Altınbaş University Sailing Club is Full of Success

Altınbaş University Sailing Team achieved a new success with the 1st and 2nd places in different categories in the 5th Presidential International Yacht Races Republic Cup.

The 5th Presidential International Yacht Races Republic Cup started on October 26, 2024 with the Fişekhane stage on the Caddebostan course and was completed on October 29 with the Bosphorus Race. Altınbaş University Sailing Team won 1st place in the Universities Category and 2nd place in the Travelers Category.

Altınbaş University Sailing Club has achieved a great success by winning a total of 23 trophies in 6 years.

Altınbaş University Sailing Club won 6 trophies in 2024.

Other achievements of the team in the 2024 season are as follows: 1st place in the Navigator class in the 3rd and 4th stages of the Bau Trophy, 2nd place in the Fifty Fifty (50% Female - 50% Male competitors), and 3rd place in the 30 August TAYK BMW Borusan Otomotiv Victory Cup Yacht Races.

Stating that he met sailing sports at the university, Ferit Yılmaz, a 2nd year Mechanical Engineering student and team captain of the university, said, “I attended the first training because of my curiosity about the sea. I wanted to have a hobby related to this. I joined the team in a short time because I was very interested and successful in things that work with the rules of mechanics and physics. Although I am very new, our former club president Emirhan Kalkan saw it fit to hand over the task to me while graduating.”

“Clubs like sailing at universities make it easier for students to access these sports”

Altınbaş University Dean of Students Dr. Faculty Member Duygu Kotan Türkden stated that sports clubs at universities make great contributions to students' development of real life skills.

She pointed out that sailing has become popular especially with the effect of national and international organizations organized in recent years. Emphasizing that it is not a sport that is easily accessible to everyone due to its cost, Duygu Kotan Türkden said that sailing sports trainings are provided to all students under economical conditions and that the university offers an important opportunity to the sailing club students in this regard.

“Students who have never sailed before won 2 trophies”

Emphasizing that they have made great progress in the last 3 years and won many championships in the tournaments they participated in, Duygu Kotan Türkden stated that they have discovered new talents among the students and as a result of the intense work in the last year, they returned from this year's Presidential International Sailing Races by winning 2 trophies. She also emphasized that these students had never practiced sailing before and had no interest in it.

“Thanks to this opportunity provided by their universities, young people discovered their talents, learned to be a team and experienced the self-confidence of success,” said Duygu Kotan Türkden, emphasizing that since sailing is an elite sport in the world, they contribute to the graduating students to gain important networks and gains in their future lives. Duygu Kotan Türkden also stated that they train students for sports teams by conducting talent screenings in many sports branches along with sailing.

She explained that they plan to have many sailing athlete students, such as our team captain, coach and lead the sailing team at the school after their graduation, thus aiming to ensure continuity. “With our club members and teammates who are closely related to sailing, our goal is to introduce the sea and sailing to more people every year and to develop within the club and team.”

Members of our first place winning sailing team consisting of university students:

Balloon Trim Emre Unal

Balloon trim Emirhan Kalkan

Piano Muhammad jamal

Overhead Ferit Yilmaz

Overhead Coral Pelin Ercan

Overhead Mehmet Onur Armut

Main sail by Zeynep Çeliksoydan

Main Sail Buse Canbolat

The founding story of Altınbaş University Sailing Club:

Altınbaş University Sailing Club is founded by Mehmet Berkay Alan, who completed his undergraduate education at the Faculty of Law between 2016-2021. Berkay Alan, who has been sailing professionally since 2011, is the Founding Chairman and Team Captain of Altınbaş University Sailing Team between 2018-2021. Under the leadership of Berkay Alan, Meet Sailing social events are organized in 2018 to contribute to the social activities of university students and academics outside of their education processes. As a result of the high demand for this event and the fact that it lasted longer than planned, it was decided to form a team with the successful students and participate in the races.

First race, first first place

Subsequently, it was decided to participate in the Moda Bay Cup on July 1st Maritime and Cabotage Day and the first first first place in the first race in our class was achieved. At the beginning of the 2018-2019 academic year, in order to ensure the team's success in its first race and to ensure the continuity of these achievements under the roof of the university, the University administration establishes the “Altınbaş University Sailing Club”. Subsequent training, sailing-themed seminars, preparation processes of the racing team, and more coordinated and professional preparations are carried out under the roof of the Club. The Sailing Club has the distinction of being the club with the highest number of members under the roof of the University as of the date of its establishment.