Bowled over by a boat from Bodrum
James Collard sailed around the Turkish coast on a gulet - and was completely captivated.

From the start of the day, when the more adventurous jump out of bed and into the calm blue sea before breakfast, through languid afternoons idling on deck watching the wind fill the sails above or dolphins gambolling in the bow wave, easing into balmy nights spent sipping raki and playing poker — day after day, almost wave by wave, contentment seeped into us, and we’d say to one another: Best-ever holiday? Maybe. Of course it’s not simple to weigh up a week’s cruise out of Bodrum against every holiday that went before it, from the school field trip where you had your first snog to the weekend in Manhattan in your favourite boutique hotel. Still, it’s not hard to identify the active ingredients of a sailing holiday in sunny weather on one of the Mediterranean’s most beautiful coastlines.

Bodrum might be heading towards the chicken-in-a-basket fate of seaside resorts the world over, but sail just a few miles away and you quickly find yourself in an apparently unchanging world: villages where donkeys wander the main street; ruined Greek settlements with echoing ancient wells under low, saucer-like domes; bronzed, moustachioed fishermen happy to sell you some of their catch, which later you eat hot from a barbecue on an isolated beach.

One way or another, a holiday with Tussock Cruising provides the Mediterranean world we dream of through the long months of winter. Often it was the sheer pleasure of the sailing that would bowl us over. Every morning the captain, having motored out of whichever cove had sheltered us overnight, exchanged the chugging engine for the hum of wind-filled sails — not a bad metaphor for the mood shift we experienced through that week, swapping daily commutes for the pleasure of sailing under cloudless skies.

Like most of the boat’s 12 passengers, I was a sailing virgin. I had viewed the prospect of a week sailing with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Would it be comfortable? Safe? Fun? Well, as for comfort, while many boats operating out of Bodrum and Marmaris seldom put their sails up, the ten boats of this Anglo-Dutch company are proper sailing yachts — or more specifically, gulets.

Don’t expect huge cabins and the luxury of a stockbroker’s gin palace, but Tussock’s boats are beautiful and cosy — even the insomniacs among us slept like babies. (And, yes, the loos are fine.) Over drinks when you first arrive by minibus from the airport, the captain walks you through the few rules designed to ensure your safety, comfort or (in the case of the ban on shoes) simply to preserve the boat’s polished woodwork.

The yachts, which take six to eighteen passengers, are fully crewed but you can help with sailing should you so desire. If you want to loll about reading, fishing or sunbathing, well, that’s just fine. And when the crew aren’t sailing, they’re tidying up, pouring drinks or cooking really rather delicious meals, most of which, along with beers and raki and the good local wines, are included in the price. Most people don’t choose sailing holidays to experience the kind of luxury we might experience at a swanky hotel, but the service was excellent.

Tussock shows the same focus and lack of complacency that we look for (and don’t always find) in a high-end holiday — not least in achieving the kind of alchemy that makes for a happy boat.

“No two groups are the same,” explains Loes Douze, who runs the company with her husband Huub. One boat might seem like a gathering of Booker Prize jurors, quietly ploughing through book after book and pausing only to swap highbrow ideas over lunch; others reverberate to the sound of children having fun or, as in our case, grown-ups having impromptu raki-fuelled discos.

Putting the right people on the right boat is key to the customers having a good time and Tussock getting the high levels of repeat business the company enjoys (many of them single travellers). Trips with guest experts and themed itineraries are self-selecting. But for the rest of us, Loes listens carefully to would-be cruisers before booking them into a boat.

She also contacts all customers after the trip. It’s a sign that the company is more concerned with everyone having a good time than with making a profit. That seems borne out by the fact that Tussock employs its crews all the year round. Out of season, the crews hone their skills.

Cooks get masterclasses from visiting chefs, and captains compare notes with Loes and Huub and consider improvements for next season. As Huub, who was a human-resources professional before he joined Tussock, explains, this more open, less hierarchical way of working took some getting used to for the Turkish crews. But it clearly works.

Everyone can appreciate being served by highly motivated, contented employees who know their own worth.

Best holiday ever? I’d say so.

Getting there: Tussock Cruising (020-8510 9292, www.tussockcruising.com) sails out of Bodrum and Marmaris from April until the end of October. Prices for one week, Saturday to Saturday, start at £345, including breakfast, lunch, four dinners on board . (some dinners are taken ashore), plus soft drinks, wine and beer, but excluding flights. First Choice Airways (0870 2401402, www.air2000.com) flies from Gatwick to Bodrum from £119. Private charters begin at £1,025. Themed cruises include botany, cooking, painting, yoga, fitness and beauty, literature and bridge.

What to see: lots of ancient ruins — Tussock can arrange excursions to spectacular sites such as the ruins of Ephesus and the Lycian rock tombs at Caunos. For those more interested in modern Turkey there are trips to Turkish baths, markets, supper with local families — or the famous Halicarnassos disco. All excursions are optional.

Reading: Eyewitness Travel Guide: Turkey (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99).