Virtual Travel; Northern Mozambique and Martinique

Two excellent videos featuring traditional sailboats in faraway places.

First up, Northern Mozambique;

"Boat trip with a traditional sailing boat (Dhau) to "Ilha do Ibo" in northern Mozambique, and then further on through dense mangrove forests to Querimba Island. Beautiful images with music of a very remote place in Africa. Tropical dream on an Island with ruins of colonial Portuguese houses that are unchanged since the late 19. century.

And from Martinique, a German produced short video of a traditional boat regatta;

.

"The Tour de Martinique of “Yoles rondes” (curved-bottomed craft) thus called as opposed to flat-bottomed boats. It is a week-long regatta of traditional racing sailing boats run around the island of Martinique in seven stages. The Tour des Yoles Rondes of Martinique is probably the most popular event on the island as it is followed by the whole population and by an increasing number of visitors and journalists from abroad.

I like the log hiking out aids, and the big, colorful, square spritsails. Steering these craft obviously takes some muscle and the boats look none too stable. My guess is these craft were adapted from European rowing gigs.