Marmaris International Race Week - Overall
by Icarus Sailing Media 5 Nov 2011 06:18 GMT
29 October - 4 November 2011
Windy and exciting finale
The final day of the 22nd Marmaris International Race Week had just one inshore race scheduled, in the Marmaris Gulf. The boats filled the gulf early in the morning and the race committee tried to start the race the soonest possible! But the wind did not allow them to do so, as it was not consistent at all, constantly shifting. After two canceled starts and the decision by the committee to wait about an hour before the next start signal, the wind filled up the gulf and stabilized. It speed was increasing continuously and toped at 14 knots.
Boat BY FAR LEMON chose the right side of the course, near the coast, a decision that paid off. HOOLIGAN started near the pin end and chose the left side. BY FAR LEMON rounded the upwind mark first, with more than 500 meters lead from 2nd HOOLIGAN. Things remained the same throughout that reach and the boats hoisted their spinnakers for the second reach, to the start line. HOOLIGAN managed to shorten the distance from her rival and both boats sailed upwind again, to the weather mark. At the same time, CANIM and MAD X had their own battles at the downwind leg, with MAD X sailing remarkably good and extending her lead from the much bigger CANIM that seemed to struggle with her maneuvers.
At the second upwind leg, HOOLIGAN managed to close the gap from BY FAR LEMON even more, before the boats headed downwind again to the starting line. The distance between the two was now down to less than 50 meters, meaning that everything could change at the final upwind leg. Both boats choose the right side, but the leader tacked before the second one and gave the chance to HOOLIGAN to go closer to the coast and benefit from the stronger wind and the shifts. The crew of BY FAR LEMON realized their mistake quickly and tacked again to secure their lead, but had already lost precious meters. Finally the two boats finished with only a couple of boats’ length distance with BY FAR LEMON cheering a difficult win.
At the overall results, MAD X won in IRC 1 Class, followed by BY FAR LEMON in second and COURRIER DU CŒUR in third. In IRC 2 division, MATRIX had very stable results and beat MATADOR and MATRAK that came second and third respectively. LETLLAND won the IRC 3 Class and ARMADOR is second, with AVALON in third place. In IRC 4, BOOMERANG left the rest of his opponents far behind and won easily. Second was ARMADOR and third was AVALON.
At the IRC CHR 1 Class, HAKUNA MATATA was first on top of LZ YACHTING 1991 and PEARL. MARTEL won in IRC CHR 2 division followed by NIGHT&DAY and YUKSEL D3. In IRC CHR 3, PERSEY left behind her THEMIS and YUKSEL D2 and won. Finally in IRC CHR 4, ATILLA came first, YUKSEL 7 second and YUKSEL 35 third.
The 22nd Marmaris International Raceweek ended with the awards’ ceremony, followed by a great party! Everybody, sailors, crews, their friends, the organizers, the committee had a great time! Of course they all promised to meet again next year, in this popular and exciting sailing event.
Day 6 Highlights Video: