Greeting by the Secretary General for the Aegean and Island Policy and President of the Organizing Committee of the 25th International Aegean Offshore Sailing Race “AEGEAN REGATTA 2026” Mr. Fotis Maggos
It is with great pleasure and emotion that I welcome AEGEAN REGATTA 2026, the 25th International Aegean Offshore Sailing Race, the major institutional event of the General Secretariat for the Aegean and Island Policy dedicated to nautical sports, maritime tradition, the islands and their people.
This year’s event carries a special symbolism for all of us. AEGEAN REGATTA marks 25 years of continuous presence in the Aegean, having become established as an institution that brings together sport and the sea, seamanship and culture, athletic endeavour and island hospitality. For a quarter of a century, this event has been sailing across the waters of the Archipelago, connecting ports, islands, people and communities, while promoting the Aegean internationally as a place of life, creativity, cooperation and extroversion.
For me personally, assuming the Presidency of the Organizing Committee of AEGEAN REGATTA 2026, at the beginning of my tenure as Secretary General for the Aegean and Island Policy, is both a great honour and a substantial responsibility. It is highly symbolic that one of the first major institutional events I am called upon to serve from my new position is an institution deeply connected with the Aegean, sport and island communities.
As a person who comes from the field of physical education and sport, I know well that sport is not only about performance, competition and results. It is education, discipline, cooperation, respect, endurance and self-transcendence. It is a way of learning how to stand firm in the face of difficulties, how to work as a team, how to set goals and move forward with dedication. All these elements lie at the heart of sailing and are reflected in the most authentic way in AEGEAN REGATTA.
At the same time, having served Local Government as Mayor of an island municipality, I know first-hand the importance of such events for our islands. I know the efforts of local communities, the power of hospitality, the daily concerns but also the pride of the people who live and create in the Aegean. Each stop of AEGEAN REGATTA is not merely a racing destination; it is a living place, with history, culture, production, memory and perspective.
This year, from 22 to 28 August 2026, the event sets sail from Limnia – Volissos, Chios, following a route that embraces the central and northeastern Aegean: Fournoi, Agathonisi, Marathokampos, Samos. It is a route with a strong island character, highlighting authentic places, communities with a deep relationship with the sea, and islands that are living cells of Greece’s border regions.
AEGEAN REGATTA is not only a race. It is an experience. It is the image of boats filling the harbours; the encounters between crews and residents; the local celebrations; the walks through the alleyways; the stories of the people of the sea; the feeling that the Aegean becomes, each time, a shared place of participation and emotion. Finish lines become celebrations, and the days spent on the islands become opportunities to discover the culture, flavours, traditions and everyday life of island communities.
This year, particular importance is also attached to the promotion of traditional shipbuilding art and the wooden boats of the Aegean. With Samos at the centre and its long-standing relationship with traditional wooden shipbuilding, this year’s event offers us the opportunity to shed light on the timeless connection between land and sea: from the wood born in the mountains of our islands to the hull shaped by the hands of boatbuilders and brought to life in the water. Traditional shipbuilding is not merely a technique; it is knowledge, memory, art, identity and cultural heritage of the Aegean.
Particular importance is also attached to the cooperation for the organization of the voyage of traditional boats, which will substantially enrich the programme of AEGEAN REGATTA 2026 and further highlight the living maritime heritage of the Aegean. This initiative is directly linked to a highly significant development for the safeguarding and promotion of our intangible cultural heritage: the inscription of lateen-rig sailing in 2025 on the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece.
Following this inscription, the General Secretariat for the Aegean and Island Policy is cooperating with the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage, the Museum of Aegean Shipbuilding and Maritime Crafts, the Friends’ Association of the Museum of Aegean Shipbuilding and Maritime Crafts, and the Hellenic Association of Traditional Boats, with the common goal of giving traditional vessels and the people who keep the maritime crafts of the Aegean alive the space and time they deserve.
The presence of traditional boats in this year’s anniversary event is not merely a parallel activity. It is a symbolic and substantive link between the past and the future of our seamanship. It brings to the forefront the knowledge of boatbuilders, the art of rigging, the nautical experience of crews, lateen-rig sailing, and the distinctive way in which island communities learned to converse with the wind, wood and sea.
In this way, AEGEAN REGATTA 2026, in its 25th year, does not only honour modern offshore sailing and nautical sports. It also honours the roots of Aegean maritime tradition, contributing to the promotion, safeguarding and transmission of a valuable cultural heritage to future generations.
Over its 25 years, AEGEAN REGATTA has proven that it can be at once a high-level sporting event, a cultural route, a tool for promoting the islands, and a bridge of cooperation among institutions, local communities and the people of the sea. We have a duty to preserve and strengthen this continuity, with respect for the history of the institution and with a plan for its future.
I would like to express my warm thanks to all those who have supported and co-shaped this important event over time. I thank the Hellenic Sailing Federation and its Offshore Committee for their steady and meaningful cooperation with the General Secretariat for the Aegean and Island Policy.
I extend special thanks to the representatives of Local Government, to the Regions and Municipalities of the islands that host and support AEGEAN REGATTA 2026. The contribution of local authorities is decisive, not only for the thorough organizational preparation and safe conduct of the event, but also for its meaningful connection with local communities. Through their care, cooperation and active presence, each stop of the Regatta becomes a celebration for the island, an opportunity for extroversion, for the promotion of local identity and for the showcasing of island hospitality.
As someone who has served Local Government in an island municipality, I know well the responsibility, effort and daily care required for an island to welcome an event of such scope with dignity, warmth and effectiveness. For this reason, my gratitude to elected representatives, to the staff of Municipalities and Regions, and to all those working on the ground, is deep and sincere. Their presence turns every harbour into a meeting point, every stop into a celebration and every event into a cause embraced by the entire local community.
I also thank the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage, the Museum of Aegean Shipbuilding and Maritime Crafts, the Friends’ Association of the Museum of Aegean Shipbuilding and Maritime Crafts, and the Hellenic Association of Traditional Boats for their cooperation in promoting the voyage of traditional boats and lateen-rig sailing as living expressions of the maritime cultural heritage of the Aegean.
I further thank the nautical clubs, local sailing bodies, Port Authorities, volunteers, sponsors, supporters and all those who work with consistency, knowledge and love for the successful implementation of AEGEAN REGATTA 2026.
Above all, I thank the crews and sailors from Greece and abroad, whose participation gives life, rhythm and international visibility to the institution. Their presence is the best proof that AEGEAN REGATTA is not merely a race in the Aegean; it is a community of people who share the same love for the sea, adventure, fair competition and the freedom born of the wind.
This year’s anniversary event is a celebration of nautical sports and island identity. But it is also a new beginning. An opportunity to renew our commitment to the islands, their people, our maritime tradition and the future of the Aegean. As the General Secretariat for the Aegean and Island Policy, we will continue to support initiatives that strengthen extroversion, sports education, culture and the sustainable development of our island regions.
I wish all crews fair winds, safe sailing and a race worthy of the 25-year history of AEGEAN REGATTA. I wish the residents and institutions of the islands hosting the event days filled with joy, participation and creative extroversion.
May the sails be filled once again with the wind of the Aegean, and may AEGEAN REGATTA 2026 become a bright point of reference for the sea, sport, the islands and their people.
Fotis Maggos
Secretary General for the Aegean and Island Policy
President of the Organizing Committee
of the 25th International Aegean Offshore Sailing Race
“AEGEAN REGATTA 2026”