On the day of the Patron Saint of La Herradura, San José, the jábega, christened Consuelo, was launched for the first time from the village beach.

First of all, it is best to explain what class of boat a jábega is: the name comes from classical Arabic (sabaka, xábaka or šabbāk), which literally means net. This type of net is known in English as a dragnet. The name of the net was synonymous with the rowing boat that carried it (barca de jábega or dragnet boat) until it became shortened to simply jábega.

This kind of fishing boat measures between seven and 14 metres in length and 2.5m wide. It is crewed with up to 15 oarsmen plus the helmsman, sometimes occupied by the skipper.

On the big day, the craft was manned by members of the Club Jábega Remo who will be putting it to good use in upcoming rowing competitions. Since dragnet fishing was banned, many of these fishing boats take part in regattas and other marine events.

The idea to build a jábega from scratch came from Ángel Galdo whose idea was taken up by Benavide’s party (CA) which presented a motion in a Plenary Meeting for the project to have municipal backing. The design is a replica of one called Nueva Consuelo which plied the bay back in the 60s.

The launching of the boat entailed the ceremonial tasks of sprinkling the small deck with wine and salt to keep storms and evil spirits at bay. Of course, there was also a bottle of champers to break against the bow.

British resident, Bernard Sleeman, joined with Ángel Galdo and Juan García in building the Jábega Consuelo, which measures eight metres in length and 2.2 metres in width and 17 ribs along its length.

You can learn more about the project that brought this fishing boat into being by reading our previous article on the subject.

(News: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)