Kelebek III

The story behind the name

Kelebek III

Tanıl Tuncel was born in Üsküdar, Istanbul, in 1941, one of two children of the teachers Âdil and Kübra Tuncel, and grew up by the sea at Salacak.

He entered the Naval High School and graduated from the Naval Academy as an officer in 1962. Finding military discipline a little too strict, in 1976, as a lieutenant, he "chose freedom" and settled in New York. Later in life his retirement from the Navy at the rank of lieutenant was formally approved.

He cruised and raced along New York and the North American coast in his first two Kelebeks (7 and 10.5 metres) before buying Kelebek III in 1983, and worked as a professional skipper and delivery captain. In 1986 he left America on a round-the-world voyage, becoming the first Turk to sail around the Cape of Good Hope.

His wife Annette Tuncel is an Australian marine biologist, a graduate of James Cook University, who writes for marine magazines in Australia.

Sailing enthusiasts know Tanıl from his columns in Yelken Dünyası during the voyage and later in Outdoor, Yachting World and Yacht Türkiye — stories that quietly teach the reader about the sea and seamanship. Since 1994 he has been an honorary member of the Istanbul Sailing Club, the Turkish Offshore Racing Club and the Sailors' Solidarity Association.

Very few sailors in the world have lived continuously at sea, with no home ashore, for as long as the Tuncels.