11:00, Monday 26th May 2025, Alimos Marina, N.C.Kalamaki, Greece.
The third consecutive racing weekend for Team OPTIMUM-Samos Steamship proved very successful as OPTIMUM S scored an ace and a third in the 30th Spring Series event organized by Nautical Club Voula. Spring Series runs over two consecutive weekends and consists of coastal races of about 27 and 14 nautical miles the first weekend, followed by a 40-mile dash and overnight stay in Kea Island and back on weekend two. The prevailing conditions with very light winds at the start with varying direction and building breeze at mid tens over time, provided great training and testing opportunities for the OPTIMUM crew. The podium 1, 3 scorecard was a nice little reward for all the work the team has put so far for the 32nd OPTIMUM Season and welcomed by our loyal sponsor and patron Samos Steamship of the Inglessis family.
“Switching from round the cans racing to offshore mode was about time and we entered the last preparation cycle before the Aegean 600 with a bang! On Saturday we jumped the start and had to restart in 3 knots of true wind, and we initially thought we messed badly. However, our brand-new No.1 Quantum Jib proved the weapon missing long from our arsenal from 2 to 8 knots true wind and we soon recovered the lost distance and extended our lead to take line honors and the win in corrected time. On Sunday, a light wind start was on the cards again and we confirmed that the much deeper new Jib together with the updated mast tuning suggestions from Quantum and Rope Align riggers solved for good the performance issue below 7 knots true. Moreover, it was a good test for all in terms of patience and staying focused throughout, as also for the afterguard communication cycle to get into the rhythm of nav, strategy and tactics to handle the other teams that were all over the place in extra shifting and variable conditions. Code Os and staysails were on the menu both days and we had the chance to revalidate part of our sailchart downwind sail crossovers. Finally, I feel that all the winter work done on the boat, the new team members and the carefully planned training and racing so far, offers a progressive momentum and builds on our OPTIMUM spirit”, says loyal Team OPTIMUM crew boss/pitman Nikos Apostolakis with a full smile on his face.
Team OPTIMUM-Samos Steamship will not compete next weekend in the second weekend of the 30th Spring Series race to Kea Island and back, as we had already three consecutive racing weekends so far and the guys need to take care of other matters too. The crew lineup responsible for reaching the podium both days included -with no changes over the two days of racing- Lefteris Grispos, Thodoris Papakyriakou, Vasilis Kritidis, Nikos Apostolakis, Giannis Kapos, Manolis Markogiannakis, Stavros & George Papadopoulos-Kouklakis, Periklis Hoegger-Anemogiannis, Nikos Stavropoulos, Charis Piperakis, Nikos Lazos and Periklis Livas.
Looking forward for two more full on training weekends in June and plenty of afternoon maintenance weekdays until Aegean 600 that will hopefully allow us to hit the famous Cape Sounio startline at peak performance level.
Stay tuned!!!