What better way is there to share your experiences in booking and chartering a gulet than to partake in active dialogue?   We view our gulet charter blog as a way to to become acquainted with you by sharing our gulet charter brokerage experiences over the years . 

Please feel free to contribute with your charter or booking experiences in Turkey.

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Turkey or Turkiye?

The bird we know as a turkey ( huexoloti) or (Meleagris gallopavo) originated in North America.   One theory is that during the 1500s,  traders from the Orient had already brought the bird from the Americas to the Near East.  These merchants subsequently shipped the birds to Great Britan, mostly from Constantinople.  An in depth article ishere.

Since the bird wholesaled out of what is now modern day Turkey, the British referred to it as a “Turkey coq.” In fact, the British weren’t particularly precise about products arriving from the East. Persian carpets were called “Turkey rugs;” Indian flour was called “Turkey flour;” Hungarian carpet bags were called “Turkey bags.”

Why is the country Turkey called Turkey?  This comes from the English adaptation of ‘Tur-ki-ye’ which is what Turks call Turkey.

And what do the Turks call our turkey?

Well, they call it “Hindi,” which means ‘India’ in Turkish.  Go figure!

Turkey bird, Turkey country name Hide

(This article was originally written by Tony Marciniec and with his permission, I have edited it and focused it to a more casual audience. Comments are greatly appreciated.)

Gulet: a ‘gulet’ is a two-masted, ketch- or schooner-rigged steel or wooden yacht with widely varying sail plans, but characterized by a wide, rounded stern

In the gulet charter industry, we use the term ‘gulet’ with such carefree abandon that we are taken aback when someone asks: What, exactly, is a ‘gulet’? An answer may leap to our lips of ‘Well, it’s a traditional wooden sailing vessel indigenous to the Aegean Sea,’  since it seems to be obvious at first. But when we try to formulate the definition of a gulet with a degree of precision we run into a fog bank of confusion created by sources with differing definitions, inadequate descriptions and careless usage. However, since it is the voyage that is more interesting than the arrival, here’s what some of our research has uncovered so far.

Gemici Dili

The oldest Turkish use of the term ‘gulet’ in professional literature that we found is in “Gemici Dili”, a dictionary of nautical terms compiled by Lütfi Gürçay and published by the Turkish Navy in 1943. In this book the definition (translated) reads: “Gulet – Two-masted schooner smaller than a brig, resembling a pıraçıla (Venetian brazzera-Ed.), lightly rigged, with square sails on the fore mainmast.

Model of a Brazzera

Kaptanin Kilavuzu

Another authoritative definition of a ‘gulet’ is given in “Kaptanın Kılavuzu” (by Capt. Yücel Sügen, publ. 1998), translated it goes like this: “A two-masted, lightly rigged sailing vessel, smaller than a brig, with a fully rigged foremast with square sails and the mainmast with gaff-rigged mainsail.”

Fisherman of Halikarnas

The oldest use of the term in popular literature appears to be in the 1946 edition of ‘Aganta Burina Burinata’, a book by Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli, better known by his penname of ‘The Fisherman of Halicarnassus’. But even this author clouds the issue by giving two different spellings on different pages: ‘gulet’ and ‘golet’.

Goelettes, goulettes and Koleytes

The precise origins of the use of the word ‘gulet’ in present-day Turkish are unclear, although French references to ‘goulettes’ can be found in the 18th century. In Turkish, the word does not appear to have been widely used until the latter part of the 20^th century when publicity for large-scale tourism demanded that charter operators be a bit more specific than just saying ‘boat for hire’. It should be noted, as a matter of interest, that the author of a 1945 history of Bodrum, Avram Galanti Bodrumlu, does use ‘goelette’ as an equivalent for ‘ koleyte’, a vessel reportedly used in the 16^th century by the famed corsair and Ottoman admiral, Turgutreis.

Admiral Turgutreis

His ‘koleyte’ is a transliteration of a term written in Arabic script used by the historian Müneccimbaşı., but so far we have been unable to determine what it meant. Since Avram Galanti Bodrumlu was fluent in French we may assume that he tried to make an archaic Ottoman name more understandable to readers of the Turkish Republic, but although he was an accomplished linguist, historian and parliamentarian we cannot be sure of the depth of his knowledge of ships or nautical nomenclature.

Galiota

It seems possible that the Turkish adoption of the word ‘gulet’ came from the Venetian ‘galiota’. A heavy infiltration of nautical terms from Greek and Italian languages into Turkish is suggested in the Lingua Franca in the Levant: Turkish Nautical Terms of Greek and Italian Origin, which provides a very complete etymology of the term ‘galiota’ and suggests that this may be a ‘galleon of freighter shape.’ It also finds reference to a ‘warship with 19 to 24 rowing banks’ and that ‘galiota’ may be a diminutive of ‘galea’, a word dating back to the 12th century as a description of various types of ships until the 18th century. Keeping in mind the rough-and-ready brotherhood of the sea, and its ingrained tendency to have an exclusive jargon understood only by the initiate, the above-mentioned Müneccimbaşı’s ‘koleyte’ does seem to contain a faint echo of ‘galiota’ – perhaps as they would be spoken with differing local accents in sailors’ watering-holes in ages gone by.

Artist impression of a Galiota

Kos or Italy? The Bonds of World War II

But without going as far back as the ages of Venetian maritime superiority and influence, there are more recent opportunities for Italian terms to be adopted by Turkish sailors of the Aegean. In 1912 the Italians occupied the Dodecanese islands, making them next door neighbors of mainland Turkey. There are some Bodrum natives still alive who remember those years with a touch of nostalgia: a recently deceased ancient mariner related how he saw his first automobile ‘in Italy’, explaining – when questioned – that by Italy he meant the island of Kos!

Between 1912 and 1946 intercourse between the inhabitants on Turkish coast and those of the Dodecanese islands was intensive, with trade and personal bonds between them exceeding by far their relationships with their respective national homelands. It seems reasonable to suppose therefore that many Italian terms sneaked into local usage without drawing thunder from linguistic purists.

This local Turco-Italian intercourse was probably reinforced after the Ottoman Empire’s losses of World War I, when Bodrum itself was occupied briefly by Italian military forces. Relations between the Italian soldiers and Bodrum residents are known to have been peaceful and it can be assumed that local people were exposed daily to some variants of the Italian vocabulary. However, we have been unable to find any conclusive evidence that the Turkish use of ‘gulet’ stems from these years.

Old Dictionaries and Gulets

The magic of the Internet has now allowed us to query online resources, and it seems clear from two of them, Dizionario dei termini nautici and the English-French Sailing Dictionary, that ‘gulet’ not being a native Turkish term, must be derived from the Italian ‘goletta’ or the French ‘goelette’, both meaning ‘schooner’ in English.

Later, the term ‘gulet’, (variants include gulette, goulette, and guletta) also began to include other Turkish wooden boats of similar design.  However, in contemporary usage amongst the Turkish charter sailing community a ‘gulet’ is a two-masted, ketch- or schooner-rigged steel or wooden yacht with widely varying sail plans, but characterized by a wide, rounded stern. Sometimes, one may find ‘gulet’ written as ‘gullet’, in which case we are tempted to suppose that the author had provisions rather than boats on his mind.

Ketch or Ayna kic?

One of the most annoying trends in the gulet industry has been the gradual use of the word ‘ketch’ to describe what is in fact an ‘ayna kic which means ‘flat or mirror back.’  Gulets can be round stern (gulet), flat stern (ayna kic) or double ender (tirhandil). Because ‘ketch’ and ‘kic’ sound similar to one another, both native Turks and foreigners have carelessly used the word ‘ketch’ to describe a transom stern (flat back) gulet.  In fact, a ketch is a rigging and completely independent of the type of gulet.  . All of these yachts can be rigged either as schooner, ketch, gaffe or a combination thereof.  It is important to our industry to correct and retain the right terminology for our product.

Rounded stern (gulet)

Transom stern gulet (ayna kic) not a ketch!

To summarize, there isn’t an exact terminology for the definition of what a gulet is or isn’t.  More important than the exact definition of a gulet is to correct the mis-use of ‘ketch’, lest our industry appear less than fully professional to real sailors.

definition of a gulet, definition of ayna kic, goulette, gulet, ketch Hide

Not very far from where we live in downtown Bodrum, sandwiched between a bakery and mini market is a small shop about the size of an average home kitchen.

When the door is open one can observe an older gentleman working on model boats. In fact, ‘ model’ is a bit of an understatement. These are more accurately actual scale replicas of gulets generally about 1 to 1.5 m in leng h.

He painstakingly builds these perfect small craft in exactly the way the original is done.  If it is a classic plank on frame boat that is the way he builds it and if it a more modern yacht he uses an epoxy laminate system.

A couple of days ago on way back from the boatyard I saw that he had a boat outside on the footpath. I dropped the car at home grabbed the camera and walked back up the road.  When I arrived there I found not one but three replicas on stands.   The unusual thing was they were not of private or charter gulets but of the original fishing and sponge diving boats. As usual they were perfect in every detail.

Miniature gulets and tirhandils in downtown Bodrum

When asked about his usual client base, the gentleman indicated that gulet owners who wished an exact replica of their beloved yacht for their mantelpiece as making of a large number of his clients.

Mutlu Karademir, personal fitness trainer for Bodrum’s elite at the Marmara Hotel with clients as far away as Hong Kong and Paris, also whittles away on miniature, lifelike gulets in his spare time.  He was recently commissioned to create an exact replica of the luxury gulet ‘That’s Life‘.  Over six months of painstaking attention to detail and here are the final results to adorn the owner’s home:

Custom Built Miniature Gulet

Let’s hope he continues to produce these miniature masterpieces.

Here is a miniature replica of the luxury gulet ‘Blue Eyes’ on display in the main saloon of the yacht itself.

Miniature model of luxury gulet Blue Eyes

We wonder if they float?

custom model small gulet to scale, Miniature custom model gulet, miniature gulet Hide

Every small or medium community has its personality icons, and Bodrum is no exception. Not always so visible in summer due to the visitor population explosion, these colorful icons tend to stand out more in the quieter months.  The sheriff, as he is affectionately known, has a stature that is visible all year round. This is a man who measures the same dimensions any way you run the tape.

Apart from his sheer physical size, the sheriff is known for hazelnut sales, or as he likes to refer to them in his sales spiel “Turkish Viagra”. Day in and day out he pushes a specially modified supermarket trolley loaded with different sizes of hazelnut packages.  He traverses the length and breadth of Bodrum main town, giving out small sample packs to shop keepers and tourists alike.

The Sheriff of Hazelnuts

His approach is usually pre-empted by both his booming voice and  the arrival of his Labrador type dog who may then stay on at a particular location if there are friends to play with.  The Sheriff got his nickname from his western style leather cowboy hat with star attached that is probably his favourite head apparel, although he has many hats.  Sheriff has been direct selling hazel nuts from the trolley for some considerable time and is managing to put his son through university in the USA from the proceeds.

Do Blue Cruises fit into a trolley?

Bodrum hazelnut man, sheriff of Bodrum Hide

“A change is as good as a holiday.’   Thus combining the two must be doubly good. We did just that and it was very good. A business trip to Istanbul followed by a flight to stay at the Museum Hotel in Cappadocia for three nights was our Christmas present to ourselves. We arrived on the afternoon of Christmas Eve to beautiful clear and sunny weather.  At 1400 m above sea level in winter we had hoped for snow but it was more like spring.

A twenty minute drive from Neveshir airport the Museum hotel is situated near the top of the mountain fort of Urgup and overlooks theGoreme valley.

Goreme Valley in Cappadocia

What was left of the afternoon was spent in exploration of this fabulous hotel and then a walk up to the village and doors of the fortress which occupies the complete top of this mini mountain. With darkness (and cold) descending we returned to the hotel and some pre-dinner drinks.

I had been to Museum hotel twice previously but this was Dina’s first visit to both the hotel and Cappadocia. Quite a few changes had been made since my last visit including some more rooms and expansion of the Lil’a restaurant.

The Lil'a Restaurant in the Museum Hotel Cappadocia

We were originally intending to only eat there on the first night but were so impressed we ended up eating almost every meal there.  The exception was lunch the next day;this we had at a great little restaurant in Goreme called Dilbek that served home made authentic Cappadocian food. As is our preference, we ordered small serves of a selection of goodies on offer and wine made on the premises served in terra cotta goblets from a terra cotta pitcher.

Ceramic goblets keep the nectar cold.

That morning we had met with Omer Tosun, the charismatic owner of the Museum hotel who I have known for some six years who kindly offered us a car and driver to show us around. Our driver Taner took us first to the open air museum in Goreme and then on to the underground city of Kaymakli.  There we had the same guide (Mustafa) that I had had on previous visits. This wonderful old guy has been a guide there for 26 years so needless to say he really knows his stuff.

Another Cappadocian highlight was trying our attempts at pottery.  Besotted with the clay wine goblets, we toured a local ceramics factory and were given a chance to spin the potter’s wheel.  Not as easy as it looks and the feeble attempts at goblet-making resulted in a royal but fun mess. (We purchased some instead.)

On our last day we came across a classic Chevrolet Bel Air which was being used as a local taxi!  Whilst drooling over it, an affable Ahmet came running over and said ‘taxi! taxi!’ and pointed to a new modern Fiat.  He explained that the Bel Air was far too difficult to drive with his vertically challenged status and that he never bothered renewing its taxi license.   Next thing we knew, he’s tossed us the keys and said ‘Go ahead – enjoy yourselves.  So we did!

Cevrolet Bel Air in Urgup

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As this is purportedly a charter blog when we aren’t distracted by food, wine and yacht building, we should perhaps have a brief look at the year in retrospect charter wise.

In a world economy that was not in good form, we were not exactly holding our breath for a great year, but as it turned out we must have done some things o.k. as the 2009 charter season turned out to be our best year yet. It started slowly but as time went on more people decided that “crisis” or not, they needed a holiday and enquiries started to become bookings around April. Some were born earlier but in the main we will refer to 2009 as a last minute gulet dot com, with us still answering enquiries and bookings well into August.

As usual, our clients whether on Southern Cross Timer, other gulets or sailing yachts were a good bunch of people with whom we shared good times. We are still receiving great links to our clients’ photos of there holiday on the Turkish blue cruise!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh......

Our clients varied from American legal folk to well known Aussie sailors, psychiatrists, retired couples, families celebrating graduations and people celebrating various life events with friends and family. Some wanted purely to chill out while others were looking for an adventure. Our job to fulfill these needs was executed with heart in mouth a couple of times but we no serious hiccups. (Drop us a line if you want details of the near-misses!) It is not always easy to produce peoples’ expectations but very satisfying when achieved.

Gulet Charter Season 2009 Hide

The winter lift-out for beloved Southern Cross Timer was set for the 17th of November and we were hoping for good weather for the preceding weekend to facilitate one last sailing expedition. As it turned out, we got our wish and the trip to the volcano on Nisyros, Greece was on. Along with industry compatriots Cihan and Natalya, long time acquaintance Onur and partner Samantha as well as respective offspring, we dined aboard SX Timer on Friday evening. Ed note: Some of the crew then decided some ashore partying was in order, and this not being conducive to the early start planned, Captain Dave and first mate Dina reneged.

The dawn start saw a light breeze but all sails soon turn to genoa only as we closed on Kos island where we were to take on some diesel (being a lot cheaper there than Turkey). As the commercial fuel wharf is more exposed to the wind and sea, the fuel operator volunteered to take his fuel tanker to the more protected marina wharf. It was blowing pretty hard and gulets can be difficult to get alongside in these conditions, as they require a significant amount of helm play when maneuvering in reverse with adverse wind conditions.

We managed to really upset the marina dock ‘harbor master’ by not “taking instructions. “ His ranting was subdued by Onur who managed to lasso him with the bow mooring line. Nice one! Once fueled up, we were off sailing with a promise of Beaufort 7 wind from the northwest, yet had good sailing in the lee of Kos once we rounded the point. A nice reach all the way to Nisyros saw us arrive mid afternoon just as the sea picked up to an uncomfortable level. (Ed note: Lost many plates and wine glasses.)

The rest of the day was spent exploring the Aegean volcano and the evening at our old mate’s Astrodemis Palace restaurant. These people are extraordinary. Not having known our exact dinner plans in advance, Cihan had pre-purchased some excellent fish and octopus prior to Bodrum departure so a deal was done and the restaurant prepared all our provided seafood upon their pre-heated BBQ with no additional charge. Try that at a restaurant in Australia, the U.S or Europe! What a feast, accompanied by Astrodemis mezes, excellent Greek red cabernet sauvignon (Ed note: and buckets of house white.)

Greek Orthodox Church in Nysiros

As an addendum to this blog entry is the Astrodemis daughter to whom we have referred to in past blogs as a Sarah Jessica parker look alike. She is now the Harbour Master of this tiny port of Pali on Nisyros. After an easy morning of Greek Orthodox mass attendance by some (as a cultural experience), we had an excellent on board lazy breakfast and were off onto a beautiful sail back towards Turkey, reaching Black island (just off Bodrum) at dusk. Our chefs had not been idle on the trip and a multi cultural repast of borscht, carmelized pearl onions, coleslaw and aubergines stuffed with bacon was soon on the table as we swung gently at anchor in the small bay of Poyraz.

It's a good thing the Chef was dressed in purple for the borscht.

Monday morning saw us back at the Halikarnas jetty and most passengers off to resume normal daily routine whilst we stripped out the boat ready for haul-out the next day. Next weekend maybe a BBQ under the boat’s hull in the Aganlar boat yard? What a different scenario!

Aganlar boatyard, autumn 2009 Bodrum, Southern Cross Timer Hide

Stronger lines next time?

In March 2009,  Bodrum was hit by severe spring storms. The worst in 20 years saw hurricane force winds force some yachts on the beach and another 2 million dollar yacht flipped over in a boatyard.

I duly set off on my evening observation having noted a wind warning, “I’ll be back for dinner in an hour “ I promised.

Shortly after my arrival on board the storm hit hard. It was then impossible for anyone else to make it on board safely.  As the night wore on more and more yachts made their escape but all I could do was secure more lines and ride it out. At one stage the waves were breaking over the top of the wharf and Timer was high in the air before dropping and pitching in to the next trough. We had an inflatable in the stern davits so little “Daryl the dinghy” was tied along side. He bravely rode it out until 4 a.m. when the stern line parted and a huge wave swamped him still secured by the bow. An hour later he suddenly righted and was shoved up by a big swell miraculously semi self-bailed and was floating again.   During a small lull around 7 am I managed to haul him out using the main halyard, completely drain and re-float him properly, unfortunately no room on deck for him.  Even the outboard was still somehow attached (Ed Note: and consequently went directly into the shop.)

Wind forces picked up again as the centre of the low moved on. Some friends (Davide  & Kate from the yacht Bora Scura) came by and helped get some more lines secured on the wharf. Poor Davide was soaked a couple of times in the attempts but they stayed around most of the day until the wind finally started to die around 4 pm..  At 6pm I was finally able to leave Southern Cross Timer and head home, the harbor a millpond again.  Over 24 hours  and finally at home.  (Ed: Dinner was reheated and served with Jack Daniels.)

aegean storms gulets caution Hide

We postponed our 2009 Bodrum Cup participation this year as a client and broker were arriving to view one of the yachts we managed and had for sale.

We organized a full, pre sale survey through associates BMS and the results of this along with intensive scrutiny from the very astute buyer resulted in a sale.

The Broker and prospective owner had been staying aboard Southern Cross Timer for the week prior to the actual contract, so as celebration for the signing , we took them for a two day cruise to our favorite Greek islands. A great time was had by all and the SX Timer guitar got quite a work out as both gentlemen  turned out to be consummate musicians.  As back up singers, we got better with each glass of wine. Or so they implied.

Some previous opportunities to get away had already presented themselves as the 2009 season wound down and they were greedily seized. Friend and colleague Natalya and her young daughter were invited to come along a couple of times for journeys to Pserimos, Kalymnos, Plati and Nysiros. Not only does Natalya contribute to political discussions, geographical whereabouts and child psychology, she’s a damn good cook.

The sandy beach on Pserimos, Greece

The island of Pserimos may never recover, even having interlopers lurking for morning Greek Orthodox Mass - no not me!  Apparently flip flps are NOT appropriate.  Even the girls were initially not let in.

Gulet Sales Brokerage Bodrum Turkey Hide

After a seriously long absence THE BLOG IS BACK !  The lack of same was due to some severe hacking by an automated virus.  The worm itself is rather harmless – it opens a 1 x 1 pixel invisible window but it’s enough to alert anti-virus software.

It took some time to discover and disinfect the site and regain our lost Google ground and even longer to work out how it ever got there.  Since then, the 2009 season workload had taken over and only now have we had time to reformat “the First Gulet Charter Blog” in such a way as to deter intruders of bad intent.

Water under the jetty includes;

• A very respectable 209 season with our business growing strongly despite  the global economy
• New crew as last year’s boys decided on careers that would see them stay closer to home.
• The arrival of “Gannet” a black and white kitten whose initial 30 day stay has being extended until it either learns the ropes or becomes road pizza. She looks like Charlie Chaplin and  likes yogurt  flavored onion potato chips.  Huh? Gannet was loaned to us in return for a bottle of Jack Daniels last February.  Jack is finished and Gannet is still here.
• A season of interviewing and wet-testing crew potential for the on-going Crew Placement division of Bodrum Yacht Services.  Precarious identities are fully protected (and no longer on the books). These include:

◦     One potential young captain managed to throw himself over the side following a mooring line whilst trying to prove his skill, thus seriously retarding his career, at least to the entire Bodrum harbor.

◦     A short term career by a female “captain on paper “ whose entry from the dinghy (which she couldn’t drive) to the deck of SX Timer being far less than elegant, unless forward somersaults are the new way of embarking.

For Southern Cross Timer 2009, we decided upon employment with Captain Durmus and  Chef Omer.  A wonderful combination of old world gentleman captain , fluent in French and a master at gulet handling coupled with the experienced, respected chef/sailor Omer.   Omer (Urmy)  is as much  at home topping beans and tying the pots on the stove while I live out my Sydney – Hobart race fantasies.  Omer doesn’t blink whilst coming on deck from below to haul on or release sheets, yet still serves his delicious meals to discerning clients in a quiet cove with a gentle smile.  He turned out to be the find of the year, even though our old chef of 3 years Ahmet was a hard act to follow.  His feet are firmly nailed to Southern Cross Timer’s deck.

Captain Durmus and Chef Omer

Charters on all our boats came mainly from professional class people from various states of America, Aussies, English, Spanish, Italian and Greek clients with a smattering of Kiwis including some serious sailing boat fraternity people enjoying the gulet experience. This seemed to meet with great approval from the female sector who enjoy being pampered watered and fed instead of doing all the work. The Blue Cruise always delivers!

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