Marmaris International Race Week 2014 - Day 2
by Icarus Sailing Media 29 Oct 2014 21:04 AEDT
25-31 October 2014
Day two of the Marmaris International Race Week and yet again the weather was ideal for another day of racing. However the plan for today was a special one with the regatta's only coastal race scheduled to take the fleet outside the Gulf of Marmaris for some offshore sailing.
There was an impressive sized fleet that turned out to race this morning with 150 boats waiting patiently as each division took their turn on the starting line. The first start was at 10am and the breeze was very light for the sailors meaning that the emphasis was on good tactics if the teams wanted to break away from the rest of the fleet. As the race got underway the fleet was split into two; those that opted to get the first of the breeze from the Aegean sea held to the west side of the Gulf while the rest chose to go East keeping closer to the coastline.
It was soon clear which side of the course was paying. Two boats had separated from the rest of the fleet: Grey Goose competing in the IRC Charter 1 and Extreme Ways, competing in IRC 2. They had both chosen to keep to the east coast and had managed to obtain a massive advantage over the others, blazing ahead.
Some would say that the gains made by the boats was down to luck, but with two great sailors at the helm it was more than pure luck that saw these teams take the lead. Rodion Luka the 2004 49er Silver medallist was helming on Grey Goose, skippered by Dmitriy Sokolov. He is not new to Marmaris International Race week and he has been competing here long enough to know a few of its secrets.
Andrew Holdsworth helming on Extreme Ways is also an established sailor in his own right and with the help of a professional crew he managed to leave much bigger and faster boats in his wake as he lead the way to the first mark.
The course raced today measured approximately 30 nautical miles, long enough to give the teams a chance to ratchet up some speed and make some all important gains. Once they'd started the fleet had to pass by the island of Yilancik before continuing to the first mark. A long downwind first leg found the two protagonists of the day still leading but closely followed by the bigger boats that had managed to catch up.
An even longer upwind leg saw the boats sailing along the coast of Turkey as the sun was setting but despite the picturesque scene the wind was dropping and the crews prepared for a long night ahead.
The fate of tomorrow's inshore race rests on the finish time of today's offshore race. All eyes are on the finish line to see who will win and whether there will be racing tomorrow. Until then stay tuned.
marmarisraceweek.com