Kayıtsız III

The story behind the name

Kayıtsız III

I began sailing as a child in our own boat at our summer house by the sea in Çeşmealtı, İzmir. Through school and university I sailed the Aegean and the Mediterranean, and while studying abroad the English Channel and the Atlantic — often alone, in my own boat or in others'. Over 32 years I have built up knowledge and experience in every branch of offshore seamanship, from single-handed ocean passages and world weather patterns to navigation, especially celestial navigation.

Wooden boats became a passion: I built my own and worked on the construction and restoration of many others. I studied heavy-weather tactics in small boats and how to sail the world's oceans in one, and experimented extensively with wind-vane self-steering — the indispensable tool of the solo sailor. I trained myself to handle almost every job on board alone.

I read offshore cruising accounts going back to the early 1900s and the American and British Admiralty publications, and developed my navigation, seamanship and meteorology so that I could practise them without any electronic aids — which I believe is how a capable sailor should be trained.

Between 2006 and 2009 I sailed around the world, mostly single-handed and without a single electronic navigation device, aboard Kayıtsız III, the wooden yacht I built myself.

Özkan Gülkaynak