Ali Skanda and the World’s First Plastic Dhow
As I walked through the boatyard with Mr. Al-Amoody towards Ali Skanda’s workshop, we heard a call from the water. “Karibu! Welcome welcome!” called a man from one of the many boats docked close to the beach. Ali Skanda, a lithe man who looked in his mid-fifties disembarked the boat he was working on and waded through the water towards the shore where we were standing to continue his warm greeting.
Smiling from ear to ear in his faded medic overalls, Ali Skanda led us through his boatyard towards a shaded picnic table where we could talk about the project I’d heard so much about: The FlipFlopi Dhow.
Lamu County, situated on the Northern Coast of Kenya, is a community renowned for its pristine beaches, attracting tourists from all corners of the globe. But not all visitors are welcome in Lamu County. For a community that depends on tourism for a significant portion of its local economy, Lamu County is under threat from pollution. Trash, in the form of plastic, glass, and metals regularly finds its way to the beaches dotting the Kenyan coast. Oftentimes, the global nature of this threat is underscored by foreign packaging washing up on shores. This foreign waste, an unwelcome visitor in a country that is about to implement a ban on single-use plastic in June, drives home the realization that defeating the “plastic menace” will need a global coalition. But internally, even after banning single-use plastic bags in 2017, Kenyan waste management infrastructure still faces major gaps in implementation.
In 2017, one individual particularly frustrated with the trash problem was approaching critical mass. Ben Morison had built a travel business focused on African tourism and had, over the years, seen trash (most notably flip flops) destroy the very beauty of the Indian Ocean coastlines that he hoped to showcase. Ben, along with FlipFlopi cofounder Dipesh Pabari, hoped to draw attention to this problem. In a moment of almost poetic creativity, the idea was born to construct a dhow (more on this later) entirely out of repurposed plastic. To use plastic to raise awareness about the “plastic menace” and to make the statement that repurposing plastic and avoiding single-use plastic is a part of the conversation that cannot be ignored. The only problem is no one had ever built a dhow entirely out of plastic. And this is where Ali Skanda comes in.
The dhow is a broad category of sailing vessel believed to have originated amongst either Arab or Indian civilizations. There are a variety of dhow styles that can be associated with Swahili culture and craftsmanship, the largest of them being the Jahazi style. The Swahili word “Jahazi” can be traced back to Persian and Indian roots and means “ocean-going vessel with sails”. A key characteristic of the Jahazi style is a series of wooden planks stretched over an internal frame. Ali Skanda, a resident of Lamu County, is considered a master dhow fundi (dhow builder) and carver. Because of his renown throughout the Kenyan coast, Ali was approached by Ben Morison with the challenge of replacing the mangrove wood planks he typically utilizes in his craft with plastic.
Ali cracked a smile as he explained to me the countless iterations his team went through to tackle this challenge. Further and further into detail he went about turning the recycled plastic into usable planks, resistance to bending, air void content, and a litany of other technical parameters that could very well have been part of a materials science lecture. But throughout this technical explanation, Ali also communicated what this project truly meant to him. This was a man who had carried on the tradition of his forefathers many generations back. To him, the building of dhows was a tradition that was unquestionably married to the Earth and Her oceans. He felt a responsibility to preserve everything he and his forefathers had experienced and enjoyed for his children. The plastic dhow to, Ali, was a metaphorical Noah’s Ark, and with it, he intended to sail the world carrying the message of the Plastic Revolution.
Ali cracked a smile as he explained to me the countless iterations his team went through to tackle this challenge. Further and further into detail he went about turning the recycled plastic into usable planks, resistance to bending, air void content, and a litany of other technical parameters that could very well have been part of a materials science lecture. But throughout this technical explanation, Ali also communicated what this project truly meant to him. This was a man who had carried on the tradition of his forefathers many generations back. To him, the building of dhows was a tradition that was unquestionably married to the Earth and Her oceans. He felt a responsibility to preserve everything he and his forefathers had experienced and enjoyed for his children. The plastic dhow to, Ali, was a metaphorical Noah’s Ark, and with it, he intended to sail the world carrying the message of the Plastic Revolution.
Plastic planks used to construct the FlipFlopi dhow
© FlipFlopi
Skeleton structure of the FlipFlopi dhow, constructed entirely out of plastic
© FlipFlopi
Eventually, Ali and his team succeeded in constructing their 10-meter, 7-tonne plastic dhow, baptizing it The FlipFlopi, a name derived from the 30,000 recycled flip flops that coat the outside structure of the dhow. The FlipFlopi made its maiden voyage from Lamu to Zanzibar in 2019, exhibited at the UN Environmental Assembly, and is planning another 2020 voyage to Lake Victoria.
Ali Skanda standing next to the completed FlipFlopi dhow prototype
© FlipFlopi
The FlipFlopi dhow sailing with crew aboard
© FlipFlopi
Ali Skanda sailing with diplomats including Siim Kiisler, President of the United Nations Environment Assembly
© FlipFlopi
Next, the FlipFlopi team plans to construct a larger, 20-meter plastic dhow, allowing them to sail further to Cape Town, South Africa. And on each expedition, they’ll continue to preach the Plastic Revolution and raise awareness about reducing the use of single-use plastic.
© FlipFlopi