Would you like to get to know Haldun Sevel, "maviş (blue-eyed)" of his wife, the creator of famous "Ustura (Razor) Kemal" for those who know him from afar, "Rüzgâr Baba (Father Wind)" of the seas for us and the marvel of Ayvalık marina, a little more closely?

Görkem Baygın, Setur Marinas Ayvalık Front Office Representative

Haldun Sevel, who gained attention with his drawings when he was only twenty-four years old, is a name that has settled in our collective memory and cultural map. He has been a sailor since then. He fishes grey mullets around Maiden's Tower in his rowboat, and while he is there, he embraces his imagination and transfers what he sees onto paper. When he was asked to create a swashbuckling hero, he did so, but the resulting character turned out to be a likeable Istanbul bully. He called him "Ustura Kemal". Mr. Haldun considers "Ustura Kemal", who has become more and more valuable over the years and is now in the library of almost everyone who loves comics, not as a phenomenon but as one of us.

Having given lectures on life at sea when he lived in Istanbul, Mr. Haldun says that he gained all his knowledge from his yachting friends and sailing magazines. After getting the sails of his boat Maviş fixed after his retirement, Haldun Sevel bids farewell to Fenerbahçe bay on the radio in 1992 and goes sailing with his dog Dost. He collects so many memories on that voyage that he becomes a different person. Eventually, he becomes one of the senior guests of Setur Marinas Ayvalık.

What earned him the nickname "Rüzgâr Baba" is the fact that he prepared a storm diary for the Greek captain, his foster mother, for the voyage. Sevel was prompted by the fact that the full moon falls on the same day every three years. Storms being fierce on full moon nights and the famous Greek saying (Moon lies down, captain stands up!) confirmed his storm diary. 

One day, his passion for the sea made him a companion of Sadun Boro, Turkey's first amateur sailor to circumnavigate the world by sailboat. Sevel, at the age of seventeen, stayed up all night on the rowboat to see Sadun Boro off on his round-the-world trip with his boat Kısmet, and welcomed his brother, whom he had bade farewell from Fenerbahçe, in the front row three years later. They later spent a lot of time together in Gökova, which, according to Mr. Haldun, is a holy place for civilian sailors. He even bought a motor yacht on Boro's advice. Sevel also cannot forget the seagulls... Those seagulls gliding by the window of the hospital room where Sadun Boro passed away. He then printed Sadun Boro's will and posted it everywhere. When sending Kısmet off to the Rahmi M. Koç Museum, he wrote and narrated her farewell documentary. Having written "Ustura Kemal" as well as many other marine literature books until then, Mr. Haldun buried his pen in Sadun Boro's soil and quit putting his thoughts on paper. There is a condition for sailing with him: Having read Sadun Boro's book "Pupa Yelken".

Another close friend lived on Ilyosta (Sun Island). So, who is this friend? It is Mr. Donkey, abandoned on the island by his owner, with one crippled leg. Mr. Haldun always carried plenty of water with him for this donkey, which did not eat but drank plenty of water. Just when he decided to take him, his friend passed away. He built a grave for him out of pebbles. Then he realized that daisies bloomed only in that place.

Some of Haldun Sevel's friends also call him "gamlı baykuş (the owl with the blues)". Perhaps it is because ever since he stopped drawing, he has only told his thoughts to the sea and only talked to the sea.

He believes that people should be rebooted once in a lifetime, follow their dreams, incorporate what they see on the way, and leave behind memories that will be unforgettable for everyone. This is exactly what Haldun Sevel has achieved. 

Photographs: Haldun Sevel