This project was inspired by a 1990s trip to Bolivia's Lake Titicaca (elevation 13,000 feet, no wood for building canoes up there!). Our local Phragmites reeds were used for this bundle boat. Quite unsinkable, swamping waves simply drain away through the reeds that form the hull. No other pre-Columbian watercraft sports a sail. The reed boat was constructed in 2014.
- A traditional native reed boat at Lake Titicaca, Bolivia: Elevation 13,000 feet.
- Jim in Bolivia (1990), sitting with a reed boat, Tatora reeds drying in the background.
- A reed boat model from Bolivia. Rigging detail is accurate. A ceramic effigy looks on.
- Back home in CT (2014), Jim paddles his Phragmites reed recreation.
- Helper, George, gives the reed boat a try.
- Rigging the sail on the reed boat.
- ... and still rigging.
- George looks on as Jim floats lower under sail.
- Second generation reed boat (2014). More reeds added to the hull. Floating high under sail.
- Third generation reed boat (2015). Floating higher on even more reeds.
- Reed sail adorned with the Weeping God of Tiwanaku. Lake Titicaca, here we come!