Eker Süzme is the first Cape 31 Gold Cup champion

The first Cape 31 Gold Cup concluded in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez on Saturday 17 October. Eker Süzme, representing Türkiye, won on 31 points net; Khumbu was second on 49 and Stig third on 50. Ten races were sailed in four days in the largest fleet in the class’s history. The class’s three European Championships had gone to British, German and Italian boats; the first Gold Cup went to Türkiye.

The result came at the end of a three-season Mediterranean programme. The team that finished 17th of 21 boats at its first European Championship in Sanremo in November 2024 won the class’s biggest international championship two years later.

Ten races in four days

Racing began on Wednesday 14 October in light, shifting wind. Many boats were over the line at the start of the crowded fleet; Hatari, Stig, Khumbu and Black Star got away cleanly. Marcus Brennecke’s Hatari led from start to finish to take the first race, with Eker Süzme second.

Three races were sailed on the second day in 10 to 14 knots. Eker Süzme finished second in the first after a close duel with Guy Gillon’s Khumbu, was seventh after a crowded mark rounding, and won the last race of the day. After four races it led on 12 points, ten clear of Hatari. Tactician Sam Gilmour said they had known every race would be chaotic on a short course with a big fleet, and that the plan was to stay out of traffic. Everyone arrives at the top mark at the same time, he added.

On the third day the wind arrived late, then built to 10 to 15 knots and four races were completed. Eker Süzme finished 21st in race five and discarded it; it went into the final day with its discard already used. Even so, the lead had grown to 17 points. Two races were sailed in light wind on the final day and the team scored a 9 and a 10. The gap did not close.

The rest of the podium stayed open until the final day. After day three Khumbu, Hatari and Django were within four points, with Stig fifth. Stig won race nine on the last day and moved up to third; Khumbu finished second and Hatari fourth. Gecko d’or was fifth and Django sixth. The Dutch boat Motions won the Corinthian division, which races with one professional. Motions’ only professional was Francesco Bruni, one of Luna Rossa’s helmsmen at the 2021 America’s Cup.

A boat born in Cape Town

The idea for the Cape 31 came from the Scottish businessman Irvine Laidlaw. Laidlaw, who spends part of the year in Cape Town and is known for his maxi yachts, wanted a locally built race boat that would give young sailors a path to bigger boats and be fun in Cape Town’s strong wind and swell. Mark Mills drew the design in 2017. Laidlaw ordered the first five boats and quickly found buyers. Mills describes it as his favourite design because it is happy in every wind range.

The boats are built in Cape Town. The first were built by Uwe Jaspersen, the class’s sole licensed builder, who completed 16 boats before his death in 2020. Today the builder is Cape Performance Sailing. Sixty-five boats had been completed by early 2023 and 80 by early 2025.

The class’s move beyond South Africa began with a container. Mike and Dave Bartholomew’s Tokoloshe III was shipped to the UK and started winning IRC races in the Solent. For a lightweight 31-footer to win in IRC was extraordinary, Mills said of that period. Twenty-five boats were sold into the UK and Ireland in little over a year. Cowes Week 2022 brought the class’s largest fleet to that date, and 26 boats raced the 2023 UK National Championship in Lymington. In January of the same year the class made its United States debut at Key West.

The boat is 9.56 metres long and weighs 1,770 kilograms. The mainsail is 39 square metres, the jib 25 and the gennaker 116. The rules rest on an owner-driver principle; no more than three professionals may be on board and crew weight is capped at 595 kilograms, which usually means seven people. The one-design rule is strict, and large professional crews are something the class does not want.

The Mediterranean programme began in 2024 with six boats. Tor Tomlinson Cheney, class secretary and Mediterranean circuit manager, recalled the number at the opening in Saint-Tropez. The 2024 Mediterranean series took in Monaco, Saint-Tropez, Porquerolles, Hyères, Imperia and Sanremo; in November, Christian Schwörer’s La Pericolosa won the European Championship in Sanremo against 21 boats. The first European Championship had been held a year earlier, in October 2023, at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes with 22 boats, and went to Russell Peters’ Fanatic. In 2025 the series raced at Hyères, Porquerolles, Sanremo, Imperia and Palma; 24 boats from 13 nations contested the European Championship in Palma in October and Alessandro Rombelli’s Stig won. The 2026 series was sailed at Porto Cervo, Puntaldia, Bonifacio, Scarlino and Hyères, with 25 different teams racing over the season.

The idea behind the Gold Cup

The class had two separate worlds. An established national programme in the UK and a fast-growing circuit in the Mediterranean. The two had never met on the same start line. That was exactly the aim when the class opened entries for the Gold Cup in the summer of 2026. Tomlinson Cheney said the class had long wanted an event that would bring the South African, UK and Mediterranean fleets together in one regatta. By 13 August, 19 teams from nine nations had entered, and the class had set itself a target of 31 boats, a nod to its name.

There was a reason for choosing Saint-Tropez. Adrien Follin, a member of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez and owner of Give Me Five, was the first to invite the class to the town. Follin’s team is the 2024 Corinthian European champion. Follin organised the cup and the club hosted it. The dates were set immediately after Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, and the Mediterranean finale in Hyères was declared the official warm-up regatta. The Mediterranean boats therefore gathered in the same harbour at the close of the season.

The result was 28 boats from 12 nations. Germany was the largest contingent with eight boats; Great Britain brought five, France and Italy three each. The 212 registered sailors came from 23 countries. The fleet included Rio 2016 470 gold medallists Šime Fantela and Igor Marenić, Tokyo 2020 470 gold medallist Will Ryan, Finn silver medallist Zsombor Berecz and Paris 2024 Nacra 17 silver medallist Mateo Majdalani. Racing was umpired fleet racing with 12 races scheduled; the wind allowed ten. The German magazine Yacht described the event as an unofficial world championship.

Eker Spor Kulübü, a racing sailor and a businessman who sustains the sport

Ahmet Eker is known in Turkish sailing in two roles. A sailor who races at the helm, and one of the names in business that sustain the sport. Eker is the dairy company founded in Bursa in 1977 by Altan Eker and Aykut Kutay; Ahmet Eker and Nevra Eker took over its management in 1997 as the second generation. The company’s sailing activity sits under Eker Spor Kulübü; the boats, the racing crews and the sailing school in Mudanya are the club’s work. The boats are named after the company’s products. The Archambault A35 Yayık Ayran, the Melges 32 Sütlaç, the J/70 Eker Kaymak, the Eker 40 and the Cape 31 Eker Süzme. Eker Kaymak won the Corinthian division at the 2022 J/70 European Championship and finished third overall among 88 boats. The crew racing as Eker Sailing Team had an average age of 24 when it won the Winter Trophy in Marmaris in 2022; Burak Zengin, Uğur Esen and Doğa Arıbaş from that crew were on board in Saint-Tropez four years later. The company also has a women’s sailing team.

The link between the brand and the racing calendar was made in 2013. Until then the race to the bay of Tirilye in Mudanya had been run by İstanbul Yelken Kulübü as the Amiraller Kupası. When İYK withdrew, Bursa Yelken Kulübü took over the organisation and, with Eker’s support, the race restarted as the Olympos Regatta. Seventeen boats entered the first year. The course started from Moda, the fleet spent the night on the Marmara before reaching Tirilye, a short-course race was sailed in the bay the next day, and the return leg finished in İstanbul. The race soon entered the TAYK calendar and, as the TAYK Eker Olympos Regatta, became one of the largest offshore events in Türkiye. In 2026 Eker also took part as an organiser of the 14th edition alongside the Turkish Sailing Federation and TAYK. The race moved to İstanbul in its 12th year and in 2026 was held from 7 to 16 August, finishing on the Bosphorus.

Eker’s presence in Mudanya did not stop at the race. In the summer of 2024 the Eker Yelken Akademisi opened at Arnavutköy harbour. Children start on the water in the Optimist class and the school runs three-week courses through the year. At the opening Ahmet Eker said they had long dreamed of such a school and that the aim was to bring more children to the sea and to sailing. Sailing in Bursa lives on the southern shore of the Marmara, in Tirilye and Mudanya; Eker’s race, school and crews are among what keeps the sport going on that coast.

On 11 March 2026 Ahmet Eker was elected Commodore of the Türkiye Açıkdeniz Yarış Kulübü (TAYK), the country’s offshore racing club. He took over from Vedat Tezman, commodore since 2016, having long served on the board as vice commodore.

The Cape 31 programme is the international side of this picture. A sailor who built his own race in Türkiye entered one of the Mediterranean’s most competitive one-design classes in 2024. He finished 17th of 21 boats at his first European Championship. Two and a half years of the Mediterranean circuit and a 28-boat fleet later, the commodore of Türkiye’s offshore racing club won the class’s first Gold Cup at the helm.

Eker Süzme’s three years

Hull number 50, sail number TUR 3150, first appears in the class records in May 2024 at Porquerolles, where it finished fifth of eight boats. In July it was sixth of nine in Sanremo and in November 17th of 21 at the European Championship in Sanremo.

In 2025 the results were mid-fleet. Eighth in Sanremo, then fourth of 16 in Imperia in July with a win in race six. Ninth at Palma Arenal in September and 12th of 24 at the European Championship in Palma in October. Twelfth overall in the series.

In 2026 the picture changed. Fifth at Porto Cervo in April. At Puntaldia in May a day was lost to the Mistral; the team finished second behind Hatari and briefly led the series. It missed Bonifacio and was 13th at Scarlino in July. At Hyères in September it won three of the eight races, drew level with Stig on points with back-to-back wins on the final day and took second at the event on countback. Fifth in the series.

On board

Over the season Burak Zengin, Uğur Esen, Doğa Arıbaş, Murat Mekikçi, Sam Gilmour and Mark Spearman raced alongside Ahmet Eker. Zengin and Arıbaş were in the Eker Kaymak crew that won the Corinthian division at the 2022 J/70 European Championship and finished third overall among 88 boats. In September this year Zengin and Esen finished fourth in One-Pro with Eker Kaymak at the J/70 World Championship in Cascais; Arıbaş finished the same championship as One-Pro world champion with Nautique Yachting. Gilmour is an Australian match racer from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club who won the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta in 2016. Spearman won Laser gold at the 2015 Pacific Games.

At Hyères, Gilmour had said it was great to see the fleet growing and that the Gold Cup would be awesome with 28 boats. Three weeks later they finished ahead of that fleet.