Staring out at the turquoise waters and white sand beaches of Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean looked calm, inviting and beautiful. We were soon to find out that it was anything but. I had somehow been convinced by my two friends, Ollie and Daniel, to take part in the wackiest sailing race around: The Kraken Cup. This 500km race takes place over 10 days and traces the length of the Tanzanian coast.

But what makes it interesting is the vessel that’s supposed to get you there: the ngalawa. This boat is unlike any other. Fishermen here have been using them for thousands of years. The hull consists of the hollowed-out trunk of a mango tree and is just wide enough for three crouched sailors and all their worldly possessions. Two outriggers are tied on to either side for balance and a large canvas sail at the front means you can properly fly when the wind and waves are with you. It’s all held together entirely by rope, a mildly terrifying thought considering the distance we are expected to sail.

There were 22 teams of three taking part in the Kraken Cup, and what was troubling us even more than the state of the boat was the fact that the other crews were made up of expert sailors; tough seadogs looking for an adventure. Our sailing resumes were dismal in comparison to the feats of our competitors. One team normally spent the year sailing a traditional Viking ship across the Atlantic. Another had circumnavigated the globe and many of them regularly crewed racing yachts. In contrast we had a few weeks’ worth of amateur dinghy courses under our belts.

After a night tucked up in our hammocks, bellies full of beans and rice, we woke up at 4:30am. As the sun rose, a klaxon sounded and we ran along the beach, swam through the water and hoisted our sails. We were off – a ragtag armada of floating trees.

In order to man this ancient craft all crew members must be adept at three specific roles. Firstly, there is the helmsman, in charge of sailing, steering and keeping as straight a course as possible. Then comes the bucket boy. Sitting in the middle of the trunk he is responsible for navigation, snack distribution and morale maintenance. His most important duties involve the use of a bucket. As the ngalawa sits only 40cm above the water even the smallest wave can easily breach the side and start to flood the boat so he has to frantically bail out the water faster than the waves can crash on to us. The third position is the monkey. Although the outriggers are supposed to offer stability; the lack of any kind of daggerboard means that the pull exerted by a full sail can send us over in an instance. The monkey acts as a counterweight, constantly tightrope-walking along the beam of wood attaching boat to outrigger whilst holding on to a thin rope. If the monkey fails, we go over, and it’s at least an hour’s hard work using a floatation device to right the boat and bail the water.