Professional Skipper - Free Sample issue (July/Aug 2011)

A typical fishing dhow in Al Khor, Qatar A modern dhow in Doha with a traditional hull. It just doesn't look right! and required having to sail closer to the wind, for which the lateen rig is better suited. The spar to which the sail's luff was attached on a single-masted cargo dhow, like the ones that serviced our ship, was longer than the dhow itself, which was normally about 25-30m long. The spar was not lowered until on athered the The spar was not lowered until one man had scaled it, gathered the sail and lashed it to the spar. As can be seen in the photograph, small cargo dhows to sail out to us. It was like going back in time and it was fascinating to watch these vessels still doing the job they were originally designed for centuries earlier. If the wind was light it could take all morning for a small fleet of dhows to sail out to us from the shallow river mouth from where they had emerged with the rising sun behind them. They couldn't be rushed and no-one got upset at their e o e late arrival, because that's the way it had been for countless years. When at anchor off these "ports", our ship-to-shore r countless years ur ship to shore communication was by Aldis lamp with a navy signal station. This job was left to us apprentices, with one sending and receiving and the other writing very quickly, as the navy boys were renowned for being very quick with their signalling. Heaven help you if you lost track in the middle of a long message! The cellphones of today sort of take the fun (and skill) out of communication. The dhow's lateen rig is not as old as the hull design. It was thought the lateen rig originated on the coasts of the northern Indian Ocean and made its way into the Mediterranean Sea during the seventh century under Islamic expansion. The reverse is in fact what happened. Searches for lateen sails in India prior to 1500 have been inconclusive, whereas the earliest true lateen rig in the Mediterranean appears in a 1st century BC Hellenistic wall painting in Alexandria. Found on the Turkish coast, the earliest archaeologically excavated lateen-rigged vessel, the Yassi Ada 2, dates to around 400. Before the lateen rig reached the Indian Ocean, the dhows used square sails, this rig being better suited for running downwind with the monsoon. Many of their voyages involved coastal work 26 Professional Skipper July/August 2011 r open awaiting loading this was no easy task! Sadly, very few sailing dhows are in evidence today, as most of them are powered by trusty iron spinnakers. But they are still busy trading, and dhows of 30-50m carry up to 400 tonnes between trading ports around the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Coast. One of the best places to see these cargo dhows is by takingarg a walk along the quay of The Creek in Dubai, where a fascinating array of goods are piled high, out in the a a b ar he nd bes a w The a fas are p open, awaiting loading. Back in Qatar, we visited the old fishing port of Al Khor, a 40km drive north from Doha through the desert. It's not a place one would normally encourage people to visit, but there were dozens of fishing dhows I wanted to see. They were all basically of the same design with their high, scimitar-shaped bows and square sterns, just different in size. There was a distinct absence of any electronic gear, and steering was done by pushing a large tiller at the stern with one foot while balancing on the other leg, so the throttle would be within reach with a long arm. No point in making it too easy! An open-air "thunderbox" (marine long-drop) was in the usual place, hung off the port quarter with no plumbing, so it's advisable not to cut close to the stern when in a dinghy. Many of the 20-30m dhows in Doha have been built or converted for the tourist trade, with their hulls retaining their traditional lines, which unfortunately don't translate to what has been built on deck. But with the ultra-modern city skyline to gaze upon during a harbour cruise, I guess most tourists don't care what kind of boat they're on. Cargo dhows alongside the Clan Lamont, Malabar Coast, India. March 1961 t A cargo dhow on the Malabar Coast, India. Note the crew up the spar unfurling the sail. March 1961

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