Aegean Regatta 2023: Molyvos-Psara-Kardamyla-Oinousses

Every sailing story has a starting point, and mine is the Aegean Regatta 2023. ⛵

By then I had my RYA Day Skipper (2020) and Coastal Skipper (2022), a few more courses behind me, and plenty of miles on rented boats. But I had never raced. The Aegean Regatta was my first regatta, and looking back, it was the true leap into sailing for me. Everything that followed, from the Friendship Regattas to Hydra and the North Aegean Cup, started here.

👥 The crew

I raced on Hakuna Matata, the Comet 41S, with Dimitris Sofitsis as skipper. It was the boat and skipper I would go on to sail with for years. The crew was fully Greek, plus me, the only Bulgarian on board. 🇬🇷🇧🇬

Five of us sailed the delivery, and three more flew in before the start, making eight for the racing. My role was simple: observe and help wherever I could. I had no idea yet what roles a racing crew has or how they work together. Mostly I helped on the spinnaker sheet, watching and learning everything else as we went. 👀

⛵ The delivery: Kavala to Lesvos

Before the racing came the delivery, from Kavala to Lesvos with a stop on Limnos on the way, and at the end of the week, all the way back again. On the way there we sailed straight into a windy patch of meltemi. 💨 It was stressful, and several of the crew got seasick.

That's when I took over the helm from Dimitris. For more than five hours I skippered the boat in heavy weather, the bow corkscrewing left, then right, wave after wave. It was my first real test outside a course or a charter, with a racing crew relying on me.

Then came the night leg from Limnos. Steering towards Lesvos by the stars sounds romantic and easy at first. ✨ But after hours of staring at dim lights on the horizon and fixing on a single star, my eyes and mind gave up. It became incredibly hard to focus on anything at all. Nobody tells you about that part on a course. We finally reached Lesvos sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. 🌙

🧭 The route

The 22nd Aegean Regatta ran from 20 to 26 August 2023 through the north-eastern Aegean, from Molyvos on Lesvos to Psara, Kardamyla on Chios and finally Oinousses. We raced in ORC Sport, the biggest class with 37 boats, in Division 1 (12 boats).

The first leg, 65 nm of open sea to Psara, was by far the longest: almost 9 hours of racing, and we won our division.

🌊 The challenges

• Everything was new. I knew how to sail a boat. I didn't know how to race one: starts, rules, tactics, and the pace of manoeuvres when every second counts.
• The long leg to Psara. 65 nm of open sea and almost 9 hours of racing, on day one of my first regatta. On the way, our spinnaker ripped and we had to change it mid-race. We lost time, but still won our division.
• Learning on the fly. Fitting into an experienced Greek crew meant watching, listening and picking up the routines fast.
• The wind. Excellent racing wind every day: a consistent, strong meltemi that pushed the whole fleet, some boats more than others. 💨 That suited us. Hakuna Matata is built for strong wind, and with no support vehicle or storage ashore, we raced carrying all our luggage, spare sails and equipment on board. For a heavy boat like that, wind means speed. In light air we would simply stand still.

Our result: 1st in ORC Sport Division 1 🏆 and 3rd of 37 in the ORC Sport class, with finishes of 1st, 2nd, 2nd and 1st in our division. Not a bad first regatta. We came home with a lot of cups. 🏆 The one I hold most dear is mine from the Psara race, a reminder of my very first regatta win.

🏝️ Off the boat

The Aegean Regatta is as much about the islands as the racing. Each stop is a different world: Molyvos on Lesvos, tiny historic Psara, Kardamyla on Chios and quiet Oinousses.

The landscapes of these mid-Aegean islands are unique, and no two are alike:

• Psara felt like a desert planet from the Dune universe. 🏜️ No trees, no grass, nothing but sand, rocks and stones.
• Chios is a large, evergreen island with a huge history and deep traditions, some of them influenced by the cultures of distant Crete and Cyprus. 🌿
• Oinousses is small but plays a huge role. It is dotted with villas and estates of international maritime traders and shipping company owners, and it is a very luxurious place overall. ⚓

On Lesvos, Psara and Chios I learned to dance the Greek horos, the traditional circle dances, hand in hand with locals and sailors alike. 💃 We drank soumada, an amazing sweet almond drink, ate wonderful local dishes and discovered local flavours, above all mastiha, the resin Chios is famous for, and even mastiha water. 🇬🇷

On Psara we celebrated big. 🍻 The island is tiny, with only about 420 residents, and there aren't many places to go, so I bought free beer for everyone who came to the afterparty at the local bar, the only one on the beach. We drank until about 4:30 a.m., then went for a swim at the nearby beach and got to bed around 5:00 or 5:30. The wake-up for the next race came at about 8:00. 😅 Our performance the next day definitely felt the effects of that massive, one-of-a-kind celebration.

On Chios, on the day off, we explored only a tiny part of this magnificent island. Using the free local public transport, we went to a popular beach and finished the day with dinner in an authentic taverna. 🚌 I also managed to lose my everyday sunglasses on one of the buses. Luckily I had a couple of sailing pairs as backup. 🕶️

On Oinousses nothing special was planned, so we went out for a nice, quiet dinner and shared personal stories. Some had a couple of beers, while I preferred ouzo and tsipouro. 🥃 The night didn't stay quiet for long, though. We ended up late aboard a 70+ metre, multi-deck superyacht flying the Maltese flag. Its owner was the grandson of the man who founded the local harbour and a leading figure in the village. The deck we visited had white and black marble bars and a dining area. 🛥️ We sat for a chat on a huge sofa terrace at the stern, which was probably more spacious than our entire boat.

🌩️ The way home

After the grand closing ceremony, many cups and many more horos dances, we headed back to the boat a little after 11 p.m. We packed up and set off straight for Kavala.

At first nobody wanted to sleep, but the exhaustion was huge. One by one the crew dropped off, and eventually so did I, curled up on the bench in the cockpit. 😴 Before that, a thunderstorm had been flashing nearby. Counting the seconds between lightning and thunder, I worked out that it was well away from us and moving off. A relief.

I woke around 5 a.m., shaking with mild hypothermia on the cockpit bench I had turned into my bed. A light rain was falling on us, and a strong wind was pushing the boat on towards home. 🌧️

After another short break on Limnos, we sailed the last leg around Thassos and into Kavala.

📸 Closing

There is no video from this regatta. Back then I was far from filming sailing, and all I have are the photos in the gallery.

That's how my first journey ended. I felt freedom. I saw countless stars and the Milky Way, the moon on the water and the plankton glowing in our wake. ✨ And most importantly, I found true friends in Greece. It is something I can't fully explain in words. It was the experience of a lifetime.

The Aegean Regatta 2023 turned years of courses and charter sailing into something new: racing. It introduced me to Hakuna Matata, to Dimitris and to the Greek sailing community, and it opened the door to every regatta I have sailed since. Every journey has a first step, and this was mine. ⛵

Fair winds!

Race results: https://sas.orc.org/WEV.dll?action=index&eventid=AR2023