Sticks and String
Posted By Sika on September 30, 2009
In knitting we say, “It’s only sticks and string” to indicate to newbies that it’s all manageable. Well sailing a dhow only uses sticks and strings, too, but it’s far more impressive. Out on a dhow, watching how it is manoeuvred, I couldn’t help but think that my grandpa would love to see how it all works.
There are no pulleys on the dhow, but they are simulated in several places by rope hinged through other loops of rope or bits of wood. For instance, the main rope, used to raise and lower the sail, is looped through a stick nailed to the stern. The stick acts as a pulley, enabling one person to raise or lower the sail with control. Or, rope is looped through another rope, fastened to the mast, which acts as a pulley when changing the direction of the sail.
The oars are big sticks with planks shaped like the ace of spades lashed to them with more rope. The oarlocks are sticks jammed into carved holes, used only when needed. The oars themselves are then braced against the sticks, the face of the oar and the face of the oarlock grinding splinters off one another.
Different rope is tied to the benches for moving the boom from one side or another, more sticks used to help stabilize and mark where the boom should be. Even the rudder is just sticks of a sort.
And that’s it.
There’s only one sail, in one shape. If they want it full open, they someone runs to the bow and flips it around so it can billow out grandly, almost tipping the dhow onto its side. If they want an angled sail, one of the crew actually holds it at the angle. Or else they flip it around the mast again, so the sail catches against the mast, and then play out the sail—allowing the mast and the wind itself to change the shape, size, and angle of the sail. If they just want the sail to not run as full, they tighten the rope so that the sail doesn’t change shape or angle, but the mast keeps it from kiting out completely.
The only hitch in the smooth and nearly wordless running of the dhow are the passengers, who are always move too early or too late.
Sticks, string, the human body and mind. That’s all they need. I’m amazed.
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