Medical school on weekdays, IRC1 on weekends

In the Who Is This Team? series, this time we listened to a bowman who got into racing while studying medicine.

Yavuz’s sailing history is not long.

Only a year ago, on his father’s advice, he stepped onto a boat for the first time to try something new. That day he knew almost nothing about racing. After that first sail, he decided he wanted this sport to stay in his life. Today he races as bowman with the Alfasail MAD Parfumeur crew in IRC1.

And while all this was happening, the rest of his life did not stop.

Yavuz is a third-year student at Marmara University School of Medicine. While lectures, exams and medical school carried on, the race calendar entered his life too. At the start he had the same question in mind: is it possible to do both at once?

His own answer turned out differently from what he expected. Rather than another load on top of the intensity of medicine, sailing became a different place to focus within that intensity.

That is why Yavuz’s story is not only the story of a beginner sailor.

It is also an example showing that not starting sailing as a child does not mean being late: that you can become a racer even with a demanding degree, other goals and another future ahead of you.

This time on Rüzgar Üstü we listen to Yavuz, who got into racing while studying medicine.

First, let’s get to know you: who is Yavuz, which team and which position do you race in? How did you start sailing, and which classes and races do we see you in today?

I’m Yavuz, a third-year student at Marmara University School of Medicine. I race as bowman with the Alfasail MAD Parfumeur crew.

I started sailing exactly a year ago, on my father’s advice, to gain a new experience — but back then I had no idea about sailing races. After my first sail I had already decided that sailing should be part of my life for the rest of my life, and once I finished the training with Captain Deniz I told him I wanted to race. He said, “come along, let’s give you a try.” I think they were happy with my performance: since that day I have been racing with Mary in IRC1, and from time to time, if needed, with Falcon in IRC2.

Being a medical student is intense on its own. When a race calendar is added on top, how does life get organised? Between lectures, placements, exams, training and racing, what really has to be sacrificed?

When I started racing, the only question mark in my mind was how I would find time for both medicine and racing. Of course I worried whether my studies would suffer, but the effect was the exact opposite of what I expected. Medicine really is a demanding subject, but it is also a subject you can never succeed in unless you create some space to breathe.

Even though most of the race calendar falls at weekends, which makes things a lot easier, what I usually end up sacrificing is my sleep.

What is the transition like, coming into a race week straight from the hospital or the faculty? Can you take your mind out of the classroom or the clinic and switch into race mode the moment you step onto the boat?

Getting into race mode during a heavy exam period or a project deadline week might look harder from the outside, but because I see racing as an escape from the intense pace of medicine, it comes quite easily.

In a race every second counts: the smallest mishap can sometimes cost you minutes. It is very important that your focus is only there, so for the duration of the race I leave every identity other than bowman behind.

What is your responsibility within the team? What is expected of you from start to finish, and when do you feel you have had a good race?

As a bowman, what is expected of me is hoisting the spinnaker cleanly, gybing without mistakes, changing sails during the race if needed, sorting out any tangle at the bow, and hiking out for every remaining second. And naturally, if a situation needs first aid, I deal with that too.

For me a good race is not about getting on the podium but about putting up a good fight. Sometimes the wind is not on your side, or there is a gear problem: what matters is pushing the conditions and working for maximum performance.

At first glance medicine and sailing are two very different worlds. Do you think they teach each other anything? In terms of decision-making under pressure, teamwork, discipline or handling mistakes, for example.

As someone inside both medicine and sailing, I do not think they are such different worlds: a surgeon running an operating theatre and a skipper running his boat, perfect sail trim and a surgeon’s precision — there are plenty of similarities.

I can give an example from my own experience: bowman is a high-adrenaline position. Gybing a symmetric spinnaker in wet, heavy conditions while the boat is rolling, or making sail changes, requires working and deciding under pressure — just like many of the situations we meet in hospital.

Despite this pace, what brings you back to the boat again and again? Is it racing, being part of the team, the competition — or something else you cannot find ashore?

Heading out to sea, feeling the wind on my face and the feeling of fighting on by pushing the limits all the way, whatever the conditions, is something else entirely. It is hard for people who never leave their comfort zone to understand, but nothing can replace that feeling.

Finally, let’s talk about your team: to someone asking “Who is this team?”, how would you describe what sets you apart from other crews?

Even though I joined a team that has been racing together for more than 10 years, I have never for a moment felt like a latecomer. However high the tension gets during a race, I have never been blamed when I made a mistake.

Every one of them taught me something different: Captain Deniz taught me race strategy and how to steer, Captain Melih how to master the piano, Captain Aykut how to work the spinnaker at a hundred and twenty per cent for hours, Captain Muhsin the fine points from the bow to the helm, and Captain Enis taught me how to become a really good bowman (if I can be a bowman like him, I will be more than happy).

We are a crew of very different characters who together make a very good whole.

We are MAD Parfumeur’s “Mad Men”.

And that makes every race a lot of fun.