SAILING AFTER OUR DREAMS
Back in 2008, while working in the intense, fast-paced, and highly stressful family business we were running in Ankara, I realized one day that I had completely exhausted my stress limit, so I escaped to Fethiye on my own. I was staying at a hotel behind Ece Saray Marina, and ironically, despite “escaping,” I was still connecting to Ankara every day with my laptop and continuing to work. The only difference was that my office had now become “Mod Cafe,” almost right on the water inside the marina — it’s called Tamarind now.Then I remembered some sailing instructors I had heard about through my father: Captains Candan and Benhür Tokyürek. Because I had realized I was starting to lose it. You change the place, make the surroundings more beautiful, but leave your mind stuck in the same place — that was never going to work. So I called the captains. Before that, I had only been subscribed to their mailing groups and had been regularly following the voyage stories they shared there. We were about to meet for the first time.I called them, and that very same day we met at my “office,” meaning Mod Cafe (Now Lumos) :) Then I joined them on a 3-day sailing trip, and I threw all my stress into the sea and left it to the wind. I left Fethiye feeling incredibly happy, light, and peaceful, and I knew it was all thanks to sailing.Afterwards, I attended their theoretical training sessions in Ankara and got my amateur sailor certificate. I also brought my closest friend Berrak into it, and for the next 4–5 years, sailing became a real part of my life. Together with Captains Candan and Benhür, we sailed in Fethiye and Göcek, and through their guidance, I also joined races in Bodrum with various amateur crews. At one point, I was going to Bodrum almost every three weeks, and without feeling overwhelmed or burned out, I was still able to manage my work in Ankara productively.
As the years went by, the chaos and fast pace of life continued relentlessly. While making endless plans about whether I should move abroad and what I should do next, sailing had unintentionally faded into the background.During that time, I stayed in touch with my captains, and even if only a little, we kept up with the developments in each other’s lives. Then one day, Captain Candan called and said, “What are you going to do in cold and distant Canada? We want to open a branch in Montenegro — why don’t you come and run it?”And with that single conversation, everything changed.
And that’s more or less how “The Sailing Experience” began. The captains’ plans were shelved as well, and neither Canada nor Montenegro ever happened — but sailing became our life.“Şahbaz,” the Bavaria 44 where I had received my very first training, became the boat of “The Sailing Experience,” the business we built to make a living. Of course, we moved to Fethiye, and even though it wasn’t a decision made entirely consciously or deliberately at the time, it turned out to be one of the best decisions of our lives.In fact, now, rereading the story I wrote during the quarantine days, I feel even more certain that it was the right choice.
The story of The Sailing Experience began in Fethiye in November 2018. We hope it continues for many years beyond even our dreams — always chasing the wind, the sails, the sea, and the sun. And may it carry us toward new people, new places, and new stories along the way.
"We hope that it lasts for long years beyond our dreams, after the wind, the sea and the sun. Let it take us to new people, new places and new stories!"
ABOUT YASEMIN GÜNDÜZ
She was born in Ankara in 1984. She attended TED Ankara Private High School and studied Economics at Bilkent University. After graduation, in 2005, she went to Institut Paul Bocuse in France for culinary education. She had been interested in various fields all her life. At the age of 35, she decided to sail as a profession, which she had been involved in as a recreational activity for 10 years, and moved to Fethiye. Her aim is to bring together the passionate and amateurs of the sea and sailing at various activities, experiencing the pleasure of sailing through Aganta Yelken, which she co-founded with Emrah.
ABOUT EMRAH ARSLAN
Born in Ankara in 1981, he spent most of his life in the city. Although he occasionally tried to ease the longing for the sea that comes with living in Ankara by traveling to coastal towns, in reality, that longing only kept growing stronger.The foundation of an idea that had never once crossed his mind — becoming a captain on a sailing yacht — was laid when he met Yasemin. Aside from a couple of trips on gulets and short boat rides to Limanağzı in Kaş on small local boats, Emrah had spent very little time at sea. While listening to Yasemin’s sailing stories, he was simply an interested listener.When they began dreaming of building a new life together, he still had no idea that the sea would become such a major part of his life. In October 2018, they left behind the business they had been running together in Ankara and set off for Fethiye with Ankara Kaptan to begin their journey into seamanship.After an intense winter season filled with training, by the summer of 2019 he was ready to sail into an entirely new world. At the end of a summer full of unforgettable memories, experiences, and lessons, he decided to begin his own journey.Now, he is looking for fellow sailors and companions at sea with whom he can write the rest of the story together.