TENZOR Team Triumphs @ Tenzor J/70 Cup Winter Series!
NAUTIQUE YACHTING Wins Act 6 Finale off Turkey!
(Bodrum, Turkey)- The sixth and final regatta of the Tenzor J/70 Winter Series 2025/2026 took place last weekend. Hosted by the Tenzor Sailing Club Türkiye in Bodrum, the strong J/70 fleet of nineteen boats featured top sailors from Turkiye, Russia, Spain, Italy, and Belarus. Here is how it all went down for the final regatta over three days of gorgeous spring sailing on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea!
Day 1
The first race day was contested in shifty winds ranging from 8 to 15 knots. Three intense races were successfully held, and Turkish teams surged to the front of the leaderboard. CHEESE Sailing, skippered by Güney Kaptan, demonstrated exceptional consistency to top the standings. With 11 points, they held a slender one-point lead.
“It was an excellent day,” said Levent Peynirci of CHEESE Sailing. He noted that the crew has worked together brilliantly with Italian Trimmer Massimo Bortoletto, “and that has yielded results. First place and 11 points are a great start!”
Just one point behind in second place was Onur Erardag’s NAUTIQUE YACHTING (12 points). Tactician Doga Aribas explained that their strategy focused on stability in a big fleet, which paid off handsomely. Their scorecard for the day reads 7-4-1.
“It was a good day for us. Our goal was to have consistent results throughout the day in a 19-boat fleet,” Aribas said. “Our winter training in the Tenzor Cup Winter series paid off, and we finished the day in 2nd place. With a compact and crowded fleet like this, any mistake gets penalized, so for tomorrow our goal is to maintain consistent results.”
The crew of Pavel Kuznetsov sailing ATOM TAVATUY closed the day in third place with 15 points.
“Today was a good day for our team, though we had a long break and spent three days training on the water before this event to coordinate our actions,” Alexander Ekimov said. “In the first two races, we had great upwind speed and rounded the first mark in the top three, finishing third and first. The right side was clearly working. In the third race, we also started well and fought for the right side, rounding the first mark in third or fourth. But then the wind became unstable. We made a small mistake, dropped to seventh, and then, on the next upwind leg, we failed to switch to the left side in time, finishing 11th. That was our worst race. But we know where we went wrong. We have speed, so we will fight hard for the next two days.”
With many teams already carrying the burden of mistakes from day one, the second race day promised to be even more dramatic. The contenders for the podium knew that any further errors could be fatal to their hopes.
Day 2
The second day of racing was once again marked by extremely close and uncompromising competition among a very strong fleet. The Race Committee successfully completed three more races, but the action on the water kept the umpires fully occupied.
“Yeah, we umpires had a super long day on the water. We had three super-close races. We can feel the tension rising, boats getting closer – many, many protests, many decisions by umpires. We are satisfied with this day, and we hope sailors too,” commented German umpire Jules Tronquet.
Several teams executed their strategies perfectly. TENZOR Team, led by Andrei Pushkin, moved up to second place overall, reducing the gap to the leaders to just one point. CHEESE Sailing skippered by Güney Kaptan maintained their leading position at the top of the table, while AMEERA JET secured third place after six races.
“A wonderful windy day. Three excellent, clean races in 10–12 knots of wind. This sailing area is giving us fantastic weather conditions. Very tight racing, but thank God, everything worked out for us today. More or less stable starts. We chose the right side when needed. So we are very happy. We remain focused because there are three more races on the final day. Everything can change, so we are setting our sights on tomorrow”, shared Daniil Odintsov, tactician of TENZOR Team.
“It was a great day for all the teams as there was a very high level of sailing in Bodrum, and we really thank the Race Committee and Tenzor Sailing Club for this regatta. I think it was a very successful day for our team, and we look forward to sailing in the same way on the final race day,” added Emir Icgoren, helmsman of AMEERA JET.
Day 3
The final racing day started on schedule under sunny skies with 12-14 knots of wind. The wind was stronger than on the first two days. Planning conditions and some good-sized waves made the racing very exciting.
NAUTIQUE YACHTING delivered a master-class performance across all three races, securing two wins and a second place. That stellar scoreline gave them the daily lead and, capitalizing on rivals’ mistakes, propelled Onur Erardag’s crew (Doga Aribas, Arda Baykal, & Firat Sahin) to the top of the event leaderboard.
“It was a big relief for our team. We were mostly in the fight in previous acts, but this time we managed to win it! As always, Bodrum delivered perfect weather for the fierce battles. Entering the last day, we were in 4th position, but points were really close behind. But the leading two boats were 10 points ahead of the other competitors, so there was no pressure on us. Tactically, we have raced and trained in this area for a long time, so we know the wind characteristics pretty well. But also, most of the other teams do know the area well. Strong winds benefit our crew; we could be the fastest boat upwind, so it made our day much easier. We managed to score 2-1-1 today, and it was enough for our first event win with Team NAUTIQUE YACHTING”, commented Doga Aribas, tactician of NAUTIQUE YACHTING.
CHEESE Sailing skippered by Gunay Kaptan finished 5 points behind the leaders, securing second place on the podium. A powerful final-day charge came from Inna Balashova’s DOLCE VITA team (Valentin Uvarkin, Andrei Dmitriev, & Ilya Strakh) – with finishes of 4-3-2, they climbed to third place.
Just off the podium, Emir Icgoren’s AMEERA JET and his international crew finished the regatta in 4th place. Given that it was their first outing together in Bodrum, the team’s success and potential were evident.
Andrey Pushkin’s TENZOR Team had to settle for 5th place in this event, but more importantly, they held off all challengers in the overall winter season standings.
TENZOR J/70 Cup Series Overall
Following the final leg, the overall season champions were crowned. With 6 events, 46 races sailed, 28 teams, and 10 countries represented, the Series was successful and continued to grow in popularity for Eastern European teams.
Andrey Pushkin’s TENZOR Team (Danil Odintsov, Aleksandr Audrianov, & Nikita Ushkov) claimed the main Trophy with 122 total points, repeating their success from the 2023/2024 season. Second place went to top woman skipper Elivra Pinchuk and her PTICHKI Sailing Team (Ilia Polishchuk, Egor Terpigorev, & Aleksandr Grishunin) with 132 points, and Maksim Batrakov’s BARS Sailing Team (Pavel Sozyikin, Egor Zuev, & Bogdan Babenko) completed the final podium step with 180 points.
“Thanks to all competitors, thanks to my guys. The season was tough, sometimes nerve-wracking, and not everything went our way. Last season, many teams taught us not to give up, and we fought to the very end to achieve this result”, commented series winner Andrei Pushkin.
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