Bodrum

Essential yachting

by Recep Peker TANITKAN

One can imagine Istanbul without its minarets, Dubai without its creek or Brighton without its pier. But surely not Bodrum without its very special boats.

Sunshine and beaches, blue skies and turquoise water can be found all along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Yet the Bodrum peninsula has a flavour of its own. Its name alone casts a spell in the flats and offices of Turkey’s major cities. For many, it soon becomes a passion. These visitors are familiar not only with the town itself, its white box-shape houses and thronging shopping streets. On the contrary, they recognise every bend in the road, and every cove and cape. They can tell you where to stay, where to swim and where to bathe, where to exchange the relentless heat for a cool summer breeze, where to watch the sunset, which summer house to rent, where to take the children for kebab and where to sport the latest sunglasses. They know the townships of Türkbükü, Yalıkavak and Turgutreis like the backs of their hands, and are no strangers to the blue-flagged beaches of Bitez, Aktur, Ortakent and Gümüşlük.

What makes the lure of Bodrum so unique? Why the urge to be a part of it time and time again? Is it the legend of the “fisherman of Halikarnos” (Halikarnassos), Cevat Şakir? Is it the magnificence of the beautifully-illuminated medieval crusader castle, wedged against the sea, with its seven gates, its gardens and multiple exhibitions? Is it the concerts and shows at the ancient theatre, the blend of Turkish and foreign visitors somehow sharing common customs? Or is it the human buzz of those narrow streets, the endless open-air bazaar of jewellery and junk? The welcoming shade of the bars, with their vivid names and cosy characters? The chance to step through the pages of lifestyle magazines and rub shoulders with the rich and the famous?

Working vessels

One thing is for sure. Bodrum is unthinkable without its water-craft. King Mausolos of Caria (Karya), who moved his capital to Halikarnassos in the fourth century BC, was the first but not the last to build his warships here. Maritime commerce thrived in ancient times, as now exhibited to award-winning standards in the castle. In Bodrum harbour and in marinas and breakwaters all around the coast, tiny fishing vessels, lobster boats and bareboard racing yachts ride the waves with ketches, schooners and power yachts up to 75m in length. They are not just pretty faces: their labours bring in visitors and fish, and they make possible the diving and the day trips round the islands.

Some twenty-five years ago, the well-developed local craft of boat-making forged a happy marriage with the rising tourist tide. The result has been a range of steel and wooden boats - most outstandingly the gulet, a single or doubled-masted motor yacht 13-35m in length, typically built of pine and styled with pointed fore and rounder aft. World-wide they are known as "Bodrum-Type" yachts or "Gullets". Offering accommodation for 6-18 passengers, they have become the mainstay of Bodrum’s trademark ‘Blue Voyage’ cruises to Marmaris via Datça and Bozburun – magic days at sea during which friends and families come together, or new and lasting acquaintances are struck.

Içmeler, just outside the town of Bodrum, is said to be the site of Europe’s largest wooden yacht-yard. A typical gulet, also sometimes referred to as a “caique”, takes 12-18 months to build. Each is distinguished by its size, its design, its workmanship, its suitability for sailing and the luxury of its furnishings and fittings. Larger new or restored gulets have bars and air-conditioning. All are designed for maximum comfort, with spacious double-bedded en suite cabins and wide sun-decks. With a hospitable crew on hand, it is hard to resist the temptation to sip one’s drinks on deck instead of diving into the transparent waters of deep bays or exploring the woods behind uninhabited coves!

Bodrum Cup

During the summer season, hundreds of these boats are hard at work as charter yachts. Their owners and captains have their well-deserved fling comes later in the year, as temperatures cool off a fraction, and shorter days draw in. For it is on the third Sunday of October that the Bodrum Cup Wooden Yacht Sailing competition is held. The regatta is designed to promote the wooden yachts and encourage their use.

Uniquely, this is a competition in which professionals, amateurs and even babies can take part. Passengers, invited or paying, may join in the manoeuvring and learn the art of sailing - or simply enjoy the spray. Even while the race is on, there is always enough time to relax in the evenings. The gulets follow the Blue Voyage route, until finally everybody returns to Bodrum for the prize-giving party in the huge Halikarnos Disco, itself a night to remember.

(DIPLOMAT  -  July 2005  -  Ankara)