The Andros International Yacht Race, an event that has become a fixture on the Greek maritime calendar, clocked up its 51st edition earlier this month.
Seventeen vessels registered to compete in the three-day event that takes participants from the Athens suburb of Vouliagmeni to the Aegean island of Andros and back.
In contrast to the 2017 race, which was plagued by a lack of wind, gale-force currents prevailed this year — especially on the return leg from Andros to the Dysvato Straits.
It had been the favourite stretch of Alexandros Stamatiadis, an Andriot businessman who was a driving force behind the event for many years. Stamatiadis died in April aged 52 after he was shot by burglars who broke into his Athens home.
Fitting memorial
Shipping company M/Maritime set up a new prize in his memory for the winners of the super-yacht class, which was won by the crew of the Yacana.
Makis Kourtesis of Sea Hawk Maritime skippered the ORCi-class yacht Black Jack, which won in three categories, helped by support from co-skipper Panagiotis Mantis, a sailing bronze medal winner at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Other shipping companies fielding crews or sponsoring boats were Euroseas, Equinox Maritime and Goulandris Bros — the shipping clan that founded the race back in 1967. Some of them enlisted top-class support as well, including 2004 Αthens Olympic sailing gold medallist Sofia Bekatoros.
Prince Nikolaos of the Greek royal family — whose father, former Greek King Constantine, was an Olympic sailing champion in 1960 — was a popular figure at the many social activities surrounding the event.
“We are extremely satisfied... Let’s meet next year for even bigger excitements,” said Remi Maritime principal Leonidas Polemis, who is also chairman of the Yacht Club of Andros — the race's organisers alongside the Yacht Club of Greece.
