AEGEAN 600
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS

AEGEAN 600 has been awarded
back-to-back the Gold Level Clean Regatta Certification from Sailors for the Sea!
Read more here!

Hellenic Offshore Racing Club is charting the environmental map of offshore sailing races, based on AEGEAN 600 Yacht Race.

At Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC), we believe that we have an obligation and a responsibility to operate in a sustainable manner. We need to be part of the solution, enhancing the understanding of the global problem and making sure that we use the best practices to avoid environmental pollution of any kind. Throughout the years, HORC has completed a series of environmental actions with great success focused on the international sailing races that organizes. In the last two years, HORC takes one step further through the AEGEAN 600 Yacht Race, as it firmly believes that this new idea will promote Greece globally as well as pollution prevention, Safety at Sea and environmental awareness through its program “To Save Our Seas“.

HORC creates and pushes forward significant environmental actions as well as seminars targeted to the participants, volunteers and employees involved in organizing the race, to teach them the actions they need to take in the future to protect the environment.

Furthermore, HORC’s Green Team became an Ally for Circular Economy through the EU project Pop-Machina through the international sailing races that HORC organizes. This year, as part of the Aegean Rally and the AEGEAN 600, sailing ropes, sails and plastic bottles were collected, recycled, upcycled and reused, in order to create new materials useful in daily life.

Participating yachts were also hydrated thanks to ZAGORI Go Green 0.75L PET water bottles which are made of 30% recycled and 100% recyclable plastic.

In 2023, the race across the Aegean Sea will again take place from July 9 to July 15, without any stops. The turning points will be islands such as Milos, Santorini, Kasos, Karpathos, Rhodes, Kandelioussa, Kos, Farmakonissi, Agathonissi, Mykonos, Yaros and Kea and the race will begin and end at Cape Sounion.

The actions that have been planned are based around the organization’s point of reference, which is Olympic Marine in Lavrion. The yachts, crews and support teams will be lodged around the greater Lavrion area and the purpose of the actions, in addition to the specific activities, is to provide seminars that will impart knowledge to the attendees in a manner that is designed to provide them with the faith and knowledge to continue to protect the environment in the future.

As part of our environmental program, we have also adopted the AEGEAN GULL. For more information, please click here.

ACTIONS

A. Incentives for the participants

• Drink water from metal flasks that you can fill from the water coolers available at the marina.
• The canteen within the event area sell coffee and soft drinks in special biodegradable cups, with straws that are also biodegradable.
• Do not waste water.
• Recycle whatever you have on hand or on the boat that can be recycled, such as aluminum soft drink cans, plastic water bottles, plastic packaging, paper packaging, glass bottles, suntan lotion bottles, etc.
• Only use the special recycling bins at the organization area for waste, after you have separated it appropriately (plastic, paper, glass, undifferentiated waste).
• The organizers can help you collect your recyclable waste.
• Car pool to and from Athens.
• Return any food containers provided by our official supporters for recycling.
• For your trash, use the biodegradable bags provided by the organizers instead of plain garbage bags.
• The organizers aim to use the least paper possible, so almost all announcements and instructions will be distributed electronically.
• Use the restrooms at the installation rather than the ones on your boats.
• Empty the holding tanks or whatever dirty water you have into the special tanks provided by the marina.
• NEVER THROW ANYTHING FROM YOUR BOAT INTO THE SEA!!!

B. Information

• For users of safety ribs and television crews, to ensure that they drive so that their engines use the least amount of fuel possible.
• There will be a seminar open to all organization volunteers and employees on how to correctly recycle any recyclable materials and avoid using plastic materials inside the event venue.
• There will be a seminar for volunteers who will be in charge of informing participants about the environmental protection measures designed by the organizers.
• Signs will be put up for visitors, with information about the environmental actions required for the organization.

C. Mandatory actions for organization volunteers and employees

• Do not use disposable straws.
• Do not use disposable cups.
• Do not use anything made of plastic, such as envelopes, plastic wrap, food containers, etc.
• Do not use plastic name cards. Use paper ones instead.
• Do not use plastic water bottles.
• Drink water ONLY from special biodegradable cups or the metal flasks that are filled from the water coolers.
• Do not make needless trips from Athens to Sounion and back.
• Use the organization’s transport vehicles.
• DO NOT move needlessly to and from the venue.
• The press office does not use paper, whether for notes or press releases. Everything is distributed electronically and can be found on the organizers’ website (applications for participation, crew lists, sailing guidelines, etc.).
• The Race Committee does not use paper and only soft copies of the required event “documentation” will be available.
• All dining materials, such as glasses, bowls, forks and waste bags will be made of paper or be biodegradable.
• Television and photographic crews will be required to follow the guidelines regarding non-use of plastic when visiting other islands for race monitoring purposes.
• During race starts and finishes, or while observing the boats for television or photography purposes, support teams at sea must have aluminum flasks for water, not plastic bottles.
• The organizers will place water coolers in specific locations so that the volunteers, employees and crews can fill their flasks.
• Electric cars and scooters will be available at the premises for committee members and volunteers to use.
• Efforts will be made to use biodegradable or recyclable materials, at least for food and drinks, at the opening, closing and other events and field trips.
• Special biodegradable bags will be provided by the organizers for trash disposal.

HORC Sail Reuse

In 2021, Hellenic Offshore Racing Club developed a partnership with Salty Bag the premier sail reuse company that make sure any sails that have reached their end of life can be sustainably reused.

Salty Bag is a sail reuse company based in Corfu, Greece that since its inception in 2013 has sustainably reused over twenty-thousand square meters of sails turning them into bags and travel goods.

If you have any sails that you wish to be reused, you can contact Salty Bag through their Sail Upcycling page here

FOOD DONATION