Shop
& Miles Visa Bosphorus Cup 2004 - Final Report
Istanbul,
Turkey May 30 th 2004
After
two magnificent days of racing, the third edition
of the Bosphorus Cup 2004 has come to a very successful
conclusion. Over forty sailboats, divided into
five different categories- IRC 1 & 2, Cruising,
Dragon, and One Design “FB 2000” took
part in this years event. The series was divided
in two days on two different seas.
The
city of Istanbul, framed by the Ottoman palaces
and the 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 the
IRC 2:
XL
and second place for 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.)
