Turkish sailors complete circumnavigation of world in 8 months during Ocean Globe Race

By Musa Samur

Two female Turkish sailors became the youngest Turks “to race around the world.”

Ezgim Mistikoglu, 22, and 21-year-old Deniz Derin Binaroglu, successfully completed the circumnavigation of the globe on May 6.

The pair completed the Ocean Globe Race on the Translated 9 boat by returning to England eight months after they started. They finished the first stage of the race, between England and Cape Town, and the second, between Cape Town and New Zealand, in first place in the “IRC”, “line honors” and “flyer” classes.

“Both Derin and I are very happy to fly our flag in all oceans,” said Mistikoglu. “Derin and I became the first Turkish sailors to circumnavigate the world in a race. We started in England and crossed all oceans. Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Ocean again.”

Emphasizing the difficulties they experienced, Binaroglu said, “We finished the second stage well, but on the third stage our boat developed a crack. We had to quit the race.”

“We took refuge in the Falkland Islands, where we made the boat ready for the next stage in 10 days with superhuman struggle. Unfortunately, we cracked our boat again in Madeira, repaired it again and completed the world tour. We have shown the world that we Turks and the Translated 9 team can complete the world tour without giving up. That's why we are very happy and proud,” she added.

The boat was in danger of sinking during the New Zealand-Uruguay and Uruguay-England stages, but was repaired and the athletes continued racing.

The Ocean Globe Race was organized for the 50th anniversary of 1973's original Whitbread Round the World Race.

A total of 256 sailors in 14 boats from 23 countries participated in the race that consisted of four stages without the use of technological devices such as computers, satellites, GPS and telephones.

*Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp