Monday, 29 August 2022, 20:00.
Team OPTIMUM members, fans and OPTIMUM Sailing Academy young students that participated in 55th Andros Race with the three O.S.A. Dehler 30ods enjoyed a challenging and enjyable 4-day event. Nautical Club Andros and Yacht Club Greece co-organised a fantastic event and offered great hospitality to all 19 teams competing. During the long uphill race from Vouliagmeni to Chora-Andros, very light and patchy winds prevailed and it took between 15 to 20 hours of full concentration, including the whole Thursday night, to reach the finish. After some good rest on Friday we enjoyed an evening dinner party with lots of dance and music in Polemis family estate. The local coastal day race followed by a warm prize-giving ceremony at the seafront Nautical Club Andros premises filled nicely our Saturday. The return race on Sunday in light-medium downwind conditions was happy sailing with numerous jibing duels. The event concluded with the overall prize-giving in the unique Yacht Club Greece Clubhouse at the hill overlooking Mikrolimano in Piraeus. LAVORO III, OPTIMUM 4 and AETHER scored 2, 4, 6 in ORC Class 2 and 6, 9, 14 in ORC overall, respectively.
“Me and my mates from dinghy sailing are very grateful to O.S.A. for providing the platform to enter the offshore racing scene as a group on board a super modern racing yacht as the the Dehler 30od. It was so much fun and challenging to compete in Andros race, trained, prepared and coached by Team OPTIMUM members. They are so passionate about it which is very inspiring to us. We are lucky we found out of their O.S.A. program and they opened a whole new chapter in sailing for us. Huge experience guys, thank you!” commented 17-year old Lefteris Grispos, Optimist and 420 sailor speaking after their return in N.C.Kalamaki O.S.A. base on behalf of the rest of his group of young guns, Nikolas Stavropoulos Jr., Odysseas Yakamozis, Pavlos and Alexandros Piperakis and Christos Stathas.
“We get so much satisfaction racing the O.S.A. Dehler 30s with Team OPTIMUM mates, friends, fans and Academy students because we love to share our experience and knowhow with offshore sailing enthusiasts who are as passionate as we are with offshore sailing. This time we pushed the envelope a bit further and we formed a team with only 17-18 year old youngsters to taste their first overnight race. They showed great patience and persistence during the 17 hours it took us to finish race 1 and were very disciplined following the night shift schedule. Their enthusiasm and fighting spirit was very inspiring, promising and rewarding experience to me as a coach in this instance. I will be happy to sail with them anytime soon again”, says Team OPTIMUM and O.S.A. co-Principal Periklis Livas.
The O.S.A. initiative is driven by Team OPTIMUM commitment to give back to the sport and the young generation and it is supported by Samos Steamship, Lalizas, Kapa Ropes Technology, and Quantum Sails Greece. The plan is to enrol as many as we possibly can and try to inspire them to immerse in our sport/hobby and become passionate and happy.
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