Hic Salta is a proper sailing yacht first and a gulet second. Built by Valena in 2006 and kept current through refits in 2017 and 2022, she carries a full schooner rig and some 900 square metres of sail, so on the right afternoon she moves under canvas rather than under engine. For charter guests that means the real thing: a large traditional yacht that actually sails, without giving up the space and comfort a 42-metre hull allows.
On deck she is all teak and varnished timber. The aft deck is the formal room outdoors, with a long table set under a retractable awning for lunches and late dinners, and a proper ship’s wheel behind it. Move forward and the mood loosens: broad sunpads run down both side decks and across the foredeck, laid out around the masts and rigging so guests can spread out and still be part of the sailing. There is shade where you want it and sun where you do not.
Below, the interior is warm, classic and unmistakably hand-built. The main saloon is panelled floor to ceiling in deep mahogany, with a curved settee, a full dining table and hull windows that keep the anchorage in view. It reads as one generous social room rather than a run of small compartments, and it is the natural gathering point when the wind drops or the evening cools.
Accommodation is arranged over five cabins for up to ten guests. The master is a full-width cabin aft, panelled in the same rich timber, with its own marble bathroom. The remaining doubles and a convertible cabin each carry en-suite facilities and the same considered joinery, with dressing space and good natural light through the hull ports. The layout suits a family or a group of couples who want privacy below and company on deck.
Her crew of seven runs her the way a sailing yacht should be run, trimming sail through the day and handling tenders, toys and meals around it. A tender and a locker of water toys come along for the swimming and exploring, staged so the move from anchor to open water is quick. The rhythm is unhurried. Mornings begin with a swim off the transom, days move between quiet coves and short passages under sail, and dinners are served on the aft deck as the light goes. Nothing about her asks guests to rush, and the crew keep provisioning, menus and logistics out of sight so the week is spent on the water rather than planning it.
Her waters are the Turkish coast and the Greek islands, the sheltered bays around Gocek, Fethiye and beyond, where a shallow-draft sailing yacht reaches anchorages a deeper hull cannot. Hic Salta is for charter guests who want the character and motion of a real sailing yacht, the craftsmanship of a Bodrum-built gulet, and the ease of a fully crewed summer in the eastern Mediterranean. She rewards groups that value the passage as much as the destination, and she does it with the manners of a much newer yacht thanks to her steady programme of refits.
