It was a fast start: the participants in the second edition of the Aegean 600 long-distance race set off on their course on Sunday with the Meltemi blowing strongly from the north at 18 to 22 knots. Typical Aegean conditions prevailed under a bright blue sky. The race began with a one-and-a-half nautical mile cross to a turning mark positioned under the historic Temple of Poseidon. The sailors enjoyed the spectacle against a picturesque backdrop, as did the spectators on the support boats. The multihulls were the first to be sent out onto the course. In the lead late in the evening was the Swiss catamaran "Allegra", which had already completed 90 nautical miles in six hours and was heading for Santorini at a speed of 17 knots.
Ten minutes after the multihulls, the entire monohull fleet was required at the start line. The crews sailed into a beautiful Aegean night at sea with a pleasantly waning Meltemi. Entrepreneur Henri de Bokay and his crew are taking part in this race for the first time with the Eliott 52 "Rafale" (ex-"Outsider"). "It's an incredibly exciting course. It's a bit like the RORC Caribbean 600," says skipper Philipp Kadelbach. A few "unfinished business" with offshore regattas and dreams of attractive long-distance races united Henri de Bokay and Philipp Kadelbach in developing the idea for the "Rafale" project. Owner de Bokay is less focussed on his own bucket list than on the shared experience. De Bokay says: "In the end, what counts in life is not how many places and races you have seen and competed in. What matters are the relationships with people."
Henri de Bokay, who grew up in the south of France with a love of sailing and water sports, has been in Germany for a decade and has revitalised his longing for sailing with "Rafale". He wants to give back and share something of the opportunities and possibilities he has received in his life. And preferably at sea. De Bokay says: "Real sailing doesn't take place around buoys. It's great that you can do it in a big city, but the other sailing takes place out there." For the regatta plans, he has put together a committed and ambitious crew with Philipp Kadelbach, who is currently competing in the Aegean 600. "I'm delighted to have Olympic sailors and top Bundesliga sailors on board. We have a healthy mix of experience and young, ambitious people on board."
"'Rafale' is a racing boat through and through without much comfort on board"
Henri de Bokay acquired the "Rafale" from Tilmar Hansen, to whom he is even related. And this is how it happened: "I knew the boat from 2008, when I was supposed to sail in the Flensburg Week, but then had to go back to London on business. I then spoke to Tilmar at a family party and was already impressed by the boat's simple philosophy. Tilmar himself once had his sights set on the smallest boat that could win line honours. The boat is incredibly fast and sails dry. It is a racing boat through and through without much comfort on board. It's a boat that always wants to do more ..." In March 2021, Henri de Bokay bought the former "Outsider" and transformed it into the "Rafale" with his team. The French term stands for a "gust".
In sailing friend Philipp Kadelbach, Henri de Bokay has an ambitious project partner with a dinghy background: the lawyer and entrepreneur from the Berlin sailing family Kadelbach from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee association used to sail Olympic 470s. "My heart was in it," he still says today. Kadelbach also loves to sail dragons, Beneteaus and Bundesliga boats fast around the course. At the same time, he shares a passion for sailing with Henri de Bokay and the goal of taking part in some of the royal races. The current Aegean 600 is to be followed by the Middle Sea Race, the RORC Transat 2023, the Caribbean 600 and the Fastnet Race. In order to learn faster and expand their pool of expertise in some sailing areas with useful shortcuts, they occasionally take a full professional on board. For example, Annie Lush from Offshore Team Germany. "Annie was there at the Giraglia, and that was awesome. That was the first time we learnt a few things about handling the planer in light winds." They do not want to become a professional project as a team. "The dream is to be as successful as possible here with Henri and the boys, who we also go out with in the evenings. Then there are the races that you've never sailed before. Like the Fastnet." Or the current Aegean 600
"You can't win without sailing well. But you can sail well without winning"
The De Bokay team treats its project like a start-up company, says Kadelbach: "In the beginning, it was less about performance. We approach it with the 'ladder principle'. Something like this has to grow. Step by step. Start by sailing, grow into offshore sailing and then make incremental improvements." This is also the view of the owner, who is well aware of the imponderables of handicap sailing: "You can't win without sailing well. But you can sail well without winning." Henri de Bokay knows that the tilting keel of the "Rafale" is not exactly profitable in the rating: "We pay for the fact that we are fast at 100 degrees true, i.e. in the ideal state, which you don't always have." The final results of the rating game in the current Aegean 600 will show. The first twelve hours went well for "Rafale", whose crew finished in the top three in both the ORC and IRC rankings after just under 80 miles sailed.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
