XIAMEN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- It was nine in the morning when Cai Wenlin, 53, steered his old-school sailing vessel out of a small harbor toward the azure sea off Dongshan Island, east China's Fujian Province.
The tourists on board let out collective oohs and aahs when Cai and his two crew members, one in his 60s and the other in his 70s, adroitly hoisted the sails, which soon billowed in the summer breeze, and guided the ship through the mirror-like waters.
The former fisherman sets out to sea every day, and every day returns without a single fish.
BYE BYE, CAPTAIN
Yet until three years ago, Cai was a seasoned fisherman who grappled with the ever-dwindling fishing stocks.
"My family had made a living from the sea for three generations before me," said Cai. "I assumed that I was destined to be a fisherman, too."
Cai started his fishing career at the age of 14. As a born fisherman, he became a captain when he was only 19.
Cai bought his first fishing boat in 1986. Over the following years, his boat became bigger, and the boatbuilding materials evolved from wood to iron or fiberglass as the commercial fishing industry kept growing.
It struck him that it had become more difficult to make a living by fishing in recent years. Fishing boats had become larger and more technologically advanced, but their catch kept shrinking.
"If the number of fishing boats continues to grow, the sea will be depleted of fish someday. If this happens, what should I do?" Cai said.
It was also painful for him to see the deterioration of the sea due to the mounting waste from fishing farms and boats.
Cai made a brave decision in 2018 when he found he could no longer make ends meet by fishing. He sold the sixth boat he had ever owned, which was a 22-meter-long steel vessel worth 1.9 million yuan (about 268,400 U.S. dollars), at a price of 1.3 million yuan, and planned to switch to the tourism industry.
Instead of fancy yachts dotted on the waters around the island, Cai wanted a wooden boat built with traditional Chinese shipbuilding techniques.
The old fisherman designed the boat himself. It took him six months traveling along the coastlines of Fujian and neighboring Guangdong Province to locate craftsmen with the technical know-how to build an old-school wooden sailboat.
After five months' hard work by 10 skillful craftsmen, the handmade traditional wooden boat was launched into the water this February.
SETTING SAIL ON NEW VOYAGE
The ship with three sails is 22 meters long and 5.2 meters wide on the bottom. It is made of camphor wood and can be powered by a spare motor.
"I like the sails the most. They are made from cloth and nylon and were dyed nine times. For the final step, they were put into peanut oil to make them waterproof," said Cai. "When the ship is fully rigged, the boat looks so stunning."
A trial voyage in February was successful. However, Cai did not start his tourism business immediately because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Cai said the epidemic gave him more time to learn how to market his business. He had just learned how to release videos on TikTok.
Tourism started to recover as the epidemic was largely brought under control in China. Cai's offbeat ship welcomed its first batch of visitors during the May Day holiday.
During the one-hour voyage, Cai and his colleagues raised sails for the curious visitors, explained the structure of the traditional boat and shared his story as a fisherman. The total trip cost about 200 yuan for each tourist.
To match the classical ambiance of the boat, Cai brewed tea in a traditional way for tourists on deck. The ship can also be a floating restaurant, as his wife is glad to cook seafood dishes and local delicacies for tourists.
Instead of dumping waste directly into the ocean as in the past, he sorts the garbage on the boat into different plastic bags and takes them to shore.
As fishing resources continue to decline, Cai is one of the many fishermen who have abandoned their fishing boats and turned to new businesses such as launching cruise ship tours or opening restaurants or homestays.
"The number of fishing boats in Dongshan Island has almost halved," Cai said.
Now tourists from near and far are flocking to Cai's boat for a unique experience. Cai sails with them two or three times a day.
"This ancient-style boat is so cool," said an internet celebrity nicknamed A Ya. "I took many pictures with the boat. With the blue sky and sapphire sea as my backdrop, it was too perfect. It felt like I had traveled back to ancient times."
Cai hopes that the sea can become as clean and abundant as before. "We still live on the sea, but in a more environmentally friendly way," he said. Enditem
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June 29, 2020 at 08:01PM
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