KARACHI, Sept 6: The Fishermen’s Cooperative Society and Keamari Town have jointly revived the tradition of sailing fishing boats by organizing a race of these boats here on Friday at Keamari, on the occasion of Defence Day.

About 10 traditional sail boats participated in the race. These boats — known as ‘Machua’ in the local dialect — are about 20 feet long and do not have any motor or electrical/mechanical device.

A rally of these boats used to be organized by residents of Baba and Bhit Island’s on Sept 6, but was discontinued about four years ago due to lacklustre response from the civic bodies and other departments.

However, this year, the Chairman Fishermen’s Cooperative Society (FCS) Commodore Tayyab Naqvi took the initiative to revive the race, and organized it with the support of Keamari Town Nazim Zulfiqar Younas.

First prize of Rs20,000 was received by Haji Ishaq, captain of boat No 71 of Bhit Island, while second prize of Rs15,000 was secured by boat No 41 of Baba Island, captained by Yousaf Ali. Third prize of Rs10,000 was secured by Fakir Mohammad, who captained boat No 72 of Bhit Island, while each of the participants were awarded Rs5,000 each as a consolation prize.

Hundreds of boats and launches accompanied the race, encouraging the participants, while Commodore Naqvi and Zulfiqar Younas distributed the shields, certificates and cash awards among the winners and participants.

Commodore Naqvi expressed confidence that this type of cultural activity would be encouraged in future. Zulfiqar Younas said that these boats are a cultural heritage of the coastal areas, and said that the town will also form its own team. He hoped that the race would be held on a larger scale next year.—PPI