Nowadays, surfing is throwing a lifeline to this struggling community. Attracted by the Pacific swell and world-class breaks, surfers flock to Huanchaco, and many become enamoured of the caballitos, one of the ancient precursors of the sport. Many of the younger generation in fishing families become talented surfers and some have opened their own surf schools. The Australian embassy in Peru has taken caballito fishers to the Gold Coast and has backed Huanchaco’s surf tourism as an economic alternative.

Remember when they turned Jellicoe Harbour into a sea of wooden boats? It’s happening again! The Festival will be back in full force for 2026, as part of Moana Auckland.

On Lamu, the values of Swahili culture are strongly attached to maintaining the traditional knowledge of dhow-building. The preservation of this traditional knowledge relates intensely to the conservation and sustainability of Swahili culture.

A few motorised tourist junks with fixed sails still confuse the credulous but – much like other endlessly recycled Hong Kong clichés – the obsolete sailing junk icon is decades beyond having any genuine symbolic purpose.