Fatih Aksu sailed around the world with his boat Blue Horizon for 5 years and became the second Turkish sailor to sail around the world solo. It is, of course, impossible to fit an adventure that will perhaps be talked about for years into a two-part interview. Yet Aksu is so transparent and authentic that even in a 10-minute conversation, you get the feeling that you know him.
Here is the second and final part of our interview with Fatih Aksu...
Kayhan Yavuz: Then let us continue from where we have left off... Those attempting this usually go around the world in three years. But yours took longer, you traveled for five years.
Fatih Aksu: It is not a good idea to set objectives, to set limits on such a journey. This is admitted by people who have traveled around the world before. Many of them think they have returned early. They regret it. I wanted to live that dream to the fullest. That is why it took five years. I recommend everyone to do the same.
KY: I know there are two great figures for you. One of them is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and the other is Sadun Boro. There was a huge Sadun Boro phenomenon in my childhood. He created an impression in the country as if he had not traveled around the world but had gone to space. It was as if we had overcome a barrier as a nation thanks to him. I feel like something similar happened with you. Why do you think that is? What do we need?
FA: I think especially men, that child inside them that never grows up... That child always wants to go on an adventure. But you see, with work life, marriage, raising children, retirement, that childhood dream inside them becomes impossible. It is actually about traveling the world by boat. Many people dream of staying on a desert island, for example, or catching a big fish with a fishing rod, or maybe just being on their own, away from responsibilities. I think I did what many of them wanted to do. Beyond traveling, the sincere excitement you feel when you taste a fruit is actually a very basic need. Its coincidence with the pandemic was also a factor. I was traveling freely on my boat while everyone else stayed at home.
KY: They like your tone, your stance as well.
FA: Yeah, they say "your communication with nature", "your respect for nature". "We" says the man, "watch you with the kids". Also, I do not swear much, I do not get angry easily, I almost always keep my cool. They like that. Of course, they are watching in real time, witnessing everything as it happens.
KY: Did you get any engagement from outside Türkiye?
FA: It was generally limited to Türkiye. I could not add English subtitles to the videos. I am not a YouTuber after all! You could add other languages, add music, include some cool effects. Those are not my things. There are very good traveling videos of that kind anyway. I just wanted to share my experiences without worrying about being watched. But wherever I went, all foreign sailors over the age of 50 came to me when they saw the Turkish flag on the boat. Because they all have beautiful memories in Marmaris, Bodrum, Antalya. You strike a connection immediately, there is a sincerity. New generations do not have a good image of Türkiye anymore. They neither visit Türkiye, nor know us. But the older British, German, I do not know, French sailors love us very much.
KY: I did a research on the beginning years of tourism in Türkiye. It was about the legendary hospitality of Turkish folk. Our people really have a different kind of sincerity. Do you think that also changed a little? I mean, do you think there are less people that would say "oh, come in, have a cup of tea" when you knocked on their door?
FA: We are not happy ourselves. So, naturally, foreigners do not visit where there is no happiness. Even I did not spend time and immediately left places like that during my journey. We have to come up with good news in Türkiye once again.
KY: You are someone that has traveled around the world. What do you think about the state of the world in general, the state of people?
FA: One of the greatest benefits of this journey for me was understanding humanity. I have now figured out humankind. People are actually the same anywhere in the world. Everyone laughs, everyone feels sad. Everyone thinks about the future of their child. The difference is countries. If a country is culturally developed and people living there are educated, those wild, survival instincts are polished off. But then you go to an exact opposite country where they have bad economy and education, then you see people cannot even keep simple, every day promises. Because the survival instinct takes precedence over everything. I witnessed both cases. Costa Rica is a shining country. They place great importance on education and culture; then you have El Salvador next to them, exact opposite. Kidnapping, drugs, murder. Like, you get robbed while you are walking out in Ecuador in broad daylight. People use the oldest mobile phones because of that.
KY: Were you ever terrified during your journey?
FA: Once, in India! I was taken into custody for three days without an explanation on Andaman island. Those three days turned into nine days. They sealed everything and seized whatever I had. I swam with sharks, I was solo on desert islands, I sat on cliffs but I was never as scared. I mean, my journey could end there!
KY: And what was the reason?
FA: So the reason was: It turns out that place was a military zone and you need a special permit to enter. But the map does not tell you that. It looks like a commercial port on the map. When I anchored there and radioed that I wanted to get some fuel, all the maritime police came at me. They also had a quarrel among themselves. Because there was negligence on their part too. They kept me there for nine days so that I would not appear at court, that I would not get in trouble and that they would not have a worse headache.
KY: How did you make it out?
FA: I was patient at first. I was making announcements over the radio, there was no response. Then, at the end of day 12, I thought that I should do something. I acted impulsively and protested them, saying "either arrest me today or release me!". They let me go when I acted like that. I had not mentioned the situation to anyone so that they would not panic. When I made it out, I called my friends and told them I was at the Bay of Bengal. Everyone told me that I should have called the Turkish Embassy, but it would involve formalities if I had done that and they would keep me for six more months, maybe a year. So, it could be said that being patient worked out.
KY: But you also took a risk.
FA: Of course, you cannot give up the initiative. For example, I once had a contact with pirates, while going from Costa Rica to Ecuador. Piracy there is not something flashy like in our dreams. Ordinary citizens go out fishing and if they see a defenseless foreign boat, they rob it. I saw a boat coming at me. I immediately felt that there was a problem. My instincts are hardly wrong.
KY: Did you not have a weapon with you to protect yourself?
FA: No, none. I did not have any weapon. I immediately went inside and put on my coat. I also waited inside for a while so that they would think that I went inside to wake someone up. Of course, they could have thought that I grabbed a weapon. Then I calmly made it on the deck, made myself apparent. I had an upright stance. They took a look at me then left. I think they were discouraged.
KY: It sounds like you have acting skills as well.
FA: Not really, it is more like luck. Also, the best weapon is a smile. I sincerely believe that. And I experienced it. A smile can soften even the most dangerous man. What I am saying is that if you are going to attempt something like this, it is an advantage to be communicative and have a constructive character.
KY: Then let us alter the course and talk about your happiest memories.
FA: I can answer this one without even thinking. Nothing can be as beautiful as sailing in the French Polynesia and mooring near atolls there. Then you have Heiva i Bora Bora. Maupiti. Rangiroa atolls, incredible places, all of them! Those are places that you will keep seeing in your dreams forever once you actually see them once. Imagine a pool as big as the Marmara Sea within great reef walls in the middle of the ocean. It is shallow in reefs, but deep outside.
KY: We have a series in Highlights that we do only with very experienced captains. It is called "3 Vital Things You Cannot Know Unless You Experience Them". Now, if I may ask... could you give me three tips and tricks on sailing?
FA: First one is the weather. 50% of sailing is watching for the weather. Second one is chart knowledge. 25% of it is to know how to read the navigation chart. The remaining 25% is to have a fighter character. These three things are very important! Being a fighter is not hitting and breaking things; you will tie broken things and make them functioning, you will battle against storms, you will sleep for five to ten minutes but sail for hours and you will never, ever give up. All storms pass, never forget that. You will always be at the same spot.
KY: Well then, let us talk about the financial aspect of this journey. Everyone wonders about it. I think, among the things that make your journey unique is that you did it without any sponsors. But, how did you manage it? Did you live for five years on the money that you saved?
FA: Now, I had a rental income when I set sail. It was around 600 dollars a month. In other words, around 24 thousand liras in today's world. I actually set sail relying on that 600 dollars income. When I arrived in the Caribbean, a year after my departure, the Turkish Lira started to fall and my money suddenly disappeared. That is when I started having difficulties. The Caribbean is a very expensive place. I had saved 7 thousand dollars in my bank account. But I was keeping it for emergencies and the Panama Canal (2 thousand dollars to cross it). Covid struck me in the Caribbean, I was stranded. I was, obviously, doing the boat's maintenance on my own. I could not land the boat because it was very expensive. I would do the maintenance underwater as I am a diver. But of course, the money was gone anyway. I only kept that 2 thousand dollars. After I crossed the Panama Canal, brother Ekrem (İnözü) and sailor friends surprised me. They gathered the money required to do the crossing and sent it to me. I thank them and hope that they are always there for me! Honestly, I did not have any other income. That is how I completed the tour around the world.
KY: Well, you obviously stayed away from luxury restaurants, etc.
FA: Those are not my style anyway. You can go to any bay around the world today, anchor and live there for weeks without spending any money. You can eat fish, cook pan pizzas, spaghetti, etc. and be well fed. Yes, I had no luxury spending but I of course visited restaurants, had beers and enjoyed the places I liked. This is generally how it goes: You have less money when you visit cities and have more when you go back to bays. You have to balance things.
KY: Then let us do the calculation now. Let us assume that we put aside 10 thousand dollars for boat-related issues. And if we have a monthly income of a thousand dollars, this is doable.
FA: Even 800 would be enough, instead of a thousand.
KY: But only if you do your own work, do your own repairs and so on.
FA: Yes, right. But let us not exaggerate the financial aspect. Then most people count themselves out. Yet, you can achieve the kind of comfort I have described with a single rental income and a little bit of savings. It is not impossible at all. Trust me, the value of what you will spend is nothing compared to the value of what you will experience.
KY: There is also a legal aspect. Now, we can anchor anywhere in the world, in any bay we want, at a certain distance from the shore and stay there, right?
FA: Here is what I did. I first made a list of the countries on my world travel route that do not apply visas to Turks or grant visa at the border. I planned my route based on them. Besides, the oceans and seas belong to everyone. All countries have a continental shelf. But we are entitled to transit through there as well. There are international waters even in the Schengen area, which is the one that constrains us the most. We cross those waters without entering the country, hoisting their flags. There is also a different treatment for those who come from the sea with their boats. Because you are a passenger that came with your boat, you are obviously a sailor, not like you are going to leave your boat and run away. That is why boaters are always more tolerated as long as they follow the rules. Usually you anchor in a bay, go to the shore with your boat, say "I came and I want to enter", fill in the forms. But you obviously cannot do that in France, and that is because of Schengen. Also, I did not visit America. Because my boat is not a boat that can handle the air of those parallels. Blue Horizon's structure requires it to stay within the 20 north and 20 south parallels. Nevertheless, we can summarize it like this: You can easily travel to and from a large part of the world by boat without requiring a lot of bureaucratic procedures.
KY: So, what is the most important preparation for those who dream of setting out on such a journey?
FA: First of all, if you have recently purchased your boat, I would definitely recommend you to spend two or three years on the Turkish coast. Like, go to Cyprus. Do not do what I did, get some experience first. Learn the weather, learn to read charts. You also have to know your boat. Even if you are not going to repair it, you should be able to identify problems.
KY: As someone who has traveled all over the world, who has seen the world with his own eyes, I have to ask you about the environment. How do you think environmental issues are progressing around the world?
FA: Frankly speaking, this is a matter for big countries. This is because they are the ones doing the most harm, exploiting the resources. But smaller countries are able to find ways of protecting themselves. For example, Costa Rica protects its rainforests and this attracts a lot of tourists. All thanks to the rainforests! Maldives banned net fishing, you can only fish with a fishing rod. These are the countries that we should take as an example. After returning to Türkiye, everywhere seemed incredibly barren to me. You see the bottom at the harbor, but there are no fish. I have been diving for 27 years, octopuses used to look at us from their nests. We used to see so many species and schools of fish. Today you cannot, none of them. This barrenness in our country is worrying. It is all in our people. They should protect and take care of the place they live in, like the Maldivians. They should object to plunder and corruption. I believe that is the only way. For example, we should not trap fish migrating from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean in a narrow area in the Bosporus. Because it is a migration route. Speaking of which, we must reduce bottom trawling to 100 meters. How does it make sense to look for fish at less than 100 meters, at 25 meters? This is a horrible carnage. We have to give up this mentality immediately, otherwise we cannot prevent that barrenness.
KY: It seems that there is a problem of intent. Well, do you think we are also lacking in knowledge?
FA: We are not lacking in knowledge. We have marine research foundations, we have very good professors. They are doing research in the Black Sea and Marmara for the continuity of the species. So we have the knowledge, we have the human resources. I think the issue is essentially a matter of interest.
KY: Do Maldivians not have any interest?
FA: They too would do the same if they could. But there are control mechanisms. Fines are high. Fishermen lose their license instantly. So, they are scared and cannot do it.
KY: I think the fact that we do not have a widespread maritime culture is also a factor. I mean, when we think of the sea, we just think of the summer holiday.
FA: There is no continuity in our maritime culture, there are interruptions. However, there has been a maritime culture in these lands since ancient times. We know it from Homer, from Strabo. We are the descendants of those ancient folk. But when society deteriorates in terms of mentality and economy, maritime culture becomes no longer transmittable. Leave everything else aside, even the tradition of row boating is no longer alive. Besides, deterioration increases as boating becomes more expensive. Currently, people from a maritime culture are not able to pass on that knowledge to the next generation because the economic situation is not good. Then one forgets that one cannot listen to loud music at the anchorage. You forget the tradition of greeting each other when two boats pass by each other.
KY: We are also forgetting about our heroes... Dragut, Occhiali, Aruj Barbarossa, even Sait Faik, The Fisherman of Halicarnassus.
FA: It is our mission to ensure that they are not forgotten. I hope that maybe things will get better in the future, and when new technologies come into play, seafaring will become cheaper.
KY: If that is okay with you, let us conclude this lovely interview by saying that we will not forget and we will not let others forget.
FA: Thank you so much.
Interview: Kayhan Yavuz, Setur Marinas Highlights Editor