FETHIYE -TURKEY Largest wooden yacht ever built in the Fethiye boat yard, to be named the MS Royal Admiral, was launched this week for the Admiral Yachting Company.
There is invariably always something interesting happening in the Fethiye boatyard, especially at this time of year, and this week it was no exception.
Stately as a galleon!
Slowly sliding down the slipway into the water
On Wednesday, a truly magnificent gulet could be seen slowly, proudly, making its way into the water inch by inch from Fethiye’s bustling and idiosyncratic boatyard.
A couple of our readers were there to catch the event on camera and we have also been sent two brilliant videos of the spectacle, taken from different levels and that show the launch at its best.
Fethiye-built Mega Gulet MS Royal Admiral takes to the water from fethiyetimes on Vimeo.
Launch of MS Royal Admiral in Fethiye boatyard from ground level from fethiyetimes on Vimeo.
Built for the Fethiye based cruise company, Admiral Yachting, what has made this a very special day for the boatyard, the town of Fethiye, and the lucky holidaymakers that will eventually sail on her, is that with an imposing hull length of 57 metres, she is the largest wooden gulet ever to have been built in the Fethiye boatyard.
We were so impressed by the scale of this gulet we wanted to learn more so we tracked down the owner and he was more than happy to let us have some details.
Gulet building on a massive scale
A name has been chosen
Although the gulet is by no means finished – as yet there is no superstructure or interior – and and they owners say she’ll not be completed before 2017, a name for this magnificent vessel, which currently weighs in at 700 tonnes, has already been chosen: she will be the MS Royal Admiral.
Sailing heaven on a larger scale
The gulet stands 12.20 metres – 5.70 metres below the waterline and 6.50 metres above and has a beam width of 13.5 metres
Once complete there will be 18 state of the art, luxury cabins for passengers, 1 captain’s cabin, crew cabins
Admiral Yachting already has a fleet of impressive vessels to its name for sailing along the Turkish coast but we are told the future will decide where MS Royal Admiral will sail; “the die is not yet cast” said the owner.
MS Royal Admiral is the fourth gulet built at Fethiye’s boatyard in Karagözler.
The first was MS Grand Admiral, finished in 2005; then came MS Admiral finished in 2013 followed by MS Queen Atlantis finished in 2015.
The pointy end with bowsprit
Unique to MS Royal Admiral will be that all the cabins will have french balconies, below deck there will be a spa with a sauna and on deck a jacuzzi to name just some of the many features.
If you want to learn more about MS Royal Admiral click here to visit the website.
Thanks to Stuart Aikman and Türkay Akatay for the photographs and Admiral Yatcilik (Admiral Yat Turizm) and Huseyin Girgin for the videos.
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