About 100 golfers grouped in 25 teams competed under the glaring Athens sun on Sunday, drawing praise by organisers in a reception that followed later in the day — thankfully at much cooler temperatures.
“It was a super day, hot and with a lot of good golf,” said Nuno Sepulveda, general manager of Costa Navarino Golf, which helped organise the Posidonia Golf Tournament.
The tournament was played “at nearly professional level in a record time of four-and-a-half hours — which is pretty amazing for conditions like today,” Sepulveda said.
Tord Nilsson of the Swedish Club even managed a hole-in-one — something never achieved at a Posidonia Golf event before.
Nilsson will be rewarded for his feat with seven days of free golfing at Costa Navarino, the Greek hotel owned by the Konstantakopoulos family, which also controls the golf event's co-sponsors, Costamare.
Nilsson’s remarkable feat wasn’t enough, however, to propel his team to victory. That went to Athens-based brokerage Handy Chart, which was closely followed by Marine Tools and classification giant DNV.
Worth the wait
With Posidonia meeting for the first time in four years after the coronavirus pandemic, the hundreds of shipping executives flocking to the reception were less excited about golf than about being able to meet each other in person again.
“It’s been a while but I believe it was worth the wait,” Posidonia organiser Theodore Vokos said during the event. “I can see that everyone was really looking forward to it and we see a lot of smiling faces”.
Nicholas Martinos, principal of the golf reception's other co-sponsor, Thenamaris, beat the same drum:
“After a very harsh lockdown, I’m sure we’re going to party tonight. I’m super grateful we’re once again able to meet our friends and colleagues from around the world,” he said.
Temperatures were lower and a cooler breeze was blowing on Friday, making sure the 10th edition of the Posidonia Cup yacht race became a success.
The Wallly B, a boat by Contships Management, was the first to cross the finish line. Supported by fair winds, more than 45 yachts with 600 crew members took part in the race.
Apart from the Wally B, which won line honours with a race time of 2 hours and 26 minutes, awards were also presented to handicap honours, or corrected time, winners.
The top prize at the “Performance” Category went to the Angelicoussis Group’s X-40 Sport-type boat Sugar.
Winner at the “Standard” category was Steamship Mutual’s Swan-55 boat Daphne’s Smile.
Two boats competed at the “Classic” category, of which the Baltic Exchange’s Larne came in first with a time just below 3 hours and 35 minutes.
The strong winds blowing in the area, however, didn’t just fan yachts’ sails. They also helped stoke a wildfire on Saturday on the hills overlooking the Athens Riviera suburbs of Glyfada, Voula and Vouliagmeni.
Local authorities and firefighters briefly ordered residents to evacuate homes adjacent to flames that consumed some buildings.
Posidonia party venues and major visitors’ hotels directly by the sea weren’t directly threatened by the blaze. The fire was put out on Sunday.
