Bodrum Cup
Takes to the Sea
By Jessie States 
Who:
Melike Cetiner, member of the Bodrum Cup
organizing committee
Halil Danaci, deputy mayor of Bodrum
Event:
Bodrum Cup 21st International Wooden Yacht Regatta
20-24 October
Bodrum, Turkey
The sun sets on the cerulean Aegean Sea, as winking last rays shine through the tall masts and riggings of 100 wooden sailing yachts. This western view has been the same in Bodrum, Turkey, for 2,000 years. Wooden yachts (gulets) are native to the southwestern coast, where sailing isn’t just a hobby—it’s life. And every year, nationals and foreigners alike celebrate this maritime tradition with an international regatta.
“Bodrum Cup is an indispensable symbol for Bodrum,” said Halil Danaci, the city’s deputy mayor. “The cup is the messenger of the ending summer season, and the welcoming of the winter season as well. Bodrum Cup is a feast.”
Known as Turkey’s St. Tropez, Bodrum lives up to its name. The peninsula is a tableau of whitewashed stucco homes, purple bougainvillea, orange groves and olive-green hillsides set against a dramatic backdrop of craggy rock peaks. Bodrum is also famous for housing one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum of Mausolus.
The peninsula’s population of 30,000 more than triples in the summer months, as national and international travelers assemble on Bodrum’s golden beaches. The area was largely provincial—inhabited mostly by fishermen and sponge divers—until the 1950s, when it gained a reputation for intellectualism and the arts, resulting in a city of modern-day amenities that recall the area’s endearing past and natural beauty.
But during the cup, all of Bodrum looks to the glassy sea, which has provided for and sustained life here for more than 5,000 years.
“I must be clear. Bodrum does not host the regatta, because the regatta was born in Bodrum, so it belongs to Bodrum,” Denaci iterated. “Bodrum organizes the races for itself, but greets all guests with the creak of wooden yachts, huge sails and Aegean allure.”
In essence, the 21-year-old event is Bodrum’s harvest feast, filled with days of sailing and nights of play. Heels and cufflinks replace deck shoes and sailing hats as revelers flock to the evening’s galas in restaurants and nightclubs along the seafront.
“There are many cocktails and dance shows,” said Melike Cetiner, a member of the Bodrum Cup organizing committee. “The sailors come together to meet their rivals and sing and dance all night. The next day, they are out on the water, sailing again.”
In fact, the primary goal of the annual event is to promote interest and skill in sailing among the captains and crews of Bodrum’s charter fleet. But it also extends the cruising term, welcoming passengers on board competing yachts for one last sail before the cooling winds of winter end the high season. For many, the cup also offers a chance for friendly encounters between charter yacht owners who normally cruise on their own.
Tourists rent any assortment of boats and yachts, following the race from safe distances, sunbathing on decks or even participating in the race itself with borrowed gulets. Hotels offer up prime seating on wooden jetties that extend out over the shimmering sea. Bodrum Cup isn’t just another boat race—it’s a cultural encounter.
Here, it is not important to win, just important to complete, says Denaci, who is a devoted sailor like so many of his constituents. He speaks with unrestrained enthusiasm about the regatta, as if he himself owns it.
“I am from Bodrum. The Bodrum Cup belongs to the volunteers who organise it and to the city of Bodrum, but it is mine before all else,” he said. “If ask anyone in the street you will take the same response. ‘Bodrum Cup is mine.’”
JESSIE STATES is assistant editor for One+.