Arawak

Race participant

The Arawak was built in 1954 at the Union et Travail shipyard in Sables-d’Olonne. She was originally named Refuge des marins (Sailors’ Refuge) and was used for side-trawl fishing off the coast of Ireland in winter and outrigger tuna fishing in the Bay of Biscay in summer, until the 1980s.

Built with an engine and supplementary sails, she was part of the transitional generation between the “dundees” (sailboats for tuna fishing) and modern motor trawlers.
She had an on-board cool box and could store fish for 10-15 days.

In 1986, at the end of her career as a working ship, she was converted into a training vessel in Bordeaux and was renamed ARAWAK in 1993.

This historical boat is listed as a French national heritage ship, the last legacy of small-scale fishing from the port of Etel (a major French tuna-fishing port in the 1950s).

She was listed as a “Vessel of Heritage Interest” in June 2012 by the Fondation du Patrimoine Maritime et Fluvial (French Maritime and River Heritage Foundation).

She won the Dublin – Bordeaux leg of the Tall Ships Regatta in 2018.