Cheese Sailing
Founded in Kalamış in 2012
Cheese Sailing is a racing and training outfit founded in 2012 by the national sailor Levent Peynirci. The company describes itself as the second generation of the Peynirci family, who have been part of the sailing community since the 1970s.
The centre of gravity is on the racing side: it manages teams built with corporate sponsors and races them at the TAYK, İYK and BAU trophies and events such as the Bosphorus Cup. Alongside that it offers graded yacht courses out of Kalamış Marina, corporate events, boat charter and consultancy.
All the boats carry the Cheese name and are numbered from Cheese II to Cheese VIII. The marina base is the floating pier at Setur Kalamış Marina; the office is in Göztepe.
Quick profile
- Founded
- 2012
- Founders
- Levent Peynirci
- City
- Istanbul · Kadıköy
- Base
- Setur Kalamış Marina · Floating Pier
- Office
- Göztepe · Kadıköy
- Focus
- Race team management · Sponsorship · Training · Charter · Consultancy
- Where the training happens
- Kalamış Marina · Mat 1010
- Fleet
- 7 boats (Cheese II – Cheese VIII)
- Staff
- 9 people
- Phone
- 0541 310 49 54
- info@cheesesailing.com
- Website
- cheesesailing.com
- @cheesesailing
What it does
Basic yacht course
For complete beginners. Terminology, rig, safety, points of sail, manoeuvres, sail trim and boat handling. Seven people and one instructor: nine hours over three sessions on a Mat 1010.
Advanced yacht course
Handling the spinnaker, manoeuvres with it, coming alongside and leaving, and the rules of the road. Level 1 is a prerequisite; run with seven people and two instructors.
Race team
A programme that follows the advanced course and aims at moving up to the racing fleet.
Sponsorship
A model of building a race team with a brand and running that team through the season. This is the outfit’s main business.
Events and consultancy
Organising events at sea for companies, plus consultancy on buying a boat and planning a racing season.
Boat charter
The boats in the fleet
Which boats it works with
Cheese 6.5
2008 · 6.50 m · 2.28 m beam · 600 kg. The smallest boat in the fleet.
Math 1010
2013 · 10.15 m · 3.32 m beam · 4,400 kg. The main training boat.
Farr 40
2001 · 12.41 m · 3.97 m beam · 4,950 kg. The class used in one-design trophies.
Archambault 35
2008 · 10.59 m · 3.55 m beam · 4,640 kg.
Archambault 35
2008 · 10.59 m · 3.55 m beam · 4,640 kg. The second A35 in the fleet.
J/70
2024 · 6.93 m · 2.25 m beam · 794 kg. The newest boat in the fleet.
J/122
2008 · 12.19 m · 3.63 m beam · 7,250 kg. The largest boat in the fleet.
The people running the outfit
Levent Peynirci
A national sailor born in 1982. He has Turkish titles in the Optimist, Laser 4.7, 470, Dragon, Platu 25, J/70 and Sportboat classes. He founded Cheese Sailing in 2012.
Instructors and racing crew
Güney Kaptan, Melis Baykan, Bora Olcav, Canberk Sağlam, Haluk Babacan, Ufuk Vaizoğlu, Lalin Taşa and Serdar Çalışkan are on the staff.
Which brands it races with
Teams of the season
Teams racing for Corendon Sailing, Cheese Sailing 1 and 2, Global IT, Akkök Holding and Martı have been announced.
Previous teams
Teams built for ENKA, Garanti BBVA, Helly Hansen, Akkim Kimya, İstanbul Cerrahi, Global Actus, Protel, Komet, Nescafe Xpress and Setur Marinas have raced since 2009.
The organisations it has worked with
Its site lists Akkök, Caligo, Corendon, ENKA, Global IT, Helly Hansen, HSBC, Noatum Lojistik, Kuveyt Türk and MSC as references.
Highlights
The results below are compiled from the list of achievements on Cheese Sailing’s own site.
The TAYK and İYK trophies
The ENKA team won the TAYK Trophy overall two years running; the Helly Hansen team finished first in IRC 2 in the 2023 İYK Trophy.
Akkim Kimya and Garanti BBVA
The Akkim Kimya team won the TAYK Trophy in 2020 and 2022 and the East Aegean Sailing Week overall in 2021; the Garanti BBVA team took the 2022 BAU Trophy overall.
Presidential Cup
The Akkim Kimya team won the first Presidential Cup, held in 2020, overall.
Sport boat
The Cheese Sailing team won the Sportboat Turkish Championship and finished second at the Sportboat European Championship.
Bosphorus Cup
The İstanbul Cerrahi team won its group in 2017 and finished first overall in 2018 and 2019. Back in 2009 the Komet team had also won the race overall.
Farr 40 one-design
The Farr 40 one-design trophy was won three seasons in a row.
Stories where he is mentioned on Rüzgar Üstü
Stories mentioning Cheese Sailing will be listed here as they are published. The link will be built through the “Mentions” tag added to the stories.