Facebook

Login

Support Sailonline

If you haven't already - join the SAILONLINE YACHT CLUB!

Please also consider making a donation - all amounts are greatly appreciated!

14 July 2025


click on results image to see larger

PARABÉNS vida !!!
GEFELICITEERD bonknhoot !! GRATULACJE WRmirekd !

Race Leaderboard

Reports

Commentary

A strong fleet of 129 SOLers came to the start line (point) in racy re-tuned Version 2 IMOCA 60's for SOL's classic, almost annual, celebration of all things Turkish; 111 started and exactly eighty made it to the finish, through the constant coastal dangers of the Bosporus and Dardanelles and the straits and channels between the Greek islands and the Turkish mainland. It is the very special SOLer who can negotiate this voyage without stopping for at least one BBQ, and amongst the leaders none did, even our winner, vida, admitting to a scenic stop, if perhaps a brief one, so he reports under the button above. As runner-up bonknhoot has sailed some (by no means all) of these waters IRL, he thought to share his cruising blogs with you as well, which you will find under the buttons left and right of vida's report.

In his report, vida makes mention of the fact that at the request of the Turkish government, the UN in 2022 agreed that the country's name in English shall be The Republic of Türkiye. However, the UN has no jurisdiction about what people write or say, and so the US Department of State quickly advised as follows:

"the Board on Geographic Names retains both Turkey and Republic of Turkey, the previous spelling, as conventional names, as these are more widely understood by the American public. The department will use the spelling that you see today [Türkiye] in most of our formal diplomatic and bilateral contexts, including in public communications, but the conventional name can also be used if it is in furtherance of broader public understanding."

In short, as neither the 'ü' nor the ending 'iye' is a feature of the King's nor for that matter, American English, generally please ignore.

Allegedly, the background to the Turkish request could be the misfortune that that great American bird - no, not the eagle - goes by the same name. Turns out though that it is the bird rather than the country that got misnamed and by the Pilgrims when they first encountered it in the New World, as the birds looked a bit - not a lot - like a Guinea fowl, which in turn in England at the time were known as turkey hens and cocks since they were thought to come from Turkey, the land of the Turcs, although the Spanish and French settlers knew both the American bird and the African bird as Indian hens, either because they thought America was India or because the African birds used to come in on ships returning from India!

But turkeys were a bit stupid and easy to catch and kill, hence a pejorative association developed. Better then might have been if Turkey had asked to change the English name for the bird, for example by borrowing dinde ('of India') from the French or kalkoen (Dutch bastardisation of Calica). 'Dim as a dinde' has a ring about it and over time should catch on, the more so as it's grammatically and logically hard for anybody to be a turkey if Turkey is only and exclusively a nation state of 85m people.

Humour - appeals to a sense of the ludicrous and absurd (Merriam-Webster) - will out!

Comments are closed.

Comments have been closed for this post.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m

Current Races:

The Vineyard Race 2026


For the 16th consecutive year, our SOLers are invited to tackle this iconic 250nm overnighter. The classic route charges out through the sound, leaves Buzzards Bay Light to starboard, rounds Block Island to starboard, and heads home.

This year's weapon of choice is the Beneteau First 47.7. A proven performer since its 2012 SOL debut, this Farr-designed cruiser/racer excels at leading real and virtual handicap fleets. Success will demand sharp tactical navigation, so watch the polars closely to conquer the sound's shifting winds!
Race #2056
INFO by brainaid.de
First 47.7 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SUPBUD - SYC
Race starts: Sep 04th 17:05 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Shearwater - Rio de la Plata to Irish Sea 2026

Welcome to the fourth leg of our MIG series. This time we're racing the Sooty Shearwater on their migration from the breeding grounds in South America to the northern Atlantic. This is also part of our Ocean Championship, and as such the third race of OCQ3 2026. This race will be sailed in our Gunboat 90. Race #2055
INFO by brainaid.de
GunBoat 90 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
OCQ3 - OCCH - SYC - MIG
Race starts: Sep 02nd 11:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

New Ice Age 2026 - Scott Base to Neumayer Station


To complete our DN circumnavigation of Antarctica and our 4-race ice-boat marathon series, we continue clockwise, now departing from Scott Base back to Neumayer Station. It’s about 3500nm back as well, which, as said if there’s wind at all, should, well-wrapped in your DN-cockpits, not take you much more than five days. And remember: charts down here are unreliable – what is land and what is ice?!
Race #1971
INFOby brainaid.de
DN PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: NIA - SYC
Race starts: Aug 27th 07:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Cross the Convergence 2026 - Tenerife to Fernando de Noronha


The sixth race of our series of ocean voyages across the World’s convergence zones takes us back up the Atlantic to Tenerife, from whence we will depart on a classic transatlantic passage to Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha. It’s 2150nm as the albatross flies, but you will undoubtedly have to take some and sometimes sudden detours to get your Volvo 70v4 through the doldrums stretching across your path from the Amazon to the Niger.
Race #1986
INFOby brainaid.de
Volvo 70v4PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: CCZ - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
September 5 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Aug 23rd 18:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Go to race archive

SYC Ranking

  1. Sailonline Yacht Club Member KaSToR
  2. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CriticalHippo
  3. Sailonline Yacht Club Member WRmirekd
  4. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Panpyc
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member cdhinman
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rthinman
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Sax747
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member BRENTGRAY
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member ita10267

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

SYC members have the benefit of access to our mobile/lightweight web client!

The mobile client