A few days ago X-Yachting Greece, the world’s largest X-Yachts Charter Center, picked a standard production X4.6 out of the available in-house charter fleet and joined forces with its X-Yachts Danish partners to compete in the Aegean 600, the new classic 600 nm non-stop offshore race around the Aegean archipelago.
‘The only change to the boat setup compared to the yachts we charter for luxury holidays around the Greek islands was a set of racing laminate sails’ said George Anyfiotis, CEO of X-Yachting. The crew we put together was a Danish-Greek blend of mostly industry professionals from the two partnering companies. There were no full time professional sailors, apart from our Norwegian navigator.
The result of our efforts was a 1st place win in the IRC Division and 3rd place in both IRC & ORC Overall, which understandably put big smiles on the faces of the entire X-Yachts & X-Yachting crew, as well as on the faces of all X-Yachts fans and sailors world-wide.
The big news is that this unexpected outcome was achieved against a competition of multiple, well prepared, pure racers over a very demanding 600 nm route, requiring 5 days and 4 nights of non-stop sailing, to different points of sail, under variable wind speeds, from gentle breezes to gale force winds. Lots of those pure racing yachts were left behind even in real time results (the sailing Yacht “Artemis” placed 7th in the line of honors) and that alone is a testament to the potential of the X4.6 hull, which forms part of the new pure X series of models.
The retractable espresso machine, the full teak deck, the aft swim platform and the aluminium mast, the table with the incorporated wine bottle holder, and the generous double bed in the master cabin, nicely made of nordic oak, did not seem to affect the performance of this beautiful family cruiser, which crossed the finish line under the temple of Poseidon in Sounion ahead of a number of dedicated pure racers and racer cruisers in the 45 boat field.
It seems that 41years of X-Yachts design experience and racing DNA has paid off, and a new era of yacht charter and ownership has been created. Keeping the entire family happy with uncompromised comfort and safety, while simultaneously keeping alive any racing aspirations of a happy owner, is now absolutely possible.
