THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THIS TRADITIONAL TURKISH SAILBOAT :

GULET: Turkish Schooner, "U"wood hull, ketch rigged

TIRANDHIL: Turkish sailboat with a single mast and "V" wood hull

New gulet (motor-sailor) with epoxy or steel "V" hull"

DEFINITION AND SEMANTIC EVOLUTION :

CAIQUE (in french): "caïque", a kind of traditional indigenous boat in Turkey. This French term is borrowed from Turkish "qāyïq" in the 18th century. But we find traces in the 16th in a letter from Villeroy in 1579 which defines the "caïq" as "a long and narrow boat used in the sea of Levant." Due to an error in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, some of our customers think that the term is female. If, in fact, until the 18th the gender of this term is not fixed, from the 19th the male prevails especially in Chateaubriand, I quote: "I returned to the ship in a caique," [Itinéraires de Paris à Jérusalem]"]. Finally, in the dictionary of Littré, the "caique" is masculine, as in the Larousse or Robert. However, as can be seen with the quote from Chateaubriand, the boat is not designated as a traditional Turkish boat, but a row-boat ! The term "caique" could also refer to a "ketch": "The ketch is a small building with a deck. [...] the French call it ketch or quaiche "[Savary of Bruslons, Dict. of Commerce, ed. Copenhagen, 1761]. However, we find no trace of confusion between the caique and the schooner. It was just until the twentieth century, with the resurgence of this sailboat for blue cruise in Turkey, that the term "caïque" unambiguously designate a typical boat of Turkey.

GOELETTE (in french): For practical reasons, we distinguish the "goélette" from ketch (and from yawl) by their rigging that all of them have 2 masts. The "goélette" has a mast in front (fore) lower or equal height as its big rear mast, unlike the ketch. If we follow this division, all the modern Turkish gulets would be "goélettes" because they are all rigged in ketch. In addition, it would be impossible to speak of the "goélette" to designate a turkish gulet. As for the etymology, all dictionaries converge to a supposition: the term "goélette" comes from "seagull"! There is obviously a confusion between "material mark " and "formal mark", as the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure said. What connection can there be between a bird and a boat if it is only the "phonemes" are the same? The other hypothesis, the most plausible and consistent is that this term comes from another of the same semantic type (marine type) which is the "gulet"(Gulet => Goulette => Goélette).

GULET: The term "gulet" means in english, the indigenous traditional sailboat of Turkey which is called "goélette" in French. It is probably at the origin of the term "gulet", since 1751 we found the spelling of the term "gulettte" (goélette) to "go(u)ëlette". The floating of the gender from male to female explain that it has passed from "gulet" to "gulette" (goulette). If this is the case, there is no obstacle to call a turkish "gulet", a "goélette", since both terms have the same semantic origin.

FIFTY: The practical english term for a sailing navigating with sail as well as the motor (fifty /fifty). This term is synonymous, in the english language, of the technical term "motor-sailor." The gulet is the best example of "fifty".

MOTOR-SAILOR (M / S): This term is derived from the international classification of ships. We distinguish the Motor-Sailor (M / S) of the Motor Yacht (M / Y) and the Sailboat (S / Y). Under this classification, the gulet is therefore a Motor-Sailor. This term is held in Greece to designate the schooners and the traditional sailboats built in Greece, as opposed to "gulets" built in Turkey. Turkish builders of gulets also included this term to name the new generation of gulets. In order to distinguish themselves from traditional gulets, the luxury gulets, often with a shell "V", are called motor-sailors.

SCHOONER: English term which is synonymous with goélette. By extension, the term of schooner can refer to a old rig. The Turkish builders of "gulets" do not use that term which is pejoratively connoted.

TIRANDHIL: All the traditional sailboats built in Turkey are not gulets. The tirandhil is a kind of cutter which has a single mast, a wooden hull "V", a large rear saffron and is generally small (<20m). Unlike the gulet which has a shell "U", it navigates much better and is much more manageable. The tirandhil is exactly the same type of boat as the Greeks call "Trechenderi" or "Trehantiri."

FLYBRIDGE on the roof of news gulets

Round stern without porthole

AYNA KIC: gulet with table

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF GULET:

RIGGING: All turkish gulets are rigged with ketch. The former gulets still possessed auric sails while all of the new gulets have bermudian sails. They have 3 main sails: The main sail (GV or mizzen sail on the mizzen mast forward), the genoa and the back sail on the mizzen mast (mizzen). During the cruise, the most used sail is the the genoa and then the main sail. The back sail is almost never used due to the presence of rigid rates which prevent its use in cruise. The spinnaker is only used during the competitions like the Bodrum Cup.

LENGTH: The length of the hull is about from 15 to 45m. At the front, located the bowsprit which is very long (about 2m), which explains the length overall (LOA) is much larger than the size of the hull. So, take off 2 meters for the real size of your gulet, that is to say, the size to deck.

WIDTH: Due to a building in the form of "U", as opposed to boats in series that have a form "V", the gulet is very wide and very deep. For a gulet of 20m, the width is 6m at midship, 7m for a gulet of 30m and 8m for a gulet of 40m. The “width” explains why this boat is very stable and keeps a good position during the navigation.

MATERIALS: The first gulets were built with the local pine of Mugla or Yatagan (white, red or black, red and black possessing a better resin). The traditional gulets are always built with pine for the framing and the interior design, the deck is often in iroko. With superior quality, we find for the framing of the white oak, the mahogany local classified in the family of "mahogany" (or African mahogany), the teak for the deck and the rare species for the interior design as the sapele, the noisettier, the eucalyptus and the rosewood. The gulets of new generation have a hull covered with epoxy to improve the glide and to extend their life time. There are also the constructions in steel but no fiberglass

STERN: The stern of a gulet can have two kinds of form, either round or with a table. This is easy to distinguish these two forms because the one which is rounded has never a porthole while the table allows to put 2-4 portholes (see images). The gulet with a table called "ayna kic." The Ayna kic is the favorite of the customers because it brings a lot of light in the master back cabin.

ENGINE: The gulets are equipped with one or two engines from about 240cv to 450cv. For the safety reasons and to avoid the immobilisation for failure, the presence of two engines is more reliable.

DECK: All have a space of mattress in the front, which makes a pleasant sailing with family or friends. All have also a large outdoor dining table (either on the stern or on the midships for larger units). Warning! all the gulets have no sofa at the stern.

FLYBRIDGE: The modern gulets are equipped with a "flybridge", that is to say that the roof is arranged. The flybridge significantly increases the surface of the deck and allows especially to isolate well from the crew.

PLAN: They all have a large square with dining table and a bar. The kitchen is usually at the engine room. All the cabins have their own bathroom. All the gulets that we offer have the air-conditioning in the saloon and cabins.

DESIGN: The traditional turkish design is usually heavy with dark varnish, old carpet and curtain and blue scellerie. But the varnishes become clearer, the scellerie became white and there is now leading designers in Bodrum that make the gulets as modern as the catamarans or the motor yachts.

WATER TOYS: Most of the gulets in Turkey have an annex of at least 50cv with water skis and banana boat. In luxury class, there are also jet skis. For the reasons of insurance, in Italy for example, this activity is not proposed.

CREW: All the gulets leased with the crew including at least a captain and a sailor-cook. Depending on the category, we can go up to 7 members for service and shipping. Thus, there is a service in board which is much more developed than a catamaran or sailboat with the luxury crew.