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Winter sun in an ancient craft PHOTOS: Hilary munr o
Hilary at the helm with the felucca’s captain
Ladies Helm at Changi Sailing Hilary Munro Club. She owned an Enterprise Hilary, 57, learned to sail in Dun Laoghhaire, Ireland, dinghies in Dar-es-Salaam a Laser on Lake Capchugai, harbour as a child and has since Kazakhstan, and another on sailed all over the world. She the Caspian Sea at Baku. Living crewed in passage races off with husband Colin in Cairo, Singapore and won the 1979 she is a magazine editor. The felucca has barely changed for centuries and is still fiendish to sail!
Hilary Munro learns to sail a mast, boom and yard, with a But don’t underestimate the had climbed the same way: there felucca on the Nile at Aswan triangular cotton lateen sail. The sheer joy of sailing these graceful were tracks of two scarab beetles. sail is lashed to the yard and the craft on one of the most famous We ran back down to the boat Our Nubian felucca captain Gelal boom. Sail area is adjusted by a rivers in the world. There is with the lovely feel of cool sand picked us up early from our hotel topping lift, controlled at the stern. also the predictable winds and between the toes. on the banks of the Nile. We cast The boom is controlled by a sheet constant sunshine. Aswan itself is a With their large sail areas, off and tacked downstream. The from the stern. bonus – Egypt at a different pace, feluccas are exhilarating on a prevailing Nile wind is from the However, no one could accuse more intimate. reach, but my north. With the river flowing in the the felucca of being easy to sail. The Nile narrows heart was in my opposite direction, you beat with She is heavy on the helm, sluggish here with a set mouth as we the current and run against it – to turn and short-tacking on the of cataracts and sailed through very convenient. river is tricky with a lateen rig. In islands. channels so close The basic layout of the felucca strong wind these boats can move Still getting to rocks I could has barely changed for centuries and there are numerous pleasure the feel of touch them. Our and is quite simple. There is a craft and ferries to avoid. the boat, we captain Gelal practiced some reassured me: ‘All tacking, before my fathers before How to do turning south me have been (upstream) The sails are reefed by hauling in felucca captains, it yourself on a run up on the clewline our blood is the There are some the quieter Nile. I feel every 700 feluccas on West Bank channel. This is more change in the channels and the the Nile between constricted and fast flowing sandbars, I know all the rocks.’ Aswan and currents, as well as rocks lurking We enjoyed lunch at Gelal’s Luxor. In Aswan, just below the surface, added to house on Seheyl Island, before most captains the complexity of navigation. turning back upstream into the congregate at The felucca’s shallow draught wind. This required much tacking the Panorama allows her to beach. There are in constricted water, but at least restaurant. Talk lots of choices, ranging from the the considerable current was now to some until Sailing history: book a felucca trip by the hour botanic gardens, the West Bank with us. you find one you tombs, Nubian villages, ancient That evening, at the aptly like. Make sure you get agreement to you sailing their boat. Do not Coptic monasteries and Pharaonic named Sunset Café, the river lay at accept substitute captains at the last minute. Felucca trips around quarries. Preferring to spend our our feet like a map. Feluccas flew Aswan cost between LE25-35 per hour (£2.50-£3), more in the day sailing, we chose only a brisk in all directions in full sail and the Christmas and Easter seasons. walk up a high sand dune for a desert stretched out from the West view of the river below. Others Bank. It had been a wonderful day.
76 www.yachtingmonthly.com OCTOBER 2011