‘Not a Raft’ lives up to her name

In an earlier blog titled ‘It’s us against the wind!’, some of the EM’s were using their spare time to engineer a vessel that would sail them to and from the breakers over the reef. Swiss-German engineering was at the helm in the form of Clemens, but with many helping hands, Nar became a reality.

NAR 1 (Not a Raft 1) was named after many people were misnaming it a raft, when the maker was adamant it was a Catamaran. She began to take shape very quickly, with the pile of bamboo turning into…two piles of bamboo tied together with rope! A cross bar was added, and the mast fitted inside an empty coffee pot. There was also talk of a spinnaker (for those of a non-sailing persuasion, this is an extra sail that can be quickly put up from the front of the boat, giving it a turbo-charged effect. Well, kind of). A slight miscalculation was made with the buoyancy of the cat, but the first sail went ahead and she carried two people along the shoreline as the photo illustrates.

However, unhappy with the end result, perfectionist to the end, Clemens was determined to better his first attempt with a different design. This involved some underground dealings whereby 20L water bottles were purchased to give the boat some lift. Less bamboo was tie together, and a simple frame was fortified with the water bottles. Clemens had to leave before completing the second phase, but the project was continued by the remaining volunteers.

However, the voyage to the breakers just wasn’t to be, as Mother Nature then thwarted the attempt. An unexpected storm blew up and caused havoc on base, caving in the roof of the compressor hut. Therefore, NAR was scrapped for parts to build a new hut to shade the compressor. So although NAR didn’t fulfill her goals, she is now an integral part of another important structure, and will remain in her new form and position, at least until the next storm.

‘Not a Raft’ lives up to her name