Watch an oruwa, the outrigger fishing canoe, being built by hand, then go out in one at dawn

A first step

Find a boatbuilder who still makes the oruwa by hand and a fisherman who would take visitors out at dawn. Agree a fee for each, and a safe limit on how many go in the canoe. Offer a trial to the guests of a nearby guesthouse: the building in the afternoon, the sea at first light. Paid bookings, and guests who come back to see the canoe finished, are the proof.

Who pays first

A visitor at a beach guesthouse who wants to see how the fishing canoes are made, and to go out in one.

What leaves today

The boatbuilder's craft earns only from the fishing fleet; visitors who pay to watch and to sail turn it into a second living.

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. FiveThe Most Photographed Rock in the World
  Courses instead of meals, the one the book would build first

More from cluster 2

• 21Cooking classes, from a half-day of two curries and rice to a week-long residency
• 22Kite-making on the beach: build a Sri Lankan kite in the morning and fly it at sunset
• 23Your own perfume, blended from Sri Lankan cinnamon, vetiver, citronella and sandalwood oils, in a bottle with your name on it
• 24Batik workshops where you take home what you made
• 25Pottery workshops, your own signature on the base
• 26Handloom weaving demonstrations and short courses

All 25 ideas in this cluster