Rana Akkurt

Rana Akkurt grew up in a seafaring family. Navy culture, a strong bond with the sea, discipline and team spirit were part of her life from childhood. Many years later that same culture found her again, this time in yacht racing.

Today she races on different boats and with different crews, from the J/70 to offshore trophies, taking on jobs that range from bowman to trimmer. She is interested not only in the result of a race but in the division of labour on board, the preparation, how well a crew fits together and the effort that builds up over a season.

In her professional life she leads brand and marketing work. She manages teams and projects in brand strategy, communications, content, thought leadership, community and growth. She holds a master’s degree in Marketing Communications from Galatasaray University and completed the MBA programme at İstanbul Bilgi University.

Rüzgar Üstü was born at the intersection of those two worlds.

The more time she spent inside sailing, the more clearly she saw this: the sport has strong people, crews, clubs, schools and stories, yet a good part of them are still known only within that world.

What Rüzgar Üstü sets out to do is widen that boundary: to build a space where more people know and follow sailing, where young people see it as their own, where brands can read it accurately, and where the good work inside the sport is recorded for the long term.

This space also has a social side. Keeping women sailors visible in the sport and on the racecourse, social responsibility projects that open the way for young athletes, and Türkiye’s recognition internationally as a sailing nation, with its coastline and its wind: Rüzgar Üstü sees it as its own responsibility to keep these subjects on the agenda, to connect the people and institutions involved, and to make the resulting work visible.