Queen Of Salmakis answers a specific brief: a large family or group who want the reach of a private yacht without losing the easy, open-air rhythm of a Turkish gulet. At 40 metres with two masts and a full schooner rig, she carries genuine sail area, yet her real appeal is space. Eight cabins sleep up to eighteen guests, and the deck plan is built around the water rather than around a saloon.
Her profile is clean and traditional, all varnished timber and white topsides, and she looks her best under canvas on a Meltemi afternoon. The foredeck is where most days begin and end. A jacuzzi sits flush in the teak, ringed by sunpads, with the tender and a full locker of toys close at hand. Jet skis, a seabob, towed inflatables and paddle craft are all carried, so the transition from anchor to open water takes minutes.
Amidships, a broad shaded deck runs the full beam. One long table seats the whole party for lunch out of the sun, framed by soft banquettes and low cushions in cool blues. It is the social heart of the yacht, and the crew of seven work quietly around it, timing meals and swims to the light. Forward of the wheel, a second sunbathing terrace opens up the bow.
Inside, the mood shifts to warm mahogany. The main saloon pairs a relaxed lounge with a formal dining table, panelled in honeyed wood and lit by a run of hull windows that keep the sea in view. An interior helm sits just aft, a reminder that she is a working sailing yacht as much as a floating villa.
Accommodation is where Queen Of Salmakis earns her guest count. A full master runs aft, wide and low-lit, with its own marble shower room. A second, lighter master lies forward, dressed in cream and sailboat prints. Between them sit a run of double and twin cabins and a pair of triples, each with an en-suite finished in the same crisp timber and stone. The layout suits multi-generational groups and shared charters, giving couples, children and friends their own corners without anyone feeling tucked away.
Her cruising grounds are the reason she stays close to home. Based on the Turkish coast, she works the quiet bays around Gocek and Fethiye, then crosses to the Dodecanese and the wider Greek islands through the summer. Progress is unhurried, at a cruising ten knots, because the point is the anchorage rather than the passage. Days settle into a pattern the crew knows well: an early swim off the transom, a long lunch under the aft awning, an afternoon of toys in a sheltered cove, then dinner as the light goes. Provisioning and menus are handled aboard, tailored to the group, so guests plan nothing beyond where to drop anchor next.
Queen Of Salmakis is not trying to be a superyacht. She is a considered, generously crewed sailing gulet that puts a large group on the water, close to it, and keeps them fed, shaded and entertained from breakfast to the last swim. For families who value space, flexibility and an unforced pace, she is an intelligent way to take on a Turkish and Greek summer.
