagousa right- Faliron. The weather was sunny enough for t-shirts, sort pants and loads of sun cream to the point where we all worried for our fellow team members running in the Athens Marathon… As such, OPTIMUM 3 – ASPIDA is in good shape with a 3, 1 after two races and we are looking forward for the following two racing November Sundays!
“It was not easy out there today as the very light winds were very tricky for the tacticians. Nick Lazos did a magnificent job to get us clear after a poor and late start, directed us hard right which proved favored, and when the wind picked up at a steady 5-8 knots true we were able to extend just enough to win on corrected time for only 1 min and 29 sec after more than four hours of racing! For me, it was interesting to trim the A1 spinnaker that I designed last May, and gave me the chance to evaluate and compare designed and actual flying shapes, a process that never ends and promotes development. The team spirit was on OPTIMUM level aboard and the new waterproof ultra light spinnaker sheets provided by Kapa Ropes where the talk of the day”, says team member Patroklos Tachtatzis and Quantum Sailing Group sail designer, responsible for keeping us update to the top level of international racing sailing.
On board OPTIMUM 3- ASPIDA for the day were only 14 as Alexis Marougas had a last minute “situation”. The core team for the day included George Hatzigeorgiou, Nikos Apostolakis, Manolis Markogiannakis, Alexis Chrysochoides, John Tachtatzis, Lambros Nakis, Manos Roudas, Nikos Lazos, Periklis Livas, Alexandros Sofroniadis, Gerasimos Petratos, and Nick Fugias(at last!) The line up included also new comer George Belesis and a guest friend Ben Goodhead.
Remember, …stay tuned!!!