10:00, Tuesday 14th July 2026, Nautical Club Kalamaki, Athens, Greece.
OPTIMUM Sailing Academy’s two identical red and blue Dehler 30ods did participate and managed to finish in Double Handed mode the 6th Aegean 600. 71 entries from 21 countries lined up at the start line under the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounio. The 25 knot meltemi wind gusting 30+ challenged all competitors from the start all the way around the mythical 605-mile non-stop course around more than two dozen Greek Aegean Sea islands with ancient history. Although neither O.S.A. boat reached the podium the challenge undertaken was huge, the experience incredibly positive and the lessons learned immensely valuable. OPTIMUM 4 (red) and LAVORO III (blue) co-skippered by Periklis Livas / Simon Sweetman and Yam Wirtheim / Orly Yosopov respectively, finished after 98 and 106 hours of continious battle day and night, 4th and 9th in the Double Handed category (11 entries), 6th and 14th in Class 1 (20 entries) and 28th and 41st IRC overall (50 entries).
“I am very proud of what we achieved both O.S.A. teams, all four of us, especially under the tough conditions prevailed and extra crisis circumstances that LAVORO III faced, managed to overcome with serious ingenuity and reach the finish completing the challenge. Aproaching Kos island in the middle of the third night and rounding the corner in gusty conditions, the top of LAVORO III mainsail was shredded and the boom fell on deck. Loosing the mainsail in such a race with more than 200 miles to go is a really good reason to retire. Yam and Orly did not even blink. They hoisted the trysail and kept going and ingenious Yam thought and performed a real open heart surgery to the mainsail as seen in the picture, managed to rehoist the mainsail and keep pushing all the way to the finish. Master work from a 25-year old passionate Israeli sailor champion, heavilly assisted and supported by his tough 27-year old female Israeli co-skipper. I call these courageous actions “Vendee Globe material” which proves that the O.S.A. decision to provide the blue boat to this young duo against other candidates was the spot on! As for us in the red OPTIMUM 4, we really tested and extended our known limits and at the same time stayed safe. Although we missed the podium for a few minutes, we had fantastic adrenaline sailing times and a crisis situation with a last second crash tack to avoid a death collision with a merchant ship during the second night aproaching Rhodes”, says O.S.A. Principal and OPTIMUM 4 co-skipper Periklis Livas.
OPTIMUM Sailing Academy loyal supporters PEFORMANCE TECHNOLOGIES and QUANTUM SAILS Greece alongside new comer THE DOCK quitely provided the support needed for such undertaking and we were happy to share our gratitude during their presence in the prize giving reception which was a great event by itself too.
Stay tuned for the next OPTIMUM challenge!