Kortrijk residents sail down the Leie with the first flax canoe

The duo left early Sunday morning at 5 am in northern France to sail down the Leie in their homemade flax canoe. After nine hours of sailing at an average of nine kilometers per hour, they took a short break in Kortrijk to talk to the press.

First flax canoe ever

The friends spent two months building the canoe in the Budtoren in Kortrijk. Quite a challenge, because a flax composite canoe had never been made before. At the end of the month, the duo will leave for Canada for a race of more than 700 kilometers. The flax canoe will later become part of the collection of the Museum Texture in Kortrijk.