Race to Your Heart's Content - ERGO-MIYC Winter Trophy 3rd Leg

Marmaris International Yacht Club (MIYC) organized the third leg of the Winter Trophy on March 7-8 in Marmaris, sponsored by ERGO Sigorta as the main sponsor.

In the 3rd leg, three buoy races were planned to make up for the races that could not be held in the previous two legs due to adverse weather conditions. The briefing was even held a day earlier to allow time for the races.

On Saturday, March 7, a total of 24 boats in 4 different classes took to the course.

The 6-nautical-mile bay race started at 10:10 with an 8.5-knot wind from 150 degrees.

As the wind strength gradually decreased, finishes began to be taken amid doubts of "are we returning to the previous legs?" Matrak 2, Palmarina Sailing-İzmir Yelken Akademisi and M2 were drawing attention in their classes.

The 2nd race of the day would start at 14:04 with wind from 165 degrees at 6.5 knots. For the sausage course, right after the mass start, the yacht Denizhan tore her genoa and retired from the race. As the wind increased its strength to 16 knots, İskorpit crew's boom hit one of the crew members. However, since there was no negative development requiring retirement from the race, İskorpit continued racing. Meanwhile, the Russian yacht Strekoza filed a protest against MX.

In the 3rd race, the same 6-mile race course from the previous race was followed. Previously genoa-torn Denizhan announced she would participate in the 3rd race. At 16:16, the start was given with wind blowing at 8.6 knots from 120 degrees. Virtually flying, Matrak 2 rounded the first mark 18 minutes later and finished first at 17:13. She was followed again by Orfoz and Junk Box. As the wind speed began to increase slightly, Denizhan's retirement announcement was heard.

At the end of the challenging and exhausting first day, a sausage-meatball-bread party awaited the racers. While the teams were enthusiastically conducting the day's critique, the protest committee reviewed the protest filed by Strekoza until late hours and ultimately concluded that the necessary conditions had not been met.

On Sunday, March 8th, contrary to the bad weather in Istanbul, sunny and beautiful weather greeted the racers. The wind was around 5-5.5 knots.

Before the race started, an announcement by chief race officer Can Giray celebrating International Women's Day, March 8th for all women participating in the organization and races was heard, and red carnations were distributed.

With the mass start given at 10:21, the boats raced on a triangular course followed by a sausage course. At the start moment, Volitan with her black sails approached the start line from the wrong direction, bringing hearts to mouths. While Gökova took a late start, Smart Too filed a protest against Kaçamak, claiming she touched the mark during the mark rounding. Matrak 2 didn't relinquish the lead to anyone in this leg either, making the first roundings and crossing the finish line at 12:07. While the leaders in IRC 2 and IRC3 remained unchanged, in IRC4 the German Kanka maintained her lead,

Following these races, MIYC started preparations for the CAMPUS Cup, where university students will compete on March 14-15.