Some days ago when we talked about Capucine and her Atlantic crossing on a traditional Indian small fishing boat I also told the story of Corentin, the young French engineer that built Tara Tari, Capucine's boat. Corentin, with the funds he raised with his voyage on Tara Tari, from India to France, went back to Bangladesh to continue the search to make an all Jute composite traditional boat. He has successfully built a Sampan that he called "Gold of Bengal".
He has not done it all alone but with a lot of help from hi tech technicians and designers, some of the best in the world like the Naval Architect Marc Van Peteghem or the top solo racer and sail/rig specialist Roland Jourdain. Their objective was not just to make a jute boat but to develop low tech efficient technologies that can help the sustained development of a poor country in an ecological way.
They are dreamers but dreams are what took us to where we stand, sustainable dreams can be turned into reality and bring development. I just hope that it will be the case with this collective generous effort. On the movies we can see the making of the boat and the testing, not only in what regards the boat but how to live in autonomy for several months. Corentin can make freshwater from sea water with a primitive pumping machine, he developed a greenhouse in the boat, has some chickens for eggs and he fishes. Funny and looking crazy but the truth is that one can live that way for months. I believe many of these things he is just rediscovering because they have been used by local fishermen for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Why jute and why the Bangladesh? Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world and Jute has a big importance in its economy but Jute, that was for centuries used to make bags, is today being substituted by plastic fibers and that is having a catastrophic effect on the fragile Bangladesh economy.
Can all this help Bangladesh? I have some doubts about this kind of approach, not politically correct to say this, but it is true. I believe that probably in what regards living that way Corentin has far more to learn with the local fishermen than he has to teach and in what concerns Jute composite, well, Jute is not expensive but the resin is still needed and it is expensive, at least to the level of the earnings of a local fisherman. It is a nice effort anyway, we will see if it will have any practical effects in what regards the local economy and the living standard of the local populations. I truly hope this is the case.
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