The white"sail" at the top of each chimney, called a cowl, turned to face away from the wind to allow the smoke to be sucked out of the top of the building.
The result was a remarkable image of the vibrant white, blue and yellow sail billowing around the seemingly tiny deck, later used as the poster for Victory's America's Cup campaign.
For opinion polls suggest that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an Islamist former mayor of Istanbul, would sail to victory at the head of his Ak, or White, party.