At an average speed of 11.3 knots around race course, Adrian Keller’s 78-foot Nigel Irens-designed performance luxury catamaran ALLEGRA (SUI) crossed the finish line at 19:36:02 local time today (tuesday) in the second edition of the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club’s (HORC) AEGEAN 600. The team’s elapsed time of 53H 36M 02S establishes a course record for multihulls in this annual 605-mile race.
“The race was very interesting, very challenging and quite different from other 600 races we have done,” said Keller. “The Greek islands are challenging not only because of the course you take but also the very different wind conditions you encounter, from zero to 30 knots…we had all of it. We were parked for five hours but on the other hand we hit over 27 knots in boat speed. Our boat is very well-suited for heavy winds, so we had a good time, we really enjoyed it.”
Meanwhile, the remaining boats in the fleet are also charging their way around the race track on the strength of the solid northwest Meltemi wind that is at 12-25 knots depending on the area of the course.
Next in line to finish is Phillip Kadelbach’s canting-keeled Elliot 52 (GER) RAFALE, about 100 miles astern of ALLEGRA and at their current average speed of about 11 knots they will be expected at the finish line well before dawn tomorrow assuming the wind holds through the night.
This performance places them in a good position to not only win in ORC and IRC scoring, but also place them well within reach of breaking the monohull course record of 71H 54M 00S set last year by the Farr/Felci 70 ATALANTA II…they would need only to finish before 14:09:00 local time to achieve this feat too.
It is not a foregone conclusion, however, that RAFALE will capture this prize: only 14 miles back – at these speeds only a little over an hour of sailing – are two boats who are going about the same speed and could pose a threat should there be any hiccup in RAFALE’s progress. Jean-Philippe Blancpain’s (ITA) Vismara Mills 62 LEAPS AND BOUNDS 2 (ITA) and Gregor Stimpfl’s (ITA) Scuderia 65 HAGAR V are neck and neck within two miles of each other, and no doubt will be pushing each other hard in the remaining hours of the race.
At these speeds that’s only 10 minutes of separation after 500 miles of sailing. And regardless of the outcome in IRC and ORC class scoring, LEAPS AND BOUNDS 2 and HAGAR V are contending for the top prize in Maxi class scoring as well.
The IRC and ORC Double Handed class is being led by Gerasimos Petratos and Evi Delidou sailing their Dehler 30 AETHER (GRE) with a 13-mile lead at the northern corner of Rhodos over nearest rival PNEUMA (POL), Andrejz Rozycki and Adam Skomski’s JPK 10.30.
Yet in corrected time the Polish team is ahead, but by only 28 minutes…and this is with another 290 miles to sail to the finish
So, for the team on ALLEGRA tonight will be spent getting re-acquainted with terra firma here at Olympic Marine, while for all the others another night of sailing awaits.
Under clear skies, a moderate breeze and with a full moon to help illuminate the way, for most this will be yet another night of champagne sailing at the AEGEAN 600.
Today’s race analysis video with SEAHORSE Magazine’s Dobbs Davis provides insight on the race based on weather patterns and position data of the fleet from YB trackers. This is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo9gGhMMlu4
