Among many travelers interested in gulet holidays in the Mediterranean, this is a very common question. There are travelers who only cruise during their gulet charter vacations and therefore do not experience gulet sailing.
However gulets do sail – if they are equipped as such. Some owners choose not to install sails to their gulets and only offer gulet cruise charters. On the other hand, most gulets will have at least one sail. The most common numbers of sails are between 2 and 6. While other gulets will only have 1 genoa (jib) or both a genoa and trinquette; and the masts will not be equipped with any sails.
When searching for a gulet sailing holiday in the Mediterranean, consult with your yacht charter agent and request a “sailing” holiday – gulets that will offer sailing.
Gulets in the charter sector will sail 2 or maybe 3 days out of a week long holiday. If guests request more days of sailing, then they should also make this clear to their yacht agent so that the agent can shortlist gulet offers to accommodate this requirement. In some cases gulets will not have sufficient number of crew members to do both service to the guests and mind the sailing part. In other cases, additional crew will be added to the current, in order to satisfy this full sailing request.
trinquette = A three-cornered sail carried on a ship’s foremast.
genoa = A type of large jib or staysail. Overlaps the main sail and increases the speed of the craft in moderate winds. (ref. wikipedia)
