Dhow ships are known as innovative sailing vessels that have a raised hull and a sharp pointed bow. Made from wood, dhows usually have minimum two triangular sails. Many dhows even have single large sail that not only facilitate easy sailing but also provide excellent power to the boat. These large sails are called lateens. The timber that was used in construction of these dhows was mainly Mahogany or Ekki, which is found in the forests of Africa.
However, dhow was famous for few salient features – one is the lateen and other is its stitched construction. For constructing dhows, the wooden planks were arranged and sewn together. The masts for sails were generally made out of teak and coconut wood. The earliest sails were made by weaving palm leaves together, however later on cotton was also used. Generally all the dhows used to have two pairs of sails - One for night and rough weather condition and other for daily use during daytime.
Though the dhow sails used to look triangular in shape they were in fact quadrilateral. Different types of sails were sewn according to the requirement of the dhow ship. In case of an application requiring more thrust, a less flat sail with fuller luff would be used. Moreover, as most of the dhows were Arabic boats, they used to have traditional designs carved at various places on the vessel, including the hull portion.
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