19:00, Sunday 27th July 2025, Finikas, Syros, Greece.
The 62nd edition of the Aegean Rally is done and entered in the history books as the second oldest yacht race in the Med. OPTIMUM 4, the Dehler 30od of OPTIMUM Sailing Academy, with a crew of five youngsters under 21 and an average age of 26 including coach Periklis Livas(60) completed the 30th Team OPTIMUM participation in Aegean Rally. Leg 4 from Lipsi-Patmos left-Syros of 94 miles and an elapsed time of 14 hours, was much windier than the rest, but still included a huge wind hole in Ikarian Sea that OPTIMUM 4 did not handle succesfully and managed to score only 4th place on the scoreboard although the crew gave it all they could. As such, a scorecard of 3,5,5,4 in all four legs resulted in 5th place overall in the ORCi Performance category and concluded a spirited challenge.
“We knew that a week-long race with stopovers and a total of more than 300 nautical miles all the way across the Aegean Sea and back would be a challenge for us, five dinghy sailors with little offshore racing experience, and only me and co-skipper Nikos Stavropoulos having participated as crew in one more Aegean Rally in the past. We are thankful to O.S.A. that offered us OPTIMUM 4 and the oportunity to gather a team of sailor friends, form a team, train and prepare as best we could for the challenge under the guidance of Team OPTIMUM co-skipper Periklis Livas, my father, just a week after he finished an exhausting AEGEAN 600. The very light wind conditions that prevailed extended our patience and persistence to new limits driven by our initial goal to complete all four legs. After Leg 1 podium finish, we thought we could try for a podium total finish but now I can tell it takes a lot more experience, crew bonding, seamanship and a bit of luck to get there. We enjoyed every minute of it, yes, we would love to do it again, and yes, the Aegean Sea was magic and seducing. I hope we will have the chance to return for another go”, says OPTIMUM 4 co-skipper Vasilis Livas.
Team OPTIMUM-Samos Steamship and OPTIMUM Sailing Academy will continue to offer oportunities and try to seduce interested sailors to offshore racing in the years to come. It is not easy and requires hard work to reach satisfaction. It is our turn to offer the young generation the opportunity and the guidance as it happened to us when we were young, and maybe one or more member from this year’s OPTIMUM 4 young team of Nikos Stavropoulos, Vasilis Livas, Achilleas Ghikas, Leonidas Sechou and Nikos Ktistakis will build the passion required and write their own story in offshore sailing.
We can only hope for the best!