14:00, Monday 14th November 2022, Alimos, Greece.
“Okto” Race was the second of four races organised by Yacht Club Greece that make up the Winter Series every year in November. “Okto” is eight in Greek and this classic Y.C.G. race is called such due to the figure “8” course around two little rocky islands in the Saronic Gulf of 34 miles. The light wind forecast proved accurate and the competing yachts did 8-12 hours to finish the race, turning it to a sea Marathon in parallel with the Authentic Athens Marathon taking place the same day! The wind was not only light but patchy too, requiring full concentration, patience and persistence. This Sunday, all three O.S.A. Dehler 30ods, LAVORO III, OPTIMUM 4 and AETHER competed and finished in the dark almost 10 hours after the 10:00 start, scoring 8th, 13th, and 14th respectively.
“I was happy to get back in sailing mode with Team OPTIMUM since June. Since OPTIMUM S-Samos Steamship is out of action and in service and maintenance mode, team members alternate and race on O.S.A. Dehler 30s to keep in touch and test new sails, settings and crew choreography. The Dehler 30od is such a modern little race boat and the guys trusted me at the helm for this race. They were 19 entries in our ORC 2 Performance class and a total of another 29 entries in ORC 1 and Sport classes. Although we crossed the finish line first in ORC 2 boats, on handicap we dropped to 13th due to the big penalty we carry for the Upwind Code 0 sail that we test since late August on OPTIMUM 4. This furling sail counts as a huge genoa from the tip of the bowsprit all the way to the back end of the boat and we try to learn how to get the most out of it. International Handicap Systems have become very accurate over the years and we believe it is us who need to learn how to best set and trim these new sail wardrobes in modern race boats. The cherry on the cake of this marathon race was the beautiful sunset we all enjoyed in our final approach to the finish”, confesses Anna Agrafioti(OLY), one of the few female members we have attracted on Team OPTIMUM.
All three O.S.A. Dehler 30s are supported and equipped by LALIZAS, a company that like Team OPTIMUM and OPTIMUM Sailing Academy breaks new grounds and challenges new frontiers. For the record OPTIMUM 4 was crewed in “Okto” Race by Vaggelis Nikolopoulos, George Kyragiannis, Giannis Kapos, Nikos Kountouriotis and Manolis Markogiannakis.
Next weekend we race again, join or stay tuned at least…