OUR DHOW
ABOUT DHOWS
THE RIG
TACKING
PERFORMANCE
OUR DHOW - 'ASHRAF'
Our dhow is Ashraf, built of camphor in Kizingitini, Lamu five years ago.
She is 9.5m long overall, with a beam of 2.5m and a draught of 1m and she has an outboard motor.
She has been fitted out for boat charter with a toilet and shower forward of the mast, a covered structure over the aft deck for shade and the solar panels. Lockers, seats and flooring are midship and there is a table around the mast for eating. She has four 120w solar panels with batteries to run the VHF radio, a fridge, lights and a music system.
Berths are on mattresses in the open air or under mosquito nets and a canvass tarpaulin when needed.
Safety equipment includes liferaft, dinghy, lifejackets, radio, fire extinguisher, fire blanket, life buoys and a bilge pump.
Ahsraf is fully licenced and carries comprehensive insurance.
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 Kisingitini is a small Muslim village on the north shore of Pate Island and is the unlikely centre for dhow building in Kenya. The foreshore is lined with boatyards constructing dhows for the country’s fishing industry, which is still based on sail and line fishing. In the wetter southerly monsoon, they subsistence farm goats, coconuts, maize, beans and bananas. During Sailkenya’s first trip, we returned Ashraf, our 10 metre dhow, to her birthplace.
In the calmer northerly monsoon, they fish 12 miles out into the Indian Ocean, but in this dry season they have to rely on stored fresh water, which is caught by concrete aprons during the wet season. They have one radio mast for communication with Lamu and the local hospital and a daily motorised dhow is their only contact with the mainland.
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