Kaiki

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The kaiki or caique is the Greek (from Turkish word kayık) name for a wooden fishing boat usually found among the waters of the Ionian or Aegean Seas.

[edit] Construction

Kaiki were built on the foreshore in a nafpigia (shipyard), from pine wood.

The frame of the craft, the skeletos, is constructed from curved carvel planking, terminated with the decking known as katastroma. The frame of the craft is often painted orange, to preserve and seal the timber. The kaiki usually has a short mast or istos.

A bowsprit or bastouni is stayed by skalieri or rigging. In the stern of the kaiki the predominant form is the timoniara or tiller. These wooden steering arms are sometimes carved in the face of a dog or animal. The kaki often have a horizontal windlass mounted over the bow. The bow is also known as the proura or plowri, similar to the English prow.

Most kaiki are painted white, to counter the powerful sun, with the strakes and topsides in vivid chromatic colors. The name of the boat is painted or carved on a tablet, on the planking below the bow. Letters representing the islands of Greece give the boat's provenance. The prefix N stands for Nisi, the Greek word for Island.

Each kaiki is unique. The majority are built from the boatbuilder's craft and memory having no plans. The bow post distinguishes the kaiki from other Mediterranean working boats.

[edit] In modern day use

Traditionally the kaiki was used for fishing and trawling. Of late the kaiki has become a short excursion vessel, and former fishermen make money from the summer tourist trade on the busy islands that include Corfu(Kerkyra) and Mykonos.

The art of the Greek kaiki boatbuilder is dying as plastic and fiberglass craft supersede the wooden craft.

[edit] Other names

The kaiki was also known in past centuries as Trechandri, a fast and aesthetic hull craft, the Fortuga, generally a heavier transport boat, the Karovassi with a concave bow and undercut stern, the Perama with a straight and forward slanting bow, and the Varkala, a single masted boat with a high counter stern.