Friendship Regatta 2026: Thassos - Limnos
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My third Friendship Regatta, and the most international one yet. 🌍 Same boat, same skipper, a brand-new crew from five countries, and a route that took the fleet from Thassos across open water to Lemnos.
This year the result matched the spirit: we won our division and finished 2nd overall. But as always with this regatta, the story is as much about the people on board as about the scoreboard.
👥 The crew
Once again we raced on Hakuna Matata, the Comet 41S, with Dimitris Sofitsis as skipper. The crew, though, was completely new: nine sailors from Greece 🇬🇷, Bulgaria 🇧🇬, Romania 🇷🇴, Australia 🇦🇺 and the Netherlands 🇳🇱.
Five nationalities, one language on deck: sailing. Calls were made in English, jokes were told in whatever language came first, and by the second day nobody needed a translation for "ready to gybe". It was the clearest example yet of what this regatta's name really means.
This year I didn't have one fixed spot. After the mainsail in 2024 and the bow in 2025, I moved around the whole boat: a bit of spinnaker work, some time as mastman, a day back on the mainsail, and even a few stretches skippering. 🔄 Filling in wherever the crew needed me was the best way to understand how every position connects, and it made the most of everything the last two editions had taught me.
🧭 The route
The 2026 edition ran from 28 June to 2 July, organised by NOA and NOThAK, with 17 boats and 7 scored races over four racing days, about 119 nautical miles in all. The fleet started on Thassos, crossed the open north Aegean to Myrina on Lemnos, and finished in Moudros on the other side of the island.
Race | Date | From → To | Distance (nm) | What stood out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1–2 | 28 Jun | Thassos → Thassos | 6 / 12 | Starting with tactical races while the team found its rhythm and settled into roles quickly |
3 | 29 Jun | Thassos → Myrina (Lemnos) | 55 | Strong start and a big lead over the fleet, but the wind dropped and the handicap did the rest (4th on corrected time) |
4–5 | 1 Jul | Myrina → Moudros (Lemnos) | 6 / 22 | An amazing race in very strong winds, gusting over 40 knots. A few boats retired because of it |
6–7 | 2 Jul | Moudros → Moudros | 6 / 12 | A very tactical set of short races that needed a lot of skill, in stable, solid wind |
On the days with two races, both started together and were scored at two different finishes of the same course. Race 3 was the longest leg in three editions: 55 nm and more than 11 hours at sea, finishing after dark. 🌙
🌊 The challenges
- A crew built in days. Five nationalities, different sailing schools and different habits. We had to agree fast on calls, roles and timing, before the first start gun.
- The long crossing. Race 3 from Thassos to Lemnos took us 11.5 hours, through the afternoon and into the night. Watches, food, focus and helm changes all had to be managed like a small offshore race.
- The wind. Two extremes in one week. Mostly stable wind, but on the crossing to Lemnos it dropped away and left us on a calm sea. That is where real skill shows: lose your speed in light air and you lose minutes, sometimes hours. Then on 1 July it was the opposite, over 40 knots with solid gusts, where the job was keeping the boat under control and in one piece. 💨
- Consistency. Winning a series is about avoiding the bad race. We finished 2nd overall in six of the seven races, and our only slip was a 4th on the long crossing.
Our result: 1st in Division A and 2nd overall out of 17 boats, behind Theodora. 🏆 An amazing team setup and a solid push from everyone on board, against strong competition all week. It felt earned.
🏝️ Off the boat
With a rest day on Lemnos after the long crossing, there was finally time to slow down and enjoy the island.
A crew from five countries also means five ways of celebrating at the end of the day. In Moudros we went all in on the local food, trying exotic Lemnian dishes most of us had never heard of. 🍽️ And once the prizes were handed out, the cups we had just won didn't stay on the shelf for long: they became our drinking glasses for the night. 🏆🍻 There is no better way to toast a crew from five countries.
🎬 Watch the video
This year's video is shorter and shot entirely on my phone. 📱 After a cinematic film in 2024 and first-person clips from the bow in 2025, moving between positions all week left little room for a dedicated camera. What's left are quick moments grabbed between manoeuvres: the crew, the crossing to Lemnos and the fleet around us. Watch it here: Friendship Regatta 2026 on YouTube.
Three editions in, the Friendship Regatta keeps proving its name. Different crews, different islands, different conditions, and every year the same feeling on the last evening: new friends from across Europe and beyond, and the wish to be back on the start line next summer.
Fair winds! ⛵
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