Sindbad

In the mid-8th C Abdullah bin Gasm sailed across to Guangzhou in China, without encountering any quarantine problems.
In 1980 Tim Severin and an Omani crew relived the 6000 Nm / 8 month journey in this boat, the Sohar; named after the home port of another famous local navigator, Ahmed bin Majid.
Sohar also claims Sindbad the Sailor so maybe Tim was just playing Douglas Fairbanks Jr role ,as a young, swashbuckling adventurer, more physical than intellectual.
Arab ships—loosely referred to as dhows—were stitched: the planks of their narrow, long hulls woven together by a kind of coconut husk coir. Severin’s search for good coir rope eventually led him to the Lakshadweep islands, along the Indian Ocean route, advanced during the early centuries of Islam by Arab merchants. Ali Manikfan was given the responsibility of making the ancient Arab trading ship a reality. Ali Manikfan took this mission as a challenge and went to Oman to direct the team of carpenters. The replica was built over the course of a year in the dhow shipyards at Sur from the bark of over 75,000 palm trees and 4 tonnes of rope. No nails.
Now the vessel sits a little forlornly on the roundabout in front of the Parliament buildings and the Ritz Carlton. There is almost no tourist information about it but I tracked it down!
On the way down I caught a glimpse of the rear end of Parliament (could it have been a rump parliament?) viewed from a roadside cafe which was closed. Generous helpings in the coffee cups - perhaps that's why they went out of business.Weiterlesen