The LANCHA was used in Mozambique as a transport- fishing- and passenger vessel in the vicinity of Maputo (Lourenço Marques).
Length 9-10 meters, crew 1-2.
Plumb stem; transom stern; keel; moderate rise to the floors, soft turn of the bilges. Decked with a central hatch. Long boom to the gaff sail, and long slender bowsprit carries 2 headsails, sometimes a topsail.
An other type was used at Praia da Costa do Sol, near Maputo, a fishing LANCHA, she carries a single lateen or quadrilateral lateen-type sail with a short luff. Full bodied; straight or slightly curved, raked stem; transom stern. Carvel-built; rough frames; caulked with old cording covered with tar. Now generally decked with a central cockpit. Short vertical mast stepped well inboard; bamboo yard. Reported lengths 6 – 7 meter.
A other type in the vicinity of Mozambique Island in the north, there is a fishing lancha of ca 2 – 3 meter and a cargo LANCHA (called also a lanchao) of similar design but with ca a displacement of 30 tons. The cargo vessel is used to unload and load ships and to transport cargo to nearby ports; beamy and may be open or have a flush deck with 1 or 2 hatches. The fishing boat is slender and fast, and open. Both have a transom stern and a sharp vertical stem. Set a large quadrilateral lateen-type sail with a short luff or lateen sail to a mast stepped well forward. Bamboo yard and sail hung forward of the mast, with the tack boomed out over the bow.
Mozambique 1997 8000m sg1439, scott1281.
Copied from Aak to Zumbra, A Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft.