Four months ago in Panama, a young man from Kastoria, Markos Spyropoulos, started the inaugural Oyster World Rally – a 16-month Odyssey of endless adventure and around the world sailing.
The Oyster fleet left Antigua on 6 January and the magnificent blue water cruisers have now reached Australia.
One of the yachts participating in the rally that arrived this week in Cairns is Pandemonium, with a member of the sailing club of Kastoria, Markos Spyropoulos, as captain.
The adventure around the world of Pandemonium and other fleet members has seen the fleet explore many fabulous locations along the way. After passing through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific the first ports of call were the Galapagos Islands, Marquesas, Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea.
From the Pacific, the fleet headed to the Great Barrier Reef, where they are currently. Bali will follow, before the rally heads west for Cape Town for Christmas and on to Brazil for the carnival, before joining up for a final grand party with the Oyster Caribbean Regatta in April 2014.
The Oyster World Rally will visit 31 destinations altogether in 15 different countries during the circumnavigation. The 2013 Oyster World Rally was conceived as an event to celebrate Oyster Yachts’ 40th Anniversary. It took the fleet 18 months to prepare for this modern day Odyssey.
A fleet of 28 magnificent examples of the Oyster range take part in the first ever Oyster World Rally, with the fleet hailing from Canada, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA, and Greece.
Markos Spyropoulos is the brother of well-known Greek physician and CERN researcher Dr Maria Spyropolou, that Neos Kosmos has written about.
Neos Kosmos wishes Markos “fair winds and following seas” on his adventure.