Turkish Forum

Tag: sailing

  • Americans Sailing to a Muslim Country

    Americans Sailing to a Muslim Country

    It has been said that cruising is the art of doing boat work in exotic locals and honestly that’s not far from the truth. Atticus 2 is in super good shape, but all boats are in constant need of routine maintenance. Salt water, fresh water, and UV rays are constantly doing everything they can to destroy seagoing boats and extreme motion means that any week link can and will be exposed at the worst possible moment. So now is the time to for us to get on top of our preventative maintenance and there are still a handful of improvements that we’re hoping to make as well.

    We decided to spend the winter at D-marin, Turgutreis in Turkey for several reasons. The winters here is mild, Turkey is renown for having skilled labor at reasonable prices, its outside of the Schengen region so we can recharge our Schengen Visas, but more than anything we’ve been told by several other sailors that Turkey is their favorite country in the Med. It’s such a unique place considered a transcontinental country, not quite a part of Europe, and not quite a part of Asia. And that’s exactly how the culture feels, it’s a blend of two extremely different places. Turkey is one of the most secular muslim majority countries in the world. It’s now home to two of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And for centuries, the Ottoman Empire was the preeminent power in the Mediterranean.

    So this week we’re going to get to know this fascinating place before we hunker down to start doing boat projects

  • Pre-order the London-Istanbul dinghy film to help finance it | Classic Boat Magazine

    Pre-order the London-Istanbul dinghy film to help finance it | Classic Boat Magazine

    Help Giacomo de Stefano raise $15,000 to finish the Man on the River documentary.

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    Man on the River – click to watch the trailer

     

    Italian adventurer Giacomo’s incredible 3,000-mile journey from London to Istanbul in an Iain Oughtred dinghy has been featured in depth in CB (issues 296 and 297) and he is also a nominee for the person of the year category in our inaugural CB Awards (voting now closed).

    Giacomo was filmed and photographed throughout his journey and now he and director Paulo Muran are making the two-hour documentary film showing his adventure. They have a long road ahead of them, what with seven terrabytes of footage to sort through. They need to raise a total of US$15,000 to finish the film, $2,180 of which has already been raised. Click the photograph above to watch a trailer.

    There are various options – the most popular of which will probably be pre-ordering the film. If you can help, click here.

    via Pre-order the London-Istanbul dinghy film to help finance it | Classic Boat Magazine.

  • Istanbul suits Austrian in Extreme series

    Istanbul suits Austrian in Extreme series

    Roman Hagara and his Austrian Red Bull Sailing Team continued the impressive form they showed at Act 2 Qingdao on the opening day of the Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul today, finishing the day in pole position.

    n Instanbul action with Alinghi Vincent Curutchet Dark Frame picThe iconic Turkish city kept the sailors on their toes, with the wind ranging from 2 knots to 13 knots as the eight strong fleet began their battle for supremacy at Act 3.

    Light winds dominated the opening races in Istanbul, dying away to just 2 knots by the end of race three. The teams waited patiently in the scorching sunshine for more breeze and their perseverance paid dividends as the breeze kicked in picking up to 13 knots and a further three races were staged.

    Roman Hagara’s crew, which includes two Austrians, an Englishman, Frenchman and an Australian, making for interesting communication challenges. It look like they are getting used to that and podium positions, though, after finishing Act 2 in second place, today.

    Hagara’s crew finished four out of six races in a top-three position, enough to give them a five point cushion over The Wave, Muscat at the top of the leaderboard.

    “The wind picked up and in the end it was really good racing – I mean the best racing we had so far. It was really good communication on-board,” Hagara enthused.

    “Things are coming together on the boat, the crew is making jokes and everybody is laughing. All the team is happy and there were a lot of smiles today.”

    Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’s all-French team and the all-British team on GAC Pindar challenged at the front of the fleet a couple of times, with the latter securing a win in race three. However, both teams they found themselves buried in the middle of the fleet all too frequently, and finished the day in third and fourth respectively.

    GAC Pindar’s trimmer Mark Bulkeley summed up the team’s day. “It was a day of two halves for us. We went well in the light wind races and struggled when the breeze built. I think we have to think about our set up for the windier races and how we transition between the two conditions.”

    Act 1 winner, Morgan Larson, and his team on Oman Air looked like the odds were in their favour as racing began, with two consecutive wins, but the team’s dominance on the leaderboard was short-lived and they finish the day in fifth.

    In contrast, the new team on the circuit, SAP Extreme Sailing Team co-skippered by America’s Cup compatriots Jes Gram-Hansen and Rasmus Kostner looked to be finding their feet amongst the fleet today, sailing consistently to leave them just one point behind Oman Air in sixth place.

    Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day came from Alinghi, under the guidance of offshore sailing legend and Vendée Globe winner, Alain Gautier, in his Extreme 40 debut.

    Historically, new skippers to the series don’t find it easy to match the pace of the more seasoned Extreme 40 sailors, and it looked like this would be the case for Gautier, who struggled to get out of the blocks in the first two races.

    Never sell a good sailor short. By race three, Gautier and crew had turned things around and went on to secure three podium finishes by the end of racing, leaving them very much in the mix just one point behind SAP Extreme Sailing Team at the end of day one.

    “The level of the fleet around us is very high, it´s tough and we are learning at each race. In this kind of racing you have to be patient and to avoid contact,” Gauter commented. “We need to progress slowly but surely. We know we can race well and the key is to try to stay closest to the leader.”

    Tomorrow, Act 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series opens to the public of Istanbul, as the racing moves closer to shore in ‘stadium’ mode and tighter race courses. The live video streaming including running commentary goes live online from 1400CET.

    Standings after Day 1, 6 races (07.6.12)

    1st Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara/Hans Peter Steinacher/Matthew Adams/Graeme Spence, Pierre Le Clainche 40 points

    2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan/Ed Smyth/Pete Greenhalgh/Hashim Al Rashdi/Rachel Williamson 35 points

    3rd Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec/Christophe Espagnon/Hervé Cunningham/Bernard Labro/Romain Petit 28 points

    4th GAC Pindar (GBR) Ian Williams/Nick Rogers/ Mark Bulkeley/Adam Piggot/Andrew Walsh 26 points

    5th Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson/Will Howden/Charlie Ogletree/Nasser Al Mashari/Max Bulger 25 points

    6th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen/Rasmus Kostner/Pete Cumming/Mikkel Rossberg/Jonas Hviid 24 points

    7th Alinghi (SUI), Alain Gautier/Jean-Christophe Mourniac/Christophe Lassegue/Morgane Gautie/François Verdier 23 points

    8th ZouLou (FRA) Erik Maris/Philippe Mourniac/Jean-Sébastien Ponce/Bruno Jeanjean/Patrick Aucour 15 points

    via Istanbul suits Austrian in Extreme series – Australian Sailing News – YACHTe.com.au.

  • The Europa Race is confirmed ; legs : Istanbul – Barcelona – Lisbon – La Rochelle

    The Europa Race is confirmed ; legs : Istanbul – Barcelona – Lisbon – La Rochelle

    The Europa Race will indeed set sail from Istanbul on 5 May 2012. Under threat for a while, in the face of the Franco-Turk diplomatic controversy, the race is finally going ahead thanks to the combined willingness of the organiser, Olay Nautic, and IMOCA who have made sure that everything is in place so that this essential meeting is honoured in the event schedule.

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    On 16 February 2012, Cumali Varer (Olay Nautic) confirmed that he was having difficulty guaranteeing the organisation of the Europa Race, following the Franco-Turk controversy relating to the matter in Armenia. With the Constitutional Council declaring the bill inadmissible, Cumali Varer got back in touch with the IMOCA class at the end of February, stating that he was once more in a position to organise this tour of Europe.

    In the meantime, the IMOCA class didn’t stand idle. Indeed, convinced of the need to maintain this event, the class’ committee got in touch with all the different teams so as to offer them an alternative scheme. Sticking with the race was an obvious step forward on a sporting level, added to which it was important to respect the commitments made with the racers’ partners. The aim of providing a solution which was as close as possible to the initial dates is what drove the thinking within the IMOCA class.

    A Europa Race with two formats

    In the end there will be three legs on the programme for the Europa Race. The first, from Istanbul to Barcelona, will see the crews adapting to what are always changeable conditions in the Mediterranean. After that, the fleet will pass through the Strait of Gibraltar bound for Portugal. At that stage there will be a switch in format for the final leg, which will be run in solo configuration as far as La Rochelle, a course spanning some 2,500 miles or so. This objective fulfils all the criteria for both the class and the organiser: enabling the sailors to get the measure of each other in race mode and single-handed configuration, prior to the start of the next Vendée Globe.

    An international vocation

    The Europa Race is a fantastic opportunity to confirm the IMOCA class’ willingness for internationalisation. Setting out from Istanbul, which sits astride Europe and Asia, the race will stop off in Barcelona, which is the major pole of development for offshore racing in Spain. The start and finish venue for the Barcelona World Race, the Catalan capital has been on a real drive for several years to encourage a sizeable contingent of Iberian sailors to take up single-handed racing. Meantime Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, is steeped in the history of the discovery of unknown lands, whilst La Rochelle remains one of the major hubs for offshore racing in France.

    Seven crews have confirmed their desire to be at the start in Istanbul: Acciona, Banque Populaire, Cheminées Poujoulat, Groupe Bel, MACIF, Safran and Virbac-Paprec 3. Two other teams could join them. After a few jolts, the Europa Race will demonstrate the true extent of its appeal in a few weeks’ time.

    Event media

    via BYM Sailing & Sports News.