Vietnam Wooden Boat Foundation

The Vietnam Wooden Boat Foundation is seeking funding to accomplish the following projects:

1. Build the Ghe Nang, the fastest sailing craft of traditional Indochina.

The Ghe Nang was a graceful Vietnamese 3-masted sail-powered fishing boat typically built with a woven bamboo hull fitted to a wood top shell. She was from the region around Danang in central Vietnam and was considered the fastest sailing craft in Vietnam. There isn’t much time left to locate some of the elderly builders of this boat and then construct a ghe nang, film and docum

ent the story of the craft and its builders, test sail the boat and then ship it back to the U.S. for display.

- Build a 30' - 36’ Ghe Nang and bring it to the U.S. $75,000

- Make a documentary film about building the Ghe Nang (from video taken during building) $35,000

2. Translate J.B. Pietri’s Voiliers d’Indochine (only published in French) into English and Vietnamese.

This book has finally been translated into English and is available to purchase as noted on our homepage. But the book still has not been translated into Vietnamese. This is as important as the translation into English, but is a very challenging task as we found the challenge of translating to English. We believe it may take as much as $25,000 to accomplish this translation.

3. Research, document & publish the story of traditional Vietnamese boatbuilding and the maritime history of Vietnam. To be accomplished through funding directed research by Vietnamese university students. $150,000

4. Build a Maritime Heritage Museum in Vietnam. We propose a partnership with a U.S. corporate sponsor and the Vietnamese National Oceanographic Institute in Nha Trang, Vietnam to build such a museum. (Other locations also feasible) $1,750,000

5. Fund full-time operations of the Vietnam Wooden Boat Foundation for two years. This will enable the foundation to focus on orchestrating the accomplishment of multiple foundation goals. $120,000

6. Bring a Vietnamese boatbuilding crew to the Port Townsend Northwest Maritime Center. This crew would build a traditional Vietnamese wooden boat as an educational demonstration at the new center in 2007. $30,000

If you would like to donate to these projects or make a general donation, please go to the Donations page. Thank you.