Telltale 113

And Finally more sailboats

Summer is winding down and all I had sailed on Sylphe was one single day; left the marina, dropped anchor 3 miles further along the coats and enjoyed a lazy June afternoon with Sandra and a glass of wine on the foredeck of Sylphe. Next a man sails up to us in a beautifull wooden gaff rigged dinghy, introduces himself as Rifat and compliments us on Sylphe. He points towards the shore and indicates a "certain" area as being his home.
That "certain" area has had my interest for more than ten years. Let me explain: the Tuzla ship-yard area is vast and enormous and at the moment the second largest concentration of shipyards in the world. This is where I had done the restoration of Sylphe some 10 years ago. Across this bay is a residential area for the wealthier Istanbuli, who have their summer houses here. Only a few get to be so lucky to be on the waterfront. And this is where we were anchored off and Rifat was pointing to.



There is a  restaurant next to this "certain" place, where I have had many diners over the past ten years and I always looked curiously to the adjacent area. After all, there were slipways going in the water, there were a number of sail-boats under canvas on the hard, there was a jetty and a lot of green that prevented a closer, further look. However in ten years I saw little change and wondered what this place was. So, when Rifat sailed up to Sylphe and introduced himself as the owner, my chance was there to finally get to see the place.

However, I was still working like crazy, especially to make the yard survive as no new orders had been received. And with the last one shipped to Holland things became urgent. My plans for the survival of the yard were not shared by the Dutch mothercompany, so we departed finally at the end of September. As easy as that. In the last weeks I shifted my attention a bit towards Sylphe and started to take care of her, cleaned her, put a new battery charger, replaced some mahogony in the cockpit, and started with the very necessary sanding and varnishing. The hatches were taken off and sanded and varnished at home.

Jean came to visit. And so did Steffi. And on a sunny afternoon, while sitting in my garden, Rifat called again, as I still had not visited. Being in the company of two dear friends and sharing our passion for classic boats, this was the perfect opportunity to finally go and see his place. We hopped in the car and drove over. When the gate opened we were astonished and flabber gasted by what what we encountered.

I still have problems describing this place (although I now live here, since 2 months). It is the biggest open-air nautical museum, I know of. It is a big collection of old boats. it is a huge collection of nautical bits and pieces, old winches, bronze pieces, charts, books etc. It has a library with nautical works in three languages. There are some 12 buildings on the grounds, all dedicated to nautical themes and filled to the roof with items that once belonged on a boat (and maybe will be fitted again, one day)
Rifat, also being an artist (painter and sculpture), has created and added to the charm and unique atmosphere. The place is decorated!!!!! Colorfull. Attention is paid to every detail, how sloppy and casual it may look at first sight.





Okay, to start with the boats, they range from 10 to...... 50 feet, they range from rowing to motorboat, they range from Dragons to 12 foot dinghy's (of which there are 12 in total in the garden). They range from 1880 till roughly the 1950's. A bizar and complex collection. And some of the boats are in unexpected locations; standing in a room one can be surprised by a 15 foot fishing boat hanging against the ceiling. A covered passage in the garden first seems to have been made to provide shade to pass from one area to another, a closer look reveals a 60 foot wooden mast hanging against the roof, and THAT was the reason for creating the shade. Surprises in every corner.






There are some 30 boats in total, of which 12 are the 12 foot Dinghy. An Olympic Class in the 1930's. http://www.12footdinghy.org/  Gaff rigged and a beautifull little boat. The 12 foot dinghy association is going through a worldwide revival, and I can understand why. It is affordable, you can be sailing in 10 minutes (compare that with getting a complete crew ready and 2 hours preparation), it is back to the early days and the races are about the sailor and not the material (a class after all). We are building the boats here as well, both in wood and in polyester. In the back of the grounds there is a complete carpentry shop and at the moment we are finishing 2 boats there.



How does someone come to this and what to do with it? Rifats motivation for all this is quite simple: although Turkey, due to its physical location, must have been a big player in the maritime history, there is little or no interest (let alone any classic boats) in Turkey nowadays. In earlier days Turkey has produced great boats, all of them disappeared basically and nowadays Turkey is only known for the Gulets (which are not excatly the best sailing boats, but they work magic for modern comfortable holidays). He is paying a little tribute to this and would like to see it revived and the Turkish maritime heritage relaunched. Another Turk, Mr. Koc is maybe a little known for being the owner of Savarona (http://www.savarona.com.tr). He owns a few more calssic boats and does a great job at restoring them. But that is almost all in Turkey. The craftmenship is here, the labour is here, the history is here, there is plenty of sea, the season is long, so why did it die????
To be very honest, indeed it has fascinated me throughout the years as well. A Turkish sailor's conception of beauty is a modern brand new Beneteau with Kevlar sails. This has to change........(ahh well, I can dream, can't I??)