Greek Sacelova

The “Sakoleva” or sacoleva sail is a special type of square sail, with common use in Aegean Sea and most of the Eastern Mediterranean ports. The original word “Sakolefea” as a type of sail, is first encountered in Byzantine texts and was originally used to denote a form of cloak. Because of this unique sail, any kind of vessel having this rigging is named as “Sakoleva”. Its main characteristic is a diagonal yard which is used to hold the sail open. The vessel shown here is probably a form of tserniki, with its dramatically raked stem probably based on a Turkish boat called a tsikirne (but Turkish boat builders reckon the tsikirne came from Greece and others suggest Danube origins). Whether they were double ended or transom-sterned is disputed—but everyone agrees that the stems were dramatically raked. They often used a sprit rig sacoleva that dates back to the 2nd to 3rd century A.D. and is thought to have originated in Turkey