A Gulet is a cosy vacation ship...

... for a relaxed vacation at the Turkish coast. The typical Gulet is a two-mast ship with gaff sails and several head sails. Usually the term is taken one more step ahead: a gulet is more or less everything, what is made from wood, has one or two masts and is rigged as sloop, ketch and schooner. Recently also three and even four-masted ships are left to water and are being called Gulets. The large place at and under deck is characteristic. The cabins are nearly as largely as a modern hotel room, all have their own bath with shower and WC and on deck, where the life in the summer takes place, many sun mattresses and couch corners with or without sun protection are available. In the last years the trend to more comfort - with air condition, ice maker, micro-vave etc.- and good service became generally accepted.


A typical gulet is shown here. Gulet-Example Gulet-Example

The exact origin of the word "Gulet" is unclear. At the French coast the concept of a "Goulettes" is already known since the 18th Century. By now the definition of a gulet includes built wood ships and mirror-ketchs. There are even some people, who call ships that have been built from steel and fiber glass close to wood-similar ships, if they were built in Turkish shipyards and are comparable to the design of a gulet, a gulet.


It is possible that the Turkish designation of gulet comes from the venetian. A great number of nautical terms moved in the italian-greek-turkish sailor-gibbering to the turkish coast. Thus "galiota" stands also for a "galleon" with a form of a freighter. And "galiota" could come from "galea", a designation for different ship types of the centuries from the 12th to the 18th.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Bodrum has been occupied by the Italian military for some time during the 20's. The relations between the Italian soldiers and the native ones was peaceful and that is why it is possible that fisherman and sponge-divers took on some sailor words from the Italian. That the word gulet comes from this time, would be a plausible explanation. Perhaps one will find out in the future more exactly how the term for the sea-conventional wooden boats came to the this coast.

What is a Tirhandil?

A Trihandil is that centuries old workhorse of the Mediterranean and closely related to its sister, the Kaik. In addition to the family, the Greek transportation donkey belongs named Perama. The exact equivalent to the Tirhandil is the Greek Trechenderi.


The Tirhandil is a narrow, small fisherman boat having the characteristic of same ends in the front and in the back, one or two masts, lateen sail, as well as spirit and head sail. The boat could be moved with rudders, necessary in case of missing wind (or later on: striking engine). Tirhandil has been used for trawl netting by Greek and Italian fishers.

Kaptan Kilavuzu, an turkish Captan guide, describes the Tirhandil as a sharp nosed sailing boat from the Bodrum area with two masts, a bowsprit, lateen sail and plenty loading space. The relationship to the Kaik is obvious. It is even maintained that the name Kaik comes from the Turkish one, from "kayik", which was a sailing boat from the Levante. (The "caiques" from Istanbul were narrower and easier and were being used as taxis on the Bosphorus).


Some experts say, the gulet developed itself from the Tirhandil, in order to create more loading space at the stern are for the all-summer-long sponge diving expeditions. Others say, the sponge-divers drove until Morocco. Peter Throckmorton describes in this book concerning antique wrecks ("The Lost Ships"), his first time on a sponge diver boat like this:

"Mandaline" was a 36 foot long double ended and rigged as sloop. The hull was wonderful, similar to the norwegian fisher and lifeboats, however did not lie so deep in the water. The boat was an "aktarma", a structural construction variant of the Tirhandil, which had been developed in Kalymnos. An "aktarma" is very agile, which is very crucial for a boat that never anchors, if it is on movement and in addition carries the complete equipment set of the divers.



And what is an ayna kic?

A "ayna kic" is related to the Gulet, in contrast to it, has a more developed stern with cabins with an end similar to a mirror. The crucial advantage over a gulet is the larger place for guests and crew usually with two additional aft cabins.
For the increasing requirements of the blue travel tourism in the last years, more "ayna kic" are being build rather than gulets. Sailing purists however prefer clearly the Gulet and even more the Tirhandil. By the way, "ayna kic" translated means "boarded stern".

While the Tirhandils with their narrow afterdeck are the better sailors, Gulets and Aynakics offer simply more place for vacation trips .




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