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PROJECT # 1
Rebirth of “La Piragua Margariteña”
What have we done so far
The history of La Piragua from May 2020 to September 2022
This is a beautiful project that started from cero researching documents and collecting antique photos that where the base for building our first 3D models of the hull, following with a 150 page construction manual to properly guide, register and follow the construction process because we don’t want to build one Piragua, we want to build one hundred! And return many grounded fisherman to the sea.
Our goal is to reintroduce the Sail powered Piragua as cost efficient alternative amongst fisherman, who have it very rough in Venezuela with soaring prices for boats and engines an innumerable other situations derived from the country’s situation . We estimate that with the cost of one equivalent engine powered boat with same utility capacities we can put three Piraguas to Sail, not only saving money, but also saving clean air.
The Caribbean and its very constant trade winds is a sailors paradise and we hope to demonstrate its potential to local fisherman .
Also of consideration, in that in an Island with huge touristic potential, the patrimonial heritage of the Piragua could fit perfectly in the new modality of cultural and historic tourism, giving it an added value not only for the tourist operators who would take their clients but specially for the fisherman who could find an additional income not only captaining the ships, but also building them, fixing the sails, doing the maintenance and so on.
Expedition Rowing Home “La Remada”
La Piragua was built in Punta Cotúa -at the end of the Gulf of Cariaco- because it was much cheaper.
The strategy was then to move it in a trailer to Margarita.
But then it occurred to me to ask my partner Pavel Alcolcer: -what if we row it home?-, to which he replied - and why couldn't we do it?- I explained to him that it could be impossible, she weighs close to two tons and has a lot of hull surface exposed to the wind to row the 170 kilometers home against wind and tide could be madness- his response marked the rest of the expedition for all of us, he told me:
“My Captain, for the impossible we only need a few more days."
So in August 2015 our tribe concentrated in Cariaco and after three days of testing we paddled the 170 km home...
The Rebirth of “La Piragua Margariteña”
What is still to be done
The project has been slowly but always advancing for the last 4 years basically due to very limited support (and the pandemic) of funds that we have been able to put into it; As of today we have only properly paddled the Piragua and occasionally improvised sailing using a small Spinnaker Sail from a 470, a small sports sailboat 1/20th of the weight of the Piragua.
But for the Piragua to accomplish its reason to exist, we have to fit it with the original Latin Sail as pictured below at left and all its rigging.
To carry out the three major expeditions we need help to cover the expenses of the planned multi day expeditions for a crew of 6 plus ground support and documental team, we also need funding to update our on board equipment among which is our old navigation equipment (GPS), which no longer can handle the new charts, and for the production of the expedition documentaries.
We have to prove the potential of the Piragua and to do so we have planned for three of its ancient very emblematic sailing routes.
1- The first quarter of the 19th Century Pearl route to Coche & Cubagua. (30 kms)
2- The 250 km circumnavigation of Margarita, touching every one of the most important fisherman ports.
3- The 600 km route (RT) of the Margariteños who established the first permanent settlements in Los Roques.
