BY FARR AWAY THE FASTEST ON THE BOSPHORUS
The Race on the Bosphorus, at the 2016 Turkcell Platinum Bosphorus Cup, got underway promptly at midday with 57 boats crowding the start line off the Dolmabaçhe Palace. Istanbul put on a show for the crowds watching on the shoreline and water, and viewing the live streams. Picture perfect blue sky, the Haghia Sophia in the background and a downwind spinnaker start for the fleet. The race proved the expected tactical affair, with crews having to choose the options presented by varied current and wind directions.
Orient Express VI made use of her waterline length and superior sailpower to take an early lead and finish the 21 nautical mile race first on the water in a time of two and half hours. On corrected time under IRC Rating it was Team Özonur sailing the Farr 40, Renault Farr Away that took the race win by 53 seconds. Farrfara finished third overall some 15 minutes adrift. Heading into the final day of the Turkcell Platinum Bosphorus Cup, Bülent Atabay’s Orient Express VI hold a slender 1-point advantage over Renault Farr Away with two windward-leeward races scheduled.
Intense Challenge
The Race on the Bosphorus course is intensely challenging, presenting plenty of tactical conundrums for the strategists. The predominant water flow is from the Black Sea to the Marmara, but the ‘S’ shaped strait offers opportunities for relief when heading north, with intriguing counter-currents available to those in the know.
Local knowledge is critical according to French sailmaker Jean-Philippe Gallois, who raced here last year on Lionel Pean’s SFS: “It is a very special race, in a magical environment. It is tactically very challenging, especially in light wind like today. You have to understand the course, and make choices between wind and counter-current straight off the start. Then you need to know how close to the shore you can go, what obstacles there might be. It is fascinating.”
Europe v. Asia
Boats hugging the European shore at the start were in a clear majority today. The breeze from the south was light but the counter-current strong. The few yachts taking a flier and banking on better wind strength on the Asian shore were quickly in the trash can. Orient Express VI chose the European side and flew towards the VIP enclosure at the Feriye Palace where the watching crowd were treated to an impressive piece of big boat sailing. Progress under spinnaker for the entire fleet was curtailed shortly before the Bosphorus bridge. At this point on the course, the wind swung dramatically to the north, making an orderly transition was critical.
Behind Orient Express VI, the fleet bottlenecked at the transition and those caught up faced a fraught period that took a while to unwind. Renault Farr Away, meanwhile, was sailing her own race according to crewmember Alican Tunali: “We were one of the outside boats at the bridge and had no problems making the transition from kite to jib. Once we passed under the bridge we found a good 8 or 9 knots, and were moving cleanly. We pushed it to the limit, hiking hard to stay on one tack to Arnavutköy where we tacked over to cross the channel to the Asian side. We were really close into shore, waving to lots of people on the way up.”
The wolf onboard
According to Tunali, the key to victory was in Farr Away’s skipper, Levent Özonur, who he referred to as ‘The Wolf’: “He is from Istanbul and has almost fifty years’ experience sailing on the Bosphorus. He led us today. Our tactics were correct. He believed in us and we believed in him. We knew we had a chance to win today. The condition suited us, we had prepared mentally and physically, and the boat was ready.”
Tunali and his crewmates still have work to do to win the Bosphorus Cup, awarded to the overall winner of the Turkcell Platinum Bosphorus Cup. Al the same, today’s victory is special: “It is great to win this race. It is so different to any other. Everyone is watching you, so it is like a Formula 1 car race. You go so close to people on the shore, and it makes you feel the excitement. Racing on the Bosphorus is just the most exciting opportunity.”
Turkcell technology boosts fan experience
The Race on the Bosphorus was subject to considerable exposure with technology being put to great use to provide the best viewing and experience for spectators and fans. The race was broadcast live on the internet and a four-camera LTE broadcast was available via the Turkcell Platinum app. Fans could also track the exact location of the boats at any time during the race using Turkcell's "exactly here" service.
Racing continues tomorrow with two windward-leeward races scheduled off Caddebostan to determine the final standings and overall winner of the 2016 Turkcell Platinum Bosphorus Cup.
TURKCELL PLATINUM BOSPHORUS CUP PROVISIONAL STANDINGS DAY 2
Pos/Boat Name/Owner/Boat Type/R1/R2/Total
1/Orient Express VI/Bülent Atabay/Farr 55/1.0/2.0/3.0
2/Renault-Farr Away, Team Özonur, Farr 40/3.0/1.0/4.0
3/Farrfara, Erhan Uzun, Farr 40/2.0/3.0/5.0
