{"id":1695,"date":"2025-07-21T17:44:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T14:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/?p=1695"},"modified":"2025-07-21T17:44:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T14:44:28","slug":"leg-1-racing-under-the-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/leg-1-racing-under-the-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Leg 1:\u00a0\u00a0Racing under the stars!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

09:00, Monday 21th<\/sup> July 2025, Finikas, Syros, Greece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took more than 24 hours of racing for all boats competing in Leg 1 of the 62nd  Aegean Rally to cross the finish line in Syros island due to the light winds that prevailed.   The H.O.R.C. Race Commmttee elected to shorten the course for the ORCi Sport category to 76 nautical miles but the ORCi Performance category out of which the winner of the Aegean Rally is named, did race the full course of 102 miles.  OPTIMUM 4 reached the finish line in almost 23 hours managing 3rd place in the Performance fleet in full Team OPTIMUM spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was slow progress in light and variable winds.  It required our full concentration to \u201cread\u201d the breeze and patience and persistence to go through lengthy windless zones.  We were in a continious fight to make the podium in this first leg,  especially when ERYTOS II managed to extend and VANA-VIOLETA and PEGA were pressing us all the way.  We were disciplined enough to follow the shift plan with four on deck racing the boat, and two down below resting for two hours during the night.  Drifting under the stars and a very young and impessively bright moon that rose late was an unforgetable experience!  Couple of hours after sunrise we welcomed a fresh northerly wind of up to 21 knots, all the way from Mermigas rock to the finish line in Finikas, Syros island.  I feel the team bonded nicely and overcame multiple hurdles along the way in great spirit.  It is extremely fun to race competitively with close sailing buddies, actually better than expected\u201d,  says OPTIMUM 4 co-skipper Nikos Stavropoulos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPTIMUM 4 Team members had a good rest on Sunday afternoon followed by a full cource dinner and local prizegiving  ceremony later in the night.  On Monday, the organizers had arranged a visit to Syros Shipyard premises and a visit to the local naval museum for all competing crews.  Upon return to the boat, it was time to go through checks on the boat systems, gear and sails and prepare everything for the start of Leg 2 from Finikas, Syros to Lipsi island in Dodecanese, tomorrow Tuesday at 11:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

09:00, Monday 21th July 2025, Finikas, Syros, Greece. It took more than 24 hours of racing for all boats competing in Leg 1 of the 62nd  Aegean Rally to cross the finish line in Syros island due to the light winds that prevailed.   The H.O.R.C. Race Commmttee elected to shorten the course for the ORCi Sport category to 76…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1696,"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\/1695"}],"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=1695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1697,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695\/revisions\/1697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.optimumsailing.gr\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}