THE END OF PATIENCE IS ABANDONMENT

“Thank You for Your Patience and Understanding”

As the most frequently heard phrase of the Trophy, it was used repeatedly by the Chief Umpire in every area until the end of the 3rd Leg, but...

We were in Bodrum on February 25-26 for the 3rd Leg of the Trophy, held under the main sponsorship of CFM and organized by BAYK.

For the two days when the 3rd Leg races would be sailed, with a total of 46 boats registered in 8 groups, two different weather conditions appeared to be forecast on meteorology websites for the Bodrum course.

While rough conditions with prevailing Lodos were expected on the first day, the second day was anticipated to be quite the opposite, with light winds.

The racing crews were making their preparations in accordance with these forecasts.

On Saturday, February 25, at the briefing, Chief Umpire Hulki ORUZ also began his speech by expressing the same assessments.

He announced that the wind would blow from the Lodos direction at 25 Knots during squalls, and therefore the Coast Guard warned the committee with a Storm warning.

According to the information received, he also conveyed the notice that there were high waves in the direction of Kos.

He also announced that they could not race the support boats under these conditions.

Although there were objections to this announcement, Oruz said that they would go out to the course first, and following the wind measurements, if conditions were suitable for safe racing, the fleet would be invited to the course.

Very shortly after, the fleet remaining at the marina received the announcement to be invited to the course. And together with the Support classes as well.

When we went out to the course, contrary to what was described, we encountered a normal racing atmosphere. After the course setting preparations, the 6 boats in the Support class began their preparations for the first start. 

The Support class started at 12:50 for approximately 17 nautical miles route with Bodrum start, leaving Kargı and Çelebi Islands to starboard and Bodrum finish. At this moment, the wind was blowing from 120 degrees at 13-14 knots.

After the start of the Support group, it was not possible to proceed to the start of other groups. The course setup was considerably delayed as the optimist sailors racing in the area in front of İçmeler were taken into consideration. 

Messages saying “Thank you for your patience and understanding” were heard again on the radios.

IRC A and B groups will race a sausage course, with IRC B completing 2 laps and IRC A completing 3 laps.

Before the start procedures began, MERHABA YACHTING-MINX-HEFEF YELKEN experienced a steering cable failure and was towed to Milta Bodrum Marina by Bodrum Sea Rescue boats.

While the wind on the course was blowing from 110 degrees at 16-19 knots, the start for IRC B groups was given at 13:30.

At 13:44, the start was given for IRC A 3 and 4 groups, at 13:54 for IRC A 1 and 2 groups, and at 14:04 for IRC A 0 groups to complete 3 laps on a course with leg intervals of 1.8 nautical miles.

The IRC A 0 groups, which had entered the course at 11:00, had their start sequence only 3 hours later.

A race was taking place where the wind and waves did not challenge safety conditions and presented beautiful scenes.

What caught our attention during the race was that teams working and running around on deck as a complete crew were more successful compared to teams that remained stationary with only one or two active members.

At the end of Race 1;

In IRC A 0, ARKAS-FLYING BOX(Serhat ALTAY),

In IRC A 1, DEFİNE(Selim KAKIŞ),

In IRC A 2, MARİNA VİSTA KEYİF 60(Yiğit EROĞLU),

In IRC A 3, MATADOR(Cüneyt BÜYÜKUÇAK),

In IRC A 4, YEDİÇERİLER(Varol HIDIR),

In IRC B 1, SINGLESTAR(Arto TEKYILDIZ),

In IRC B 2, BLUES 1-ÇORLU SAILING TEAM(Mustafa SÖYLER),

In DESTEK, NAVITA(Burhan KURNE) were the boats leaving their competitors behind.

As the day's first races were ending, the Race Committee announced that a second sausage course race would be held for IRC A groups.

Since finishes were not completed in some groups, the start orders were changing.

The course was the same as the previous course, but the wind was intermittently increasing and decreasing in strength.

At 16.05, IRC A 1 and 2 started, at 16.15 IRC A 0 started, and at 16.25 IRC A 3 and 4 started.

While the wind blowing from 110 degrees continued to decrease and increase, close two-way and three-way competitions in the groups were drawing attention.

As the award ceremony time was approaching rapidly, the finishes were just being completed.

At the end of the day's 2nd race for IRC A groups;

In IRC A 0, ARKAS-FLYING BOX (Serhat ALTAY),

In IRC A 1, DEFİNE (Selim KAKIŞ),

In IRC A 2, MARİNA VİSTA KEYİF 60 (Yiğit EROĞLU),

In IRC A 3, KARAVIDA-CHEESE SAILING (Alp DOĞULU),

In IRC A 4, YEDİÇERİLER (Varol HIDIR), were the boats that left their competitors behind.

At the award ceremony held in the evening at Marina Yat Kulüp, the CFM-BAYK Winter Trophy 2nd Leg awards found their owners.p>

According to whispers circulating at the ceremony, 6 boats touched the buoy during the day's races but continued racing without performing penalty turns.

If true, neither did they perform penalty turns nor did the witnesses file protests.

On Sunday morning, February 26, at the briefing, Chief Race Officer Hulki ORUZ began his remarks by stating that the day would be windless.

He explained that if possible, between 12:00-15:00 the conditions might perhaps be suitable, but would drop afterwards.

In summary; he made warnings that the day would be long and that food and beverages should be sufficient on the boats.

He stated that the boats should wait in the marina until the weather reached racing conditions, and that a call would be made when it reached sufficient level.

After this announcement, the pontoons were virtually enjoying summer weather.

The sun had shown its scorching face, and deficiencies in the balloons and emblems were being reviewed.

However, this ease was short-lived as the announcement to proceed to the race course was heard over the radios.

Indeed, on the race course the wind was intermittent. 

The course setting procedures were taking increasingly longer.

Messages of “Thank you for your patience and understanding” started to be heard again from the race committee radio.

The wind was making no surprises whatsoever, it was turning out exactly as shown in the meteorology.

With these realities apparent, the start procedures were increasingly delayed, and the hours with wind were being wasted.

Finally, the first start was given to the Support classes for a geographical course. The boats would round Orak Adası and return. Approximately 19 nautical miles distance. 

It would be fine if the wind didn’t drop, but that’s what the meteorology, the briefing, and the Chief Race Officer all said.

The start was given, the boats didn’t race, they were crawling. That day was our last view of the boats racing 17 miles from the press boat.

Because when the wind died, one or two of them were returning under motor.

Meanwhile, an unidentified voice on the radios was making "motor yacht advertisements".

IRC A and B groups will race 2 laps on a sausage course with a leg distance of 1.2 nautical miles.

The starts began with winds blowing at 5-7 knots from 120 degrees.

At 13:20, IRC A 3 and 4s started, at 13:30 IRC A 2 and 3s started, and at 13:40 IRC A 0s completed their starts.

Insufficient wind led to surprises while rankings within the groups constantly changed.

Those who had made a habit of catching the wind close to the Bodrum mainland coast also continued to advance on the course with disappointment.

At the end of the race;

In IRC A 0, ARKAS-FLYING BOX (Serhat ALTAY),

In IRC A 1, DEFİNE (Selim KAKIŞ),

In IRC A 2, TURUVA 1 (Aytuğ ÜRER),

In IRC A 3, AURORA X (Ömer DİRİM),

In IRC A 4, LADY SUN (Emin BAL), were the boats that left their competitors behind.

While finishes were being taken and the wind was dropping in the area, the race committee announced that one more race would be held for IRC A groups.

As the start procedures were completed and the fleet was struggling on the course, we could see the committee boat moving towards the windward mark. 

At the same time, since the wind direction was changing, the position of the windward mark was being relocated before the fleet leaders completed their rounding.

A shortened course was added to these changes with the committee boat arriving at the windward mark. Finishes would be taken here.

Everything was fine, but what about the wind?

The wind was constantly changing direction, its strength was gradually decreasing.

During this time, announcements of “Fairness”, “We are approaching the windward mark, downwind” started being made over the radios.

While discussions between the chief umpire and some boats were reflected on the radios, some boats were announcing that they were abandoning the race.

The boats had stopped, in fact they were going backwards with the current.

Meanwhile, KARAVİDA in IRC A 3 class was finishing.

After that, for a long time there wasn't even anyone approaching the finish line

While the discussions were carried on by some boats, most boats preferred to remain silent.

While this silence dominated the course, Chief Umpire Hulki ORUZ declared Abandonment for IRC A boats due to the conditions.

After this announcement, protest voices from boats very close to the finish line spread throughout the course.

If it weren't for this final race that was being forcibly attempted, the teams would have left Bodrum with joy and happiness this time.

But this time it didn't turn out that way.

We hope that the Bodrum success story, woven one by one with years of effort, will not give way to unhappiness.

Meanwhile, KARAVIDA-CHEESE SAILING (Alp DOĞULU), which finished in IRC A 3 group, completed this race as the leader in their group.

You can find different visuals and details about the race in the April issue of YELKEN DÜNYASI magazine.