The saintoise (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃twaz]; Antillean Creole: Sentwaz) or canot saintois( (literally: dinghy from les Saintes) is a fishing boat without deck, traditionally manoeuvrable in sail or in ream, native from les Saintes archipelago which spread in whole Lesser Antilles.[1] It is one of the main constituents of the heritage and the cultural identity of the archipelago. Its practice is being to develop quickly in the Guadeloupean water sport since around ten years when it became a new sport, the traditional sailboat racing.[2]
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The traditional saintoise is the work of the know-how of the carpenters of navy from Brittany, installed in les Saintes towards the 18th century, who designed it to practise for fishing. It is perfectly studied to sail in the Caribbean Sea, its hollow and slender shape added to the foresail and the mainsail served to navigate in close hauled.
Upon the arrival of the outboard motor in the 1960s, Alain Foy a carpenter of navy from les Saintes, adapted the boat to the technology and created the motor-driven saintoise which made the unanimity of the fishermen of the Lesser Antilles, mainly in Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, la Désirade, Marie Galante, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin where it replaced the too unstable Gommier (a traditional fishing boat of Guadeloupe). The hull becomes more stable and adapted to the weight of the engine from then on.
Nowadays, the hulls previously in wood are made in composite materials also.
The traditional saintoise is constituted by several wood for its hull (Spruce for the keel, Mahogany for the edges and the floor, Tabebuia pallida for members and bow). Sails (foresail and mainsail) are linked to the mast and the boom (in Bamboo) by lianas called ailes de ravèt (literraly: wings of cockroach). Boom is longer than the mast. The boat is ballasted by rocks and is navigate by a crew of five persons at least, maintaining the speed doing trapeze.
Numerous shipyards abound nowadays in les Saintes, in Guadeloupe and in la Désirade.
For a long time the leisure of competitor of regatta in the natural bay of les Saintes, the traditional saintoise became a sports very appreciated in Guadeloupe and became quickly more democratic since the creation of the tour of Guadeloupe in Saintoise(T.G.V.T) in July, 2001. It knows a success growing from years to years.[3]
It makes the unanimity also in Saint-Barthélemy and les Saintes where it is organized regattas during the Patron saint's day of these islands.[4][5][6]