Tesekkurler & Selamlar

Vittoria Trojer reports from the Bosphorus Cup

After two magnificent days of racing, the third edition of the Bosphorus Cup 2004 has come to a very successful conclusion. Over 40 sailboats, divided into five different classes - IRC 1 & 2, Cruising, Dragon, and One Design 'FB 2000' took part in this year's event. The series was divided in two days and, uniquely, held in two different seas.

The city of Istanbul, with its numerous Ottoman palaces and many mosques surrounding the city, together with the castles and bridges, was a perfect setting for this unique regatta and the fantastic backdrop for photographers.

On the first day the race started from the center of the city going along up stream along the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Marmara Sea to the Black Sea. The weather conditions, with a nice wind of about 19 knots, were favourable for a beat all the way to the weather mark. To make things more challenging the competitors had to face strong currents. To avoid this, the boats tacked just a couple of meters from the shore, which allowed the spectators to take part in the race. After the mark roundings, and with the current in favor, there was a long tactical spinnaker run all the way to the finish line.

On the hospitality side, hotels, disco clubs and restaurants on the shore were packed with guests who came to watch the competing sailboats on the Bosphorus, a waterway usually busy with tanker traffic. The event this year was also packed with international journalists coming from countries such as Norway, Greece and Italy, invited by the main sponsors. The sponsors were very keen on putting together Bosphorus Cup corporate hospitality packages, which included guided tours of the city and corporate dinners and luncheons.

The second day of racing was a windward-leeward race to the Princes Island on the Caddebostan course. The start was given in front of the Marmara Sailing Club and proceeded for about 16 miles with six legs and due to the very nice 12 knot wind, was spectacular to see even from on land at the Marmara Sailing Club.

Winners of this years Bosphorus Cup were for the IRC 1, Oguzhan Too, followed by Zamazingo and Eshquia. For IRC 2 XL with in second place Narin and Portal. For the cruising division Wind Song second place for Dolphin and third place for Kayacan. For the One Design Class first place for Uras and second place for the Illusion. For the Dragon class winner is Deryadil.

The organizers and sponsors of this event would like to thank everyone who participated in making this yet another successful year. Sponsors are Shop & Miles VISA, the Marmara Sailing Club, Dragos Sailing Club, the Bosphorus University Sailing Club of Istanbul and of course would not be possible without the creativity and innovation of ORG Sports Marketing, headed by Orhan Gorbon.

Tesekkurler & Selamlar
(In Turkish:Thank you and regards.)