Sculling in the Shadows of Byzantium

by Louisa Edgerly
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Arecreational rower in Istanbul could find himself empathising with the Ancient Mariner, for there is "water, water everywhere" but not an easy way to row. Istanbul sits astride the fabled Bosporus Straits, which link the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and eventually the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. Another body of water called the Golden Horn meets the Bosporus at the edge of the Sea of Marmara. Here, the Ottoman palace Topkapi sits on a point of land overlooking both waterways. Massive oil tankers and container ships travel up and down the dangerous strait, along with numerous local ferryboats, fishing boats and private yachts.

Rowing in these waters dates back to ancient times when galleys powered by a combination of oars and wind plied up and down the coasts carrying trade goods and occasionally soldiers. Today, the modern sport of rowing has a number of adherents in Turkey, with several clubs located in and around Istanbul. Although the Bosporus is too treacherous, with swift currents and heavy traffic, the Golden Horn offers calmer water and fewer dangerous large ships. Three clubs, Besiktas, Denizcilik and Bosporus University currently train on the Golden Horn. Other clubs, such as Galatasaray and Fenerbace have chosen to locate on small lakes outside the city, either to the west or the east. None of these clubs is open to the public and all maintain a semi-professional status that severely restricts their ability to attract new athletes to the sport. To anyone familiar with international soccer, the names of the rowing clubs will immediately ring a bell. Most rowing clubs are affiliated with the major sports clubs in Istanbul, and the revenues from the world-famous soccer teams belonging to those same clubs subsidize much of their budget. Rowers are generally paid a small stipend by the club and train and compete under the direction of the club coach. For most, the goal is to try for the Turkish National Team.

The concept of a paid boathouse membership or renting rack space is almost completely unknown in Turkey. Some universities have rowing clubs, but these are, of course, restricted to students of those universities. Once graduated, rowers who wish to continue in the sport must find a club willing to add them to the roster and sponsor their competitive license. Because most graduates need to concentrate on finding full-time work, they must drop out of the sport entirely given the lack of recreational clubs.

As with most things in Turkey, with the right connections one can manage to get out on the water for a day or two. For those lucky enough to get the opportunity, rowing on the Golden Horn can be a beautiful experience. The architecture of Istanbul and the famous Galata Bridge provides a dramatic backdrop for an early-morning workout. Further up the waterway, one might even spot a flock of sheep grazing in a park along the edge of the water. The municipality of Istanbul has taken huge strides in cleaning up the pollution that had turned the waterway into a cesspool. Fish are returning, and the water is cleaner than it has been in decades. While boathouse conditions on the Golden Horn can be quite primitive and few accommodations are provided for female athletes, the experience is worth the effort. The rowers can be quite welcoming and one immediately feels at home among others pursuing the same passion, which helps to make up for the lack of facilities.

Rowing at Galatasary, one finds a large and fully equipped boathouse with full indoor training facilities and large locker rooms. Both men and women train here on the weekends they live in the boathouse. The water, a small lake about forty-five minutes outside the city centre, is unfortunately quite polluted from nearby sewage outflows, but once away from shore the smell is not so bad. The history of Galatasaray rowing is depicted in photographs on the walls and in the pride that the athletes take in their club. They travel to regional and international competitions, including the Balkan championships where they face Bulgaria, the regional powerhouse in rowing. Galatasaray boats have also competed at Henley Royal Regatta and the CRASH-B Sprints.

Fenerbace also has a training facility outside Istanbul, theirs on the Asian side of the Bosporus. They have the best equipment of any team in Istanbul, and their heavyweight men's eight recently competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. As in soccer, the rivalry between Galatasaray and Fenerbace is strong, and the two clubs usually dominate the rest of the field at the Turkish rowing championships.

There is one place, on the island of Heybeli, where individual rowers can rent a shell to take out. This is ocean rowing, on the waters of the Sea of Marmara, and the best time of day is shortly before sunrise. The stretch of water between Heybeli and another island, Burgaz, is the usual training area for those hardy souls who venture out.
The establishment of a boat club open to the public, where recreational rowers could enjoy their sport and the public could learn would vastly improve rowing in Turkey and in Istanbul in particular. Istanbul is a beautiful location and is potentially a wonderful place to row.