Bodrum’s International Wooden Yacht Regatta started for its 21st year, with a fleet of competitive, experienced and regular sailors aiming to hold the prized cup in their hands on Saturday night, and bear the winner’s flag for a year.

A day of entertainment on the harbor and cocktails at the Milta Marina on Tuesday evening kicked off the social side of the competition, where crews from both the Bodrum race week and the Bodrum Cup mingled. The formal ringing of the race start bell also took place at the hands of Sadun Boro, the famous round the world Turkish sailor; former chairman of Fenerbahçe Sports Club, Ali Şen; Bursaspor Football Club chairman İbrahim Yazıcı; and Bodrum Mayor Mehmet Kocadon.

Bodrum’s unique race with its unique fleet of wooden gulets started with some 66 entries at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, with light northwesterly winds that most yachts used to go out to sea and gain a strategic line. The starting line was located off Akyarlar (Kargı Island) at the southernmost tip of the Bodrum Peninsula and the yachts’ course lay along the western coast to finish at Gundoğan bay. A beach party and concert were planned that evening for the supporters and crews’ enjoyment.

Thursday, the second day of sailing, will finish at Didim with the fleet mooring overnight as guests of the brand new yachting marina, the Didim D-Marin (officially opened in September).

At the Didim party, the most fiercely contested event off-water, the Crew Fancy Costume Competition, where crews vie for the prize for the most imaginative, spectacular or just the silliest costumes, will take place, followed by a concert by the band Dolapdere Big Gang.

The fleet will turn southwards again on Friday, racing from Didim to Gümüşlük, where the ancient sheltering harbor of Myndos makes a spectacular setting for moored yachts. The evening’s socializing will be kicked off at the Gusta Restaurant cocktail party, followed by a concert by Group VIP.

The final day’s racing will see the race leaders trying to stay ahead to win the prizes for the day, for their class and for the overall competition.

The final course, named the TURSAB stage as the local members of the travel agents’ association are sponsors, is from Gümüşlük to Bodrum. The finish will see the boats back in Bodrum harbors on Saturday afternoon for the grand final party and prize-giving ceremony, starting with 7pm cocktails at Halikarnas Club.

If a yacht wins the cup three times, it may keep the flag, however over the last 20 years only two yachts have earned that right in the past - Ayaz and Selene.

The winners of the last two Bodrum Cups are both absent under regrettable circumstances. Last year’s winner, the beautiful luxury yacht Dragonfly 1, caught fire just a month ago and was sunk to douse it. The previous year’s winner, Grandi, like its racing sisters, did not even enter the water this year as its owner company is in dissolution.

Therefore the competition for the main prize is considered wide open this year. One of the favorites is Zephyria, a 21-year-old yacht built in Bodrum, (though no longer part of the original builders’ fleet) and known to be a very good sailor. Another perennial favorite is Bodrum’s own community built yacht, STS Bodrum, the school ship, crewed by students and young sailors.

There are 13 foreign-flagged yachts amongst the 66 yacht entries and most are regular competitors, including the oldest yacht of the race, Rhea, a classic Edwardian schooner-rigged wooden sailing yacht built in 1900 in Denmark. Having been built for heavy seas and winds, the crew said they don’t expect to do more than stay with the field in the forecast light winds. Ofelia should earn the title of the most elegant yacht with the most elegant French owners as, while sailing in the ‘guest’ category because it is not a wooden yacht, it is testament to the high quality of yachts being built in Turkish shipyards.

The Bodrum Cup was first organized in 1989 by people who deplored the loss of sails from the Bodrum gulets, so it was launched with the aim of encouraging sailing activity during yacht charters and making the charter crew develop sailing skills and interests. The Cup has since been set on the most beautiful courses where the ‘blue voyage’ charters ply in summer, such as Datça, Ekincik, Gökova Bay, Güllük and Mandalya Bay, allowing both crew and spectators to perhaps see a new mooring in their sailing grounds. Last year’s overnight stop on the little-visited Güllük pier was certainly rated highly by crews.

Formerly, the race was only open to traditional "Bodrum Type" yachts but the eligibility was extended in 2001 to embrace more classes of boat. Now, besides the traditional gulets of Bodrum, classically built wooden yachts and wooden yachts of modern design and materials can also participate in the regatta. Yachts made of other materials than wood are welcome as "guest" participants. Guest crews and paying passengers are also welcome to handle the ropes or just sit back and enjoy.

At the cocktails on Tuesday night, Bodrum Cup Organizing Committee member Arkun Demircan said two new trophies would be awarded in the year 2010. The Bodrum Cup for Traditional Wooden Yachts will be joined by the Caria Cup for yachts, recognizing ‘the notable increase in yacht production in recent years,’ and at last, the oldest design of yachts of the Aegean and arguably the best for the sea conditions, Tırhandil class yachts, will race for their own Artemisia Cup.

The entry field of 66 yachts, down from over one hundred a few years ago, without a doubt demonstrates the impact of the recession. As the Bodrum Cup goes into its 21st year, it is also older and wiser but ‘not regretting it,’ as organizer and chairman Erman Aras said at the race launch night. He thanked all the supporters and sponsors again for bringing about one of the most difficult non-stop sailing races, for the love of sailing