Three days to the start of Aegean 600 offshore race

Nearly all 60 teams are assembled here at the Olympic Marine venue getting ready for the Sunday July 6 start of the 5th edition of the AEGEAN 600, organized by the Hellenic Offshore Race Club (HORC) with co-organizers being Olympic Marine and Region of Attica.

Rolex is the official timepiece of the 2025 AEGEAN 600, and sponsors include the Greek National Tourism Organization and D. Koronakis SA. This year Mercedes-Benz Hellas has joined the AEGEAN 600 as the event’s Official Mobility Partner.

Besides getting the team members to arrive this week from all over the world to participate, there are innumerable details each crew will have to address to prepare their boat and all its systems for the challenge that lie ahead: some of the most difficult yet rewarding 605 miles in modern offshore racing. Conditions will likely vary from dead calms to gale force winds and seas, so the teams will need to know their boats well and how to shift gears as the conditions change.

The fleet has a wide range of sizes and types represented: the 52 monohull entries range from 33 to 70 feet in length and the 8 multihulls range from 36 to 84 feet in length. Given this great variety, handicap scoring will be used to determine rankings both in class and overall using the IRC and ORC systems for monohulls and MOCRA for multihulls.

Entries and class divisions are now available to view here on the Nautical Cloud web portal. The list includes boat names, types, nationalities and IRC and MOCRA ratings. ORC ratings will be listed once the ratings are determined from ORC's Weather Routed Scoring scheme that determines ratings for each boat as it encounters its forecasted weather conditions around the race course.

An important part of offshore race preparation is Safety, a topic the organizers take seriously, which is why a World Sailing-approved Offshore Personal Safety Seminar is being offered today and tomorrow at the Technohull Lounge at Olympic Marine. The event features classroom instruction and practical demonstrations of safety equipment, first aid techniques, and similar important topics.

Next on the pre-race schedule is on Friday 4 July those teams wishing to warm up their crew work are also invited to sail in a Warm-up Race at 1200 on a course set by the Race Committee just east of the Olympic Marine venue. Later in the evening will be a Skipper’s Meeting and Media Briefing at 1900, followed by a Welcome Ceremony and Reception Dinner, also at the Olympic Marine venue.

Team members and their families and friends are also invited to take in the history and fantastic view of the race start venue with a visit on Saturday 5 July to the Ancient Temple of Poseidon on the cliffs at Cape Sounio. This is where those not participating in the race may join other spectators to view the Race Start the following day, Sunday 6 July at 1400.

The AEGEAN 600 offers an abundance of media resources - photos, videos and news stories - which can be found at https://aegean600.com/media-services.

On Sunday veteran offshore race commentator Dobbs Davis from Seahorse Magazine will start to provide a daily analysis video show based on the positions and progress of the fleet as shown on the YB tracker system. The tracker map will be available at https://aegean600.com/tracking or on the YB app. Shows will be uploaded to the event’s YouTube channel.

Lastly, for those wanting to sail this race virtually the Virtual Regatta service is available starting on the race start day. More information is at https://aegean600.com/virtual-regatta/.

Event' website:  https://aegean600.com.