Sailing charters and a yacht marina at Galle or Trincomalee, with the crew trained here

A first step

Walk the harbour at Galle or Trincomalee and find one boat owner who would lend a yacht for a day in exchange for a share of the fare. Then offer a sunset sail to the managers of three boutique hotels nearby at a price per guest, and ask each for a written yes for a named date. A signed booking from one hotel is your proof, and the owner's terms tell you what a charter costs to run.

Who pays first

A boutique hotel manager on the coast who needs one more premium experience to sell guests, and earns a commission on every sail booked.

What leaves today

Visitors who want a day at sea fly on to islands that sell it, so the charter fare and the crew wages are earned elsewhere.

The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.

In the book

• Ch. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
  An ocean eight times the size of the land

More from cluster 13

• 252Diving schools at the wrecks of Trincomalee and the reefs of the east, certified to international standard
• 253Sport fishing charters with catch-and-release, sold to the Gulf and Europe
• 254Sea-cucumber and seaweed farming in the northern lagoons, which Japan and Korea buy
• 255Tuna graded, loined and vacuum-packed at the harbour for the sashimi market, not sold whole
• 256Crab and prawn from the lagoons as a branded chilled export, with the lagoon's name
• 257Dried fish and Maldive fish for Sri Lankans abroad, packed to a food-safety standard

All 20 ideas in this cluster