Final Day

Tension was high and a nervous fleet could pushed the first attempted start into a general recall. Already there was drama as the Altes Cinar picked up a yellow flag penalty. The re-start under a blak flag was perfect and the fleet spread evenly across the windward leg. There was drama again for Cinar when he picked up his second yellow flag before rounding the first mark and had to retire.

At the first mark Dario MOTTA from Italy led 14 year old Slovenian Luka MRATOVIC with the overnight leader, Onur DEREBASI (TUR) in third. With Derebasi's nearest rival already out of the race he would have been relieved to see Phillip WHITE (GBR) and Mustafa Cakir TUR back in the twenties. The leaders remained the same until the last downwind when Motta dropped to third. Behind them Cakir was on a charge picking up places all round the course to round the last mark fifth whilst White remained stuck in the twenties. At the finish line Cakir just passed the Brazilian Ruy Guimares NETO to finish fourth.

Leading female Ayda UNVER had another good race to finish 14th sixteen places ahead of Anita di Iasio.

Derebasi's 3rd place was sufficient to give him the overall title without having to sail the final race which in the final hour was not started as the wind dropped to below the 5 knot threshold. Although this denied the chance of a further battle for the runner up places there were wild scenes afloat and ashore as Turkey produced the top three overall and the female champion.

Turkey is now harvesting the fruits of a progressive youth policy, starting with the Optimist, that has produced 4 world champions in the last 3 years in the Laser Radial and Laser 4.7. These are the only world champions in the history of Turkish sailing so it was no surprise to see not only the whole Turkish team in the water as the fleet arrived home but also the President and Vice President of the Turkish Sailing Federation.

Top Ten

Pos	Nation	Name	Scores
1	TUR	DEREBASI Onur, Male	17,0
2	TUR	CINAR Ates, Male	32,0
3	TUR	CAKIR Mustafa, Male	33,0
4	GBR	WHITE Philip, Male	35,0
5	POL	LANDOWSKI Milosz, Male	48,0
6	TUR	KARAGUN Ercan, Male	53,0
7	IRL	KINGSTON George, Male	58,0
8	SLO	DOMIJAN Luka, Male, U15	66,0
9	CRO	MRATOVIC Luka, Male	66,0
10	PER	STEWART Alek, Male	68,0