Aboard a Flouka with Captain Salah | Kerkennah

Discover this family album, photographed over two years, capturing the spirit of Kerkennah’s festivities and the art of sailing without a keel.

Suspended Time

A Race Against Oneself

Painter, sculptor, weaver, accomplished cook and builder of traditional floukas, Salah Benamor is of course also an excellent helmsman. He proved it to us during a regatta organised in Kraten in August 2025. We set off with a single sail on a six-metre boat, four of us aboard. We almost arrived first, only to be overtaken in the final metres. But winning was never the point.

In such a narrow space, it is not easy to avoid getting in the way of the manoeuvres. The atmosphere between boats is good-natured. Everyone knows everyone. The crews are mixed and span generations, from the passionate teenager to the elder who still wants to show what he can do: the competition becomes a challenge against oneself.

Kraten, a New Home Port

The regatta holds a special place in Kerkennah’s celebrations. A few years ago the races started from Chargui, the central island of the archipelago. For the past two years, Kraten has taken over. This deliberately non-exhaustive, family-oriented album, produced over two years, shows life aboard during the hour of the race. Authentic images, with no effects, montage or filters, as always.

The flouka experience brings a wealth of sensations, calm and serenity. It cannot be compared with a resin hull. It has to be tried.

The Art of the Flouka

The flouka is a small wooden craft whose origins go back to antiquity. It has a single mast and a lateen, trapezoidal sail. It moves with the wind and can also be propelled by oar or wooden pole. One Kerkennah speciality is a two-masted craft with both a lateen and a square sail: the loud, which was also used for transport.

Used by fishermen, the flouka is often sailed in very shallow water. It therefore has no keel like a sailing yacht. The hull is broad with little rake; its olive-wood structure, clad in eucalyptus planking, is heavy and stable. The flouka is ideally suited to Kerkennah’s shallows and is a key element of the charfiya fishing system.

Pride and Heritage

It is a symbol, a pleasure and a source of pride for the people of Kerkennah. As a reminder, charfiya fishing, an ancient and environmentally respectful system, was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 16 December 2020.

Kraten — August 2024 & 2023 © #pierregassin / #galeriegassin