traditional Ketch

Ketch is also a traditional motorsailor with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft (rearward) of the main mast, but forward of the rudder. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going windward. If a ketch is not rigged for jibs it is called a cat ketch, sometimes called a periauger. On older, larger ketches the main mast may in addition carry one or more square rigged topsails.

The motorsailor ketch is popular among long distance cruisers as the additional sail allows for a better balance, and a smaller more easily handled mainsail for the same overall sail area. It also allows sailing on mizzen and jib only without introducing excessive lee helm, and in an emergency can be quite well steered without use of the rudder. The ketch is a popular rig in northern European waters where sudden increases in wind strength sometimes requires a rapid reefing: the mainsail can be dropped, reducing sail and leaving a balanced sail-plan with jib and mizzen set. Running before the wind or reaching across the wind, a ketch may carry extra sails such as a spinnaker on the main mast, and a spinnaker or (mizzen staysail) on the mizzen mast.

Tirhandil is the centuries-old workhorse of the Mediterranean and is similar to its cousin, the caique and the Greek transport vessel called perama. The Greek equivalent of tirhandil is trechenderi.The translated definition of tirhandil from Kaptan Kilavuzu is as follows: A sailing vessel with origins from the Marmaris area having two masts, a bow spirit and lateen sails. The vessel is beak-nosed with a scoop stern and ample interior capacity. While it has often been suggested that gulets evolved from tirhandils ( trandils) to utilize deck space in order to haul cargo from sponge diving expeditions, it seems that this may not have been the case.

Because tirhandils / trandils, despite generally being the superior sailing vessel of the three, have less aft deck space for Blue Cruise voyages, they are not as frequently commissioned by local builders and thus remain elusive. Yet it is the tirhandil, more so than the gulet, which carries the most traditional elements of Aegean sailing boats of the last two millenniums. As people realize that beauty and sea worthiness is more important than plain functionality and deck space, the Aegean Tirhandil will make a come back into the hearts and souls of more sophisticated mariners of the region.