I took three hours of my free time to fulfill a desire I had since I arrived for the very first moment in Kuna Yala. Everyday early in the morning you can see the shapes of the cayucos setting the sails and heading for the fishing destinations. This image always inspired me a deep sense of freedom and satisfaction and an intense desire to sail one.
The Sailing Cayuco
That wish came true when I asked Dino if there was any choice to rent one for a couple of hours. Finally many days after my first request he found one of his relatives that agreed with the deal so in a bright but fuzzy S/SW winderly day we set the sails from Cartì Yandup heading from saome coral reefs on the north. The first impact is strange. The main sail is rolled around the wooden mast and to set it you need two poles: one that run on the foot of the sail and another one that cross oblique and keep the sail open. The main has a sheet that goes back to stern and tied.
Cayuco Mainsail
Mainsail foot
The helmsman here is a paddleman and to tack you need to paddle to force the boat into the wind. It took me a while to understand how to steer with a wooden paddle and the fuzzy wind of the afernoon was not helping, but nothing too complicated.
Steering the cayuco
We didn’t catch any fish… but the day was intense and funny and that cayuco pointed the wind! Sure i’m going to do it again, this time i will try one with a bigger sail, just to have more speed sensation and capsizing risks!!
fabiobrunazzi
I’m very envious on several levels. I want to visit the San Blas but haven’t yet and secondly, having been a sailor all my life, recreationally and professionally, I’d love to sail in a cayuco. I had the good luck, on time, to run a very large (10-11 meter) outboard powered cayuco in the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. I never saw one under sail all through my time in Guatemala or Belize. The first cayuco I saw under sail was in Bocas del Toro.
Well San Blas is full of sailing cayucos. I was trying to buy an used one but is hard to get it. Could be my car here on the islands. I m also trying to convince the Kuna to do daily fishing trips on cayucos. I think many tourists would like to enjoy that kind of experience.