The Traditional Sailing Fleet of Madagascar

26/01/2025

Check this out!

In Belo sur Mer around 60 schooner class vessels were under construction. We spoke with those making them.

23/01/2025

https://youtu.be/Wxr7rfp74U4?feature=shared

We experience the versatility and speed of these craft.

23/01/2025

Check out our experience on Nosy Vao with this link:

Nine lslands form the Barren Islands up to 60 km off the Madagascan west coast.These landfalls enable the Veso people to fish these offshore waters.

23/01/2025

Here is the updated link for the last post due to bad quality upload. Enjoy!

In the regional town of Besalampy, well upriver from the sea, an opportunity to speak with the captain of a similar schooner to the one we were travelling on...

29/11/2024

https://youtu.be/e2hq2OvWagk?si=UhjSWJ_j1ePKF0jv

Some team members had the opportunity to sail on a Sakalava Pirogue. With assistance from the local Malagasy people and Fred, we gained valuable insight into...

28/11/2024

Here is a pirogue in the process of being built, tools used by hand.

25/11/2024

Belo sur Mer is the centre for building the schooner sailing boats. As mentioned, it is estimated that 70 Botry (schooners) are currently at various stages of construction in this village. We learned that limited wood, and money to buy the wood, results in a final product taking up to 10 years, most commonly around the 1-2 years if the materials are available.

The wood that is best for the keel is Katrafay and ribs is nato, both native to Madagascar. This wood has a soft, white wood outside, with a hard core. In the past, when this resource was very common, the soft wood would be stripped off the structural beams and the boat made with only the core. These boats would last 40+ years with good maintenance due to it’s strength. Now, as the trees are being over harvested, it is becoming much harder to find trees that are old and large enough to be able to get purely the core, so they must use a combination of soft and hard. The wood used for the planking is anakaraka and has also been over harvested, meaning good quality wood for planking is hard to obtain. The impact of this is that the lifespan of the boats has reduced down to 15 years when looked after, putting extra pressure on the forest.

When you look close, there are a wide range of designs in the fleet and the Fundy (master boatbuilder) we interviewed explained to us that he will work with the needs of his client to fit the boat to purpose and desires.

The Fundy fabricating these amazing boats use only a few hand tools to shape and join the massive timber components. The methods they used are basically the same as those used for over a hundred years when these vessels were introduced into Madagascar by the Joahchim brothers who are still honoured. Seeing these boats built left us with a sense of awe and wonder at their craftsmanship and ingenuity of the Fundy. We were grateful for their shared knowledge that they freely and enthusiastically gave us.

23/11/2024

After a quick stop in Morondava to restock, we took a sail only schooner for the 11 hour passage to Belo Sur Mer. Not having the motor to rely on, we really saw the efficiency and reliability of the simply rigged fleet. From poling our way out of the harbour and sitting in fickle breeze for a few hours, we started flying along at an average of 6 knots boat speed for the rest of the trip. Chats with the captain confirmed that their navigation is by the stars, moon and sun, and is handed down through the generations. His father is a fondy (boat builder) and has been sailing for 9 years, owning the current boat for the last four as captain. His expectation is that the boat will last around 20 years, which is a lot more than we have heard from other captains.

The crew would often call to the ancestors at the beginning when there was no wind with a musical like chant. On arrival to Belo Sur Mer the captain expertly navigated through the shallow entrance and instructed the crew to drop the sails and anchor in perfect timing to park up within the cluster of other schooners. They were on their way delivering goods and to pick up salt that is mined locally here and transport it back up to Morondava.

With Nofy Be sailing and motoring next to us, we saw that the sails could keep up when there was wind for a fraction of the price. This showed us that, whilst motors may have an advantage under some conditions, the sailing schooners with their lower cost are still viable and have a role in producing transport within Madagascar. Even those with motors retain some of their sails.

Belo Sur Mer is the home of schooner and Vezo pirogue building, with currently 70 new bouchie being produced. We are heading into town to find out more technical information, and get some first hand experience in their boat building ways.

22/11/2024

In Nosy Lava we had the opportunity to talk to Tacai, the chief of the island and the community. She is one of 3 female chiefs elected within the south west of Madagascar. Around 130 people migrate every year to this island, however throughout the cyclone season (January-March) only 30 are brave enough to stay. The rest migrate hundreds of miles south to the mainland to wait out the rain. The reef island is utilised for spearfishing, fish netting, line fishing, octopus collection and shell collecting for handy crafts. Tacai has been elected by the community for her chief role, which makes her a small amount of money, and a fish collector for the town, owning two engine powered dhows. She is well respected and moved from Morondava to the island roughly 30 years ago at the age of 16 to sell sweets by herself.

A few of the locals took us sailing on their Vezo canoe and we were very impressed. It sailed very high into the wind, was extremely quick and they even had the ability to put a reef in to reduce the sail area in higher breezes. Steering by oar, the crew were able to tack the boat (something that is not possible on the Sakalava canoes due to the sprit on the top of the sail needing to gybe) for a quick(ish) manoeuvre. They took us spearfishing the next day and we experienced a different type of home made speargun. It was longer and for larger fish, although we did not have the chance to find any. Their diving ability was formidable and he loved trying James’ proper free diving fins.

Nosy Lava is a beautiful island with a community that relies on the sailing canoes for their way of life. Their canoes transport everything, from water to people, from the mainland every week and season.

Now we are off to Morondava to see the home where Nofy Be was made!

18/11/2024

We stopped in at Maintarano to refuel and had the chance to speak with the locally established NGO, Blue Ventures. They were founded in 2003 in Morondova and have had their Maintarano branch since 2013. Blue Ventures goal in Madagascar is creating a more sustainable Vezo fishing communities and protecting the oceans around Madagascar. Christian, who manages the Blue Ventures in the Maintarano region, talked us through their local projects including scientific diving to understand fish stocks, community programs to diversify income types, and advocacy to reduce large scale international fishing pressures.

Their model of community created and led programs is one to admire, with a highly positive engagement with the locals that does not impose practices but teaches them why certain methods are good to utilise. For example, educating the Vezo as to how painting and maintaining their boats can improve the canoes’ lifespan and letting them go away with this knowledge, rather than simply buying them the materials or doing it for them.

Christian is very proud of his work and the wider Blue Ventures community. One of the issues they are tackling is the diminishing wood stocks for building the canoes by researching sustainable alternatives. Without wood, the Vezo’s will not be able to build their canoes and go fishing. They have secured funding for the next four years for their work on the west coast.

Thank you for the work you are doing Blue Ventures, you are an inspiration to the Malagasy people and marine advocates of the world.

17/11/2024

The Team is off on a Laka sail!

17/11/2024

What is the “Vezo”?

The Vezo litterally means “the people who fish”. They do not identify with a specific Malagasy ethnic group but instead with their way of life. Their identity is instead contextual and embodied in learned skills such as fishing or swimming and the calluses they produce, rather than in shared origin. They are mostly populated within the littoral zone along Madagascars west coast, between the south of Toliara and Mahajanga.