{"id":1642,"date":"2024-10-30T12:47:57","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T10:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2024-10-30T12:47:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T10:47:57","slug":"hydra-race-end-of-season-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/hydra-race-end-of-season-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"HYDRA Race, end of season Classic!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

12:00, Tuesday 29th<\/sup> October 2024, Alimos Marina N.C.Kalamaki, Greece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team OPTIMUM-Samos Steamship returned to action as planned and competed last Weekend in Hydra Race organized by Yacht Club Greece.  The 36-mile course from Faliro Bay-Athens to the picturesque island of Hydra and back, is a well-attended race that marks the end of the season for most of the offshore sailing teams.  As such, almost 80 entries showed up in the start line on Saturday and enjoyed a downwind ride to Hydra in ideal sailing conditions in full sunshine and mid-20s in temperature.  The northerly wind reached 25 knots max near Egina Island and allowed for some nice long fast surfing sprints.  Sunday was t-shirt and swimming rest day with lots of dock talk highlighted by the local prize giving ceremony. On National Holiday Monday 28th<\/sup>, the return leg from Hydra to Faliro was sunny and warm but the wind averaged 5-6 knots true, maxed 10 knots only at the start and blew from almost every direction during the day.  So, the name of the game was snakes and ladders, and offered many ups and downs to the competing teams.  The crew on OPTIMUM S managed a 2nd<\/sup> place in leg 1 and a 9th<\/sup> in leg 2, ending up in 4th<\/sup> place in the Performance category in Hydra Race, a promising result after the forced 3-month layout period.  Team OPTIMUM 31st<\/sup> season will conclude with the participation in the Winter Series that run all of November weekends, with the aim to close the season on a high.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt took us almost 4 hours and multiple jibes to stay on pressure on our way to Hydra and almost 9 hours to reach Faliro in a pitch-black night and a continuous agonizing effort to chase down lines of seriously sifting wind.  Leg 1 was very competitive and fun sailing chasing the two well sailed TP52s and managing to score in between them.  Leg 2 tested our patience and allowed us to improve in light wind sailing but was no fun sailing as it was slow with no thrills and spills.  Ok, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, but it was followed by a huge wind hole as the southerly sea breeze died and we parked waiting for a new northerly to fill in and move us to the finish.  Overall, the team was happy to be back sailing OPTIMUM S and the 3-day gathering fired back the team spirit that run low after Aegean 600 retirement\u201d, suggested Team OPTIMUM crew-boss and pitman Nikos Apostolakis, summing up the \u201cfeeling\u201d among the 13-strong crew on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew line-up for October Hydra Race 2024 to be recorded in the OPTIMUM story book contained usual suspects Fanis Dalezios, Lefteris Grispos, Mily Tirla, Patroklos Tachtatzis, Giannis Kapos, Nikos Apostolakis, Nikos Kountouriotis, Thodoris Papakyriakou, Vaggelis Nikolopoulos, George Papadopoulos-Kouklakis, Periklis Livas,  Nikos Lazos and new comer and tryout Nikos Gitopoulos, increasing the \u201cNikos\u201d on board to a new record of four!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special thanks to the Inglessis Family of Samos Steamship for their warm patronage, and supporters Quantum Sails, Kapa Ropes and Helly Hansen for their long time commitment to Team OPTIMUM.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12:00, Tuesday 29th October 2024, Alimos Marina N.C.Kalamaki, Greece. Team OPTIMUM-Samos Steamship returned to action as planned and competed last Weekend in Hydra Race organized by Yacht Club Greece.  The 36-mile course from Faliro Bay-Athens to the picturesque island of Hydra and back, is a well-attended race that marks the end of the season for most of the offshore sailing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1644,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions\/1644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}