Basque students re-create ancient leather boat
03/07/2009
The Albaola Association, a group dedicated to preserving the maritime culture and traditions of the Basque Country, has successfully concluded a project to build a boat made from leather.
Working with a group of problem students in the town of Pasaia, near San Sebastián, the association used the sparse data it has collected on the way people in that part of Europe made boats in prehistoric times.
The mayor of Pasaia, Maider Ziganda, presided at the launch at the end of June, at which a crowd of townspeople cheered when four of the students took to the water in the craft and went some way towards proving its seaworthiness by paddling it for a short distance.
Head of the association, Xabier Agote, said the project had take three months to complete and had involved a study of the materials used to make Basque coracles and canoes in ancient times, followed by discussions with a local shipyard about traditional construction methods. “This is our hypothesis of what one of those leather boats from centuries ago would have looked like,” he explained.
Mr Agote insisted that the experience had been a positive one for the students because it had helped them develop good work habits, learn the importance of teamwork, to take responsibility, to have greater confidence in their own abilities and to see that work can be fun. He congratulated the group for having made an important contribution to the study of Basque maritime history.
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