(Turkish version is below)
I know I know, I keep telling that I'll write more but than I realize, I can't :/ Well.. The real season as I feel more like it just started 2 weeks ago as I have loaded my car, put my bike on top of it and packed the trailer at the back and shipped it all to Trieste, Italy to start the long racing and training period of 2.5 months in Europe.
The first stop was the European Championships in Split, Croatia. Top 100 sailors from Europe came over for this race and even the national teams from USA and New Zealand were in the race as it was an open championship. To be honest, this was the weirdest regatta I have ever raced.
The first racing was scheduled to be on Tuesday and due to absolutely windless weather it was postponed. Staying on shore with rain and no wind, Tuesday was spent with only drinking lots of coffee at the Yacht Club Labud with the rest of the sailors. The second day was the exact opposite as we spent 8 hours on the water for a stable wind and managed to finish only 1 race. In 2 days we managed to finish only 1 race out of the scheduled 4 races. The wind was really not on our side in Split. The third day wasn’t much different either. Waiting till 13:00 on shore, waiting till 15:00 on water and did only 1 race with ridiculous currents and weird shifty weather. After 3 days and finishing only 2 races, the regatta was cutting close to being a ”non-regatta” as we have to finish 4 races by the end of the regatta to make it count as a european championships.
Friday was the worst of all, I would say, as we went out around 12:30 on the water, we waited till 17:10 till the first race signal and managed finish 2 races. The first one wasn’t so bad but the second one… I did an amateur mistake and tangled to the mainsheet at the start during tacking which ended up in a full on capsize. Started 5 minutes after the fleet, yet I managed to ctach some of the people up, but it wasn’t still enough, the score would definitely be the one to discard. The funny part was the race ended at 20:45 when the sunset is at 20:30, hence we ended up going back to the marina in the dark with the convoy of Croatian Coast Guard.
Without any expectations other than trying to learn and improve something everyday (in this case it was the starts for us) we went out on the water on Saturday for 2 races and finished them fairly on time (18:30) which was a first at the last day of the regatta.
The last day we had only the final race which I wasn’t able to do the start and the tactics that I wanted (unfortunately it was due to my fault) and finished in the same spot as I started.
Finshing 63rd, it was an OK regatta for me with a lot to learn and showing me that I have to work much harder as my opponents were sailing while I was in school for the past 5 months.
But now the good part is that I am on the road for sailing for the next 4 months and it will be much different. We are in Netherlands right now,getting ready for the ISAF World Cup Series in Medemblik. This is the 5th race of the series and unfortunately I missed the 3rd and 4th events so I have a lot of catching up to do. Will inform you more next week.
Keep sailing
TUR35
Biliyorum, biliyorum, hep yazicagimi sopyluyorum ama yazamiyorum. Sezon benim icin gercek manasiyla 2 hafta once basladi. Esyalar arabaya kondu, tekne arkasina yuklendi ve ustunede bisikletimi koyup Cesme’den Ro/Ro’yla Italya’ya gitti. Avrupa’da gececek 2.5 aylik yogun yaris ve antreman programinin baslangiciydi bu. Ilk durak Hirvatistan’in Split Kentinde yapilacak Avrupa Sampiyonasi’ydi.
Dunya capinda 100’e yakin sporcunun katildigi Avrupa sampiyonasinda sadece avrupanin en iyi ekipleri beklense de Amerika ve Yeni Zellanda gibi dunyanin en iyi takimlari da Dunya sampiyonasi oncesinde hazirlik amacli bu yarisa gelmislerdi.
Sali gunu baslamasi planlanan yarislar ruzgarsiz ve bol yagmurlu hava kosullari nedeniyle diger yelkenclilerle beraber karada bol sohbetli bol beklemeli bir gune donustu. Carsamba gunu ise tam tersine denizde 8 saat beklememiz ve ardindan da sadece 1 yaris yapabilmemizle sonuclandi. Planlanan 4 yaristan sadece 1ini tamamlayabilmistik. 3. Gun ise cok ta farkli degildi. Saat 1 e kadar karada , 3 e kadar ise denizde bekledikten sonra anca 2. Yarisi bitirebildik. Bu siralarda derecem 60.lik ve 65.lik arasinda degisiyordu ve hava kosullarida daha yukselmeme cok ta izin vermiyordu.
Zorlu 3 gunden sonra Cuma gunu ise en kotu gunumuzdu diyebilirim. Oglen 12 de denize cikmamiza ragmen saat 17:10’da ilk yaris starti verildikten sonra kara donmeyi beklerken ikinci yarisin starti verildi. Gun batimi saatinin 20:30 oldugu Split’te 20:45’te finise girerek,sahil Guvenlik botlari esliginde gecenin karanliginda marinaya geri donduk. 8 yarisin anca 4’u yapilabilmis ve de sonunda resmi olarak Avrupa sampiyonasi yapilmasi icin gerkli yaris sayisi anca tamamlanmisti. Cuma gunku yarislardan ilki fena gecemese de , ikinci yarisin startinda yasadigim bir sanssizlik en kotu yarisima sebep acti. Start sirasinda tramola atmaya calisirken bilegime dolanan ana yelken iskotasi ana yelkeni boslamami engelleyerek tekneyi duzeltmeme engel olmus ve de batmama sebep olmustu. Tekneyi tekrardan duzeltip start aldigimda rakiplerimden yaklasik 5 dakika gerideydim. 78. Bitirdigim yaris en kotu yarisim olarak atmada kurtulacagim puanim olmustu.
Kendimi gelistirmek (bu yarista oncelik start’larindi) ve yeni birseyler ogrenmek disinda cok ta beklentimizin olmadigi bu yarista cumartesi gunu suya 5. Ve 6. yarislar icin ciktik ve de siralamadaki yerim cok degismeden ilk defa mantikli bir saatte kara donerek o gunun yarislarini bitirmistik.
Son final gunundeki tek yarista istedigim starti alamadiktan sonra planladigim taktigi uygulayamayarak kotu bir yaris gecirdim.
2010 Avrupa sampiyonasi’ni 63. bitirerek sezona basladik. Ortalama gecen bu yaristan ne kadarcok calismam gerekitigini farkederek ayrilirken , benim okulda oldugum sure icerisinde rakiplerimin son 6 ayda yelken yaparak ne kadar ilerledigini kendi gozumle gorebiliyordum.
Su an guzel kismi ise onumuzdeki 4 ay boyunca sadece yaris ve antreman pesinde Dunya sampiyonasi oncesi hazirlik icin yollarda olacagim ve de hersey cok farkli olacak. Su an Hollanda’nin Medemblik kentinde onumuzdeki hafta yapilacak ISAF World Cup serisinin 5. Yarisi icin antremandayim. 3. ve 4. Seri yarislarini egitimim sebebiyle kacirdigim yarista rakiplerimi yakalamak icin cok calismam gerekiyor. Onumuzdeki hafta size olanlari anlatacagim
Ruzgariniz bol olsun
TUR35