The North Aegean Cup 2022, an international regatta for boats with ORC and IRC licenses, will be held in the Toroneos gulf by the Thessaloniki Nautical Club this year from July 29 to August 5, 2022.
The North Aegean Cup returned to its original location in 2021, after a break in 2020, with the sailing competitions.
Sailors will meet in the waters of the Toroneos Gulf thanks to the revitalized Porto Carras Grand Resort.
The Nautikos omilos of Thessaloniki said, “Leaving behind the months of restrictions and prohibitions, we await you at the race, an institution for Greek offshore sailing in the unique surroundings of Porto Carras in Halkidiki.”
Porto Carras, the venue for the event’s headquarters, will host both the commencement of the competition and the governors’ meeting. At Porto Carras marina, the participating vessels will be moored.
Races will include inshore races (upwind – downwind, triangle) and races along the coast of the Toroneos Gulf.
Chronology of The North Aegean Cup
The Northern Aegean’s waters now get a taste of the open ocean thanks to the Thessaloniki Nautical Club. The NOTH declared the first international race for open sea boats in its home seas in 1978 when competitive sailing in the open sea was still at the beginning.
However, the competition wasn’t held in that first year due to the Thessaloniki earthquake but they got off to a solid start the next year with a base in Skopelos. The best Greek sailors, many of whom had participated in international competitions, as well as well-known names from open ocean sailing, landed at the North Aegean. A Dutch sailor stated then, “It’s the best-organized sailing race I’ve ever taken part in.”
In 1981 and 1982 the competition was held again in Porto Carras in Halkidiki, then Skopelos again, until 1985 when captain Yiannis Karras was awarded the first trophy and Porto Karras became the permanent home of the event. The races also become significantly more technical in tandem with the leading international competitions. The Nautical Club of Thessaloniki was perhaps the first organization in Greece to start a competitive program of this nature.
In the years that followed, teams from Greece, England, Israel, Cyprus, Russia, Turkey, and Bulgaria competed in the events by plowing the North Aegean’s waters. Many other admirable sailors from Greece and abroad loved the North Aegean and the unique atmosphere of these races, including Petros Goulandris, Yiannis Alafouzos, Thodoros Angelopoulos, Nikos Perakis, Karolos Kiosseoglou, Stelios Bonas, Nikos Lykiardopoulos, Tasos Boutouris, Yiannis Giapalakis, George Ertsos,
The Nautical Club of Thessaloniki reinstated the North Aegean Cup in 2013, and at the same time, it organized the Panhellenic Open Sea Championship in partnership with the EOI Open Sea Committee. 36 boats from all over Greece joined in on the celebration of the event’s success.
