For three members of the crew of HYC Xcalibur, the 2026 Aegean 600 represented unfinished business.
A year earlier, Howth Yacht Club sailors Darren Wright and his brother Michael, together with Grace Murray, had competed in the same race. They returned to Greece in July knowing rather better what awaited them: more than 600 miles through the Cyclades and Dodecanese, punishing heat, long nights and extraordinary changes in wind strength on a course that offers a crew remarkably few opportunities to relax.
This time they returned with a new boat, a substantially changed team and a determination to convert the lessons of 2025 into a result.
Four days later, HYC Xcalibur crossed the finish line beneath the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion to take second place in ORC Division 2, completing a memorable Irish campaign in one of the most spectacular and increasingly highly regarded offshore races in world sailing.
Full Flight – HYC Xcalibur powers away from the Temple of Poseidon start in more than 30 knots of Meltemi breeze during the 2026 Aegean 600. Photo: Deea Buzdugan/HORC
A New Boat for a Unique Race
The campaign was built around an XR 41 supplied by X-Yachts Greece and entered as HYC Xcalibur. It represented a significant step forward from the xP 44 chartered by the team for the previous year’s race.
The XR 41 was chosen with the Aegean 600 specifically in mind. Its competitive ORC rating, planing ability and strong recent results made it an attractive proposition for a course where boats must perform in everything from near-total calm to sustained high-speed sailing in more than 30 knots.
Its modular interior was another significant advantage. Much of the internal structure can be removed for offshore racing, allowing the boat to be transformed from a performance cruiser into a considerably leaner racing machine.
The campaign was supported throughout by the X-Yachts Greece team, including Kalliopi, Vassilis and Yannis, together with their wider technical and shore team. Their involvement extended far beyond simply supplying the boat, with technical and logistical support throughout the preparation period and the race itself.
“We were lucky to have such a skilled and attentive team at X-Yachts, and their service added real value to this campaign,” said skipper Darren Wright.
That relationship was perhaps best illustrated four days later when members of the X-Yachts team travelled out to Cape Sounion to greet HYC Xcalibur at the finish.
Experience Meets Youth
The crew assembled for the campaign combined considerable offshore experience with some remarkably young talent.
One of the most intriguing additions was Michael Wright’s 20-year-old son Jett. A relative newcomer to this level of racing, Jett was placed at the mast, one of the most physical positions on an offshore race boat. He adapted with remarkable speed, quickly becoming an integral part of the crew and reinforcing the team’s deliberate blend of youth and experience.
Another opportunity arose when experienced offshore campaigner Emmet Sheridan had to step away from the Aegean campaign following his successful involvement in the Round Ireland Race just a week earlier.
That opened the door for 18-year-old Aodhán Malone of Lough Ree Yacht Club.
With the encouragement of his father, John, and reflecting Lough Ree Yacht Club’s commitment to the development of young offshore sailors, Aodhán joined the team having already accumulated considerable keelboat experience, including racing on his father’s SB20.
What followed surprised even some of the most experienced sailors aboard.
Operating in the mid-mast position, Aodhán approached the role with a determination, composure and instinctive understanding that belied his age. In a race where sail changes were frequent, physical and often conducted at night in difficult conditions, he quickly became an important member of the team.
The verdict of Grace Murray, the team’s highly experienced bow, was unequivocal: “His reaction speed and situational awareness in very difficult situations were outstanding.”
At the other end of the experience spectrum was former Howth resident Bill Heffernan, returning to competitive offshore racing after a 14-year absence. Now based in Greece with his wife Vesna, Bill was already well known to many visiting crews before the race began. Their legendary Irish bar became something of an unofficial clubhouse for sailors from several teams during the build-up to the event.
Mast Appeal – Grace Murray captures a spectacular selfie high above HYC Xcalibur during the Aegean 600, with the yacht charging under spinnaker through the deep-blue Aegean Sea. Photo: Grace Murray
Michael Wright occupied the pit, the nerve centre for many of the manoeuvres aboard. His contribution, however, always extends much further . An important figure in the organisation and management of the campaign, Michael also plays a central role in maintaining a collective spirit and morale aboard. These are often underestimated qualities when fatigue, heat, frustration and lack of sleep begin to accumulate within a claustrophobic environment.
At the bow, Grace Murray brought both the experience of the previous year’s Aegean 600 and her considerable and extensive offshore and superyacht foredeck skills and expertise.
The helming responsibilities were divided between two watches. Skipper Darren Wright and his son Rocco drove one watch, while Conor Fogerty and former HYC Commodore Brian Turvey shared the driving on the other, with Grace
Murray and navigator Tom Chaney providing additional resources when conditions or manoeuvres demanded it.
Chaney had barely had time to recover from a lengthy Round Ireland Race aboard Michael and Richard Evans’s J/112 Big Picture before heading for Greece. Officially the navigator, his role aboard HYC Xcalibur was soon to become rather more expansive.
Preparing for a Race of Extremes
A dedicated training day before the start allowed the crew to test the full sail inventory and, crucially, practise reefing and de-reefing the mainsail.
The objective was not simply to know how to carry out the manoeuvre, but to ensure that either watch could do it quickly, efficiently and safely, including in darkness. It was to be time exceptionally well spent.
The forecast Meltemi arrived with authority, producing more than 30 knots around the start beneath the Temple of Poseidon. Yet one of the defining characteristics of the Aegean 600 is that a crew can go from survival conditions to near-total calm with astonishing speed.
And the calms do not occur only in the obvious wind shadows behind the islands.
During the race, reefing and de-reefing the mainsail could take place a dozen times in a single day. On some days HYC Xcalibur used all three reefs in the mainsail, two different spinnakers, three headsails and the Code Zero.
A wrong sail left up for too long could cost miles and money. A premature change could be equally expensive. Every manoeuvre required tired sailors to leave the rail or their bunks, move weight around the boat and then reset the yacht for the next phase.
“This race is a real test of crew and boat and is an exceptionally challenging course in conditions that teams must respect and be ever-ready for,” said Turvey.
The 605-mile course starts and finishes at Cape Sounion and threads its way through 13 iconic Greek islands, taking the fleet past Milos, through the Santorini Caldera, around Kassos, Karpathos and Rhodes, north through the
Dodecanese and back via Mykonos, Delos and Kea. Often beautiful, sometimes in the dark, albeit lit by the waneing gibbous (half) moon and the spectacularly clear stars of the Milky Way above.
It is also relentless.
The Aegean Takes Its Toll
Like most boats in a race of this nature, HYC Xcalibur did not escape without damage. The A2 spinnaker was blown out on the deep reach across the bottom of the course. Blocks on the spinnaker sheet downhauls exploded under load.
A luff cord on one of the jibs was damaged and swiftly repaired by Tom Chaney, whose role as the team’s “floating navigator” was testing the lines of demarcation.
Below decks, even the furniture joined the casualty list when a bunk collapsed on top of Bill Heffernan.
Yet the boat kept racing and that resilience was important because the Aegean 600 rarely allows a crew the luxury of dealing with one problem at a time. Repairs, navigation, sail changes, food, rest and tactical decisions all must continue simultaneously.
Inspired by offshore campaigns of old with Kieran Jameson, Aidan McManus and Adrian Holden – all passionate ‘foodies’, this team has always kept the philosophy that good grub superloads energy and spirit. This was reinforced by the fact that skipper Darren again took total control of providing the fine evening meals of chicken curry, lasagne, beef stroganoff and a Greek-inspired chicken and aubergine pasta dish. Freeze dried food saves weight, so the decision to cook ‘real’ food is often a controversial one. But not among this crew.
Two Irish Boats in the Aegean
The 2026 race also featured another formidable Irish entry, Michael O’Donnell’s J/121 Darkwood. The boat arrived in the Aegean with an impressive offshore pedigree, including second place in IRC One in the 2025 RORC Season’s Points Championship, and her presence added another dimension to the race for the Irish sailors aboard HYC Xcalibur.
The two boats produced an interesting contrast on the results sheets. Darkwood finished ahead of HYC Xcalibur under IRC, while the ORC results favoured the Howth entry.
But the significance of Darkwood to the HYC crew went beyond the final corrected times. With the race entering its final 24 hours, the crew aboard Xcalibur had consciously focused on staying fresh enough for one final push.
Experienced offshore sailors know this is often the point at which races are won and lost. After days of disrupted sleep, repeated sail changes and relentless concentration, crews begin to wane and all too often ecisions become slower.
Manoeuvres become less precise and temptation to accept the status quo might become stronger.
The Final 24 Hours
In the early hours of the final morning, Xcalibur began making significant gains when there came a moment of considerable psychological importance: they sailed past Darkwood.
Darkwood was a proven offshore campaign and a boat that had been an important reference point throughout the race. Passing her provided an unmistakable signal to the crew that Xcalibur was moving well and that their final push was working.
Conor Fogerty had already proven himself as a formidable heavy-weather helmsman. Now he and co-watch driver Brian Turvey found themselves managing Xcalibur through fickle airs of just two or three knots for hours. In those conditions, the skill set changes completely. Every movement matters. Boatspeed can disappear with a poor turn, an unnecessary movement, or a momentary lapse in concentration.
Fogerty and Turvey eventually handed over their watch just as the Meltemi returned and their team joined the incoming watch for the full distance to the finish. Rocco Wright, a former champion dinghy sailor and making his offshore racing debut, took the helm and drove HYC Xcalibur downwind for hours in conditions demanding complete concentration, confidence and instinctive feel.
Next Generation – Offshore racing debutant Rocco Wright helms HYC Xcalibur during the Aegean 600, earning praise for his composed performance in the demanding Greek offshore classic. Photo: Michael Wright
His performance drew praise from Tom Chaney, the British sailor from America’s Cup team Athena Racing, who described Rocco’s helming as “extraordinary.”
The Final Drive to Sounion
After more than 600 miles of violent changes in wind strength, repeated sail changes, damaged equipment, tired limbs and some of the most spectacular sailing waters in the world, the Temple of Poseidon once again appeared above Cape Sounion. This time it marked the finish.
HYC Xcalibur crossed the line to secure second place in ORC Division 2, completing an outstanding result for a team that had brought together sailors from different generations, different clubs and widely varied offshore backgrounds.
The division was won by the Slovenian Elan 450 Karpo Idrija, skippered by Maks Vrečko and Andrej Jereb, a highly experienced Aegean 600 campaign returning for its third attempt at the race.
Having been forced to retire in the extreme conditions off Kassos in 2024, the Slovenian team returned a year later to finish second overall in both IRC and ORC, showing themselves as formidable specialists on this uniquely demanding course.
Karpo Idrija carried an ORC rating of 0.9092, compared with HYC Xcalibur’s 0.9554. After the handicaps were applied, the Slovenian boat recorded a corrected time of 3 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, with HYC Xcalibur second on 3 days, 18 hours and 15 minutes. After more than 600 miles of racing, the final corrected-time margin between the two boats was 2 hours and 24 minutes.
Waiting at the finish were Jason and other members of the X-Yachts Greece team who had supported the campaign from its earliest stages.
For the three returning crew members, Darren and Michael Wright and Grace Murray, the unfinished business of the previous year had finally produced a reward.
For Jett Wright, Aodhán Malone and Rocco Wright, it had provided an extraordinary introduction to one of the world’s most demanding offshore races.
And for the rest of the crew, many of whom had already competed in Fastnet Races, the Sydney to Hobart, the Middle Sea Race and numerous Royal Ocean Racing Club offshore classics, the conclusion was strikingly consistent. The Aegean 600 is something special.
Champagne Finish – The HYC Xcalibur crew celebrate back alongside after securing second place in ORC Division 2 at the 605-mile Aegean 600. Photo: Jason Grivas/X-Yachts
A Race Rapidly Growing in Stature
The prizegiving took place at the Lavrion Technological Cultural Park, a remarkable former mining complex transformed into an atmospheric venue of event halls and an open-air amphitheatre.
After the intensity of the previous days, the reception and party provided a memorable conclusion, with excellent food, a unique setting and the shared experiences of sailors who had just completed one of the most demanding races many of them had met.
The Aegean 600 is still remarkably young. The 2026 edition was only the sixth running of the race. Yet its reputation is growing quickly. British offshore yachtswoman Pip Hare captured the attraction best when she arrived ashore after finishing the race on the 50-footer ‘Bellerophon’: “This is a race that gets under your skin. I shall be back a few times. I am sure.”
The ingredients are extraordinary: a 605-mile non-stop course through some of the most beautiful sailing waters in the world, a start and finish beneath the Temple of Poseidon, passages through the Cyclades and Dodecanese, violent changes in wind strength, demanding navigation, long periods of high-speed sailing and a course that tests virtually every aspect of a boat and crew.
Many of Team HYC Xcalibur have experienced some of the world’s established offshore classics, including the Fastnet Race, the Sydney to Hobart, the Middle Sea Race and many of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier offshore events.
After only six editions, this is a race already growing rapidly in stature and one that seems destined to be recognised among the finest tests of offshore sailing in the world.
Based on Brian Turvey's review of the campaign
