Rising tide of Turkish windsurfing

By Burcu Arik

ISTANBUL 

Turkey's coastal Aegean town of Alacati is set to host something which has a growing reputation in the country in recent years: windsurfing.

The Turkish leg of the Professional Windsurfers’ Association (PWA) World Cup, which began in Korea on 1 May, will be attended by some of the world’s best windsurfers between Aug. 17 and 22.

The event will not only give audiences a chance to watch world-famous surfers, it will also enhance the popularity of the sport in Turkey which has some of the best windsurfing spots in the world.

"As it is surrounded on three sides by the sea, Turkey has been associated with windsurfing since the 1970s," says Ulug Kursad Ekmekci, head instructor at Alacati Windsurf School.

Instructing windsurfing enthusiasts ranging in age from four to 83, Ekmekci says the sport has "gained more momentum in recent years".

"Contrary to general belief, Turkey has many champion windsurfers, especially in the female slalom category," Ekmekci says.

Ekmekci points to Enes Yilmazer who won International Windsurfing Association (IFCA) Cup twice, in 2008 and 2009, and Fulya Unlu who was crowned IFCA Youth World Champion in 2013 and PWA Youth World Champion in 2014.

"The surf schools are very busy between May and October. Young people aged between 14 and 18 are really keen on windsurfing," Ekmekci says.

Cagla Kubat, Turkey's most prominent professional female windsurfer and instructor, told Anadolu Agency that interest in the sport has been increasing in the country with every passing year.

"I have received more and more students. I only had students from Ankara or Istanbul before, but now I have students from the provinces like Bursa, Samsun or Antalya" says Kubat, who has run the Cagla Kubat Windsurf Academy for four years.

"We have nearly 700 students during the season; sometimes this number reaches 1,000 in other academies," she says.

Already winner of the 2008 IFCA Women’s Slalom European Championship, Kubat came third in the 2012 IFCA Women’s World Cup and fourth in the 2013 PWA World Tour Women’s Slalom.

Kubat has also won the Turkish National Women’s Slalom Cup for eight times. 

The athlete, defining the sport as her passion, says that she will also compete in the women's races: "I practice every day. The Turkey leg is important."

"The PWA is one of the most important and challenging races in windsurfing. I am targeting the final three ranks in the slalom races," Kubat says.

PWA Windsurfing World Cup slalom races include six legs in the men’s and four legs in the women’s races. Alacati will host the fourth leg of the men’s and the third leg of the women’s races.

Stating that she is lucky, as she knows the conditions at Alacati, Kubat says she will use it in favor of herself.

"Alacati is a perfect place for windsurfing. The wind is thin in the morning but increases towards evening," she says.

Kubat points out that Alacati has contributed a lot to Turkey's rising role in windsurfing.

"The town provides all the necessary opportunities for windsurfing more than anywhere in the world. Everyone, at every level, can windsurf in Alacati," Kubat says.

The town, only half an hour away from Izmir and 10 minutes from the idyllic resort Cesme, is one of the world’s best windsurfing destinations on international scale.

Hosting thousands of professional and amateur windsurfers from Europe, the United States and even from Australia from April through October, Alacati has turned into a windsurf center for a variety of local or internationally recognized windsurfing races.

According to Ekmekci, Alacati offers certain advantages that Greece, France or Spain do not: "Wind, turquoise water... All are perfect while the prices are more reasonable compared to many places in Europe." 

"However, we need to publicize windsurfing more in Turkey. Turkish people think that it is an expensive and seasonal sport but it is not," Ekmekci says.

Reminding that Turkish media used to broadcast the PWA races live a couple of years ago, Ekmekci says: "In recent years, there has not been such big media attention to the sport as much as on football or basketball."

"We should show people that windsurfing is not such a hard sport. [...] More people knowing about windsurfing means the more champions that Turkey will have," Ekmekci adds.