A public talk in Maltese on traditional sailing boats and sailing techniques entitled Ir-Riħ fil-Qala is being given at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa on Friday at 6pm.

This event, part of the Oral Traditions project of the University’s Department of Maltese at the University of Malta, which is now in its fourth year, and coincides with the 2019 edition of Birgufest, is being given by Joe Morana.
 
Being held in collaboration with Heritage Malta, the talk is open to the public and entrance is free. The Oral Traditions project is supported by the Research Fund of the University of Malta and by Klabb Kotba Maltin.
 

Mr Morana will be looking briefly at the evolution of sailing vessels that travelled both between the Maltese Islands and beyond. He will be presenting the terminology in Maltese and looking at ways these ferries or fishing vessels operated.
 
Born in Vittoriosa in 1956, Mr Morana has diplomas in Labour Studies and Marketing from the University of Malta and a Masters in Training and Human Resources Management from the University of Leicester. He worked for many years in the public service and was an official in a leading trade union.

He has been a sailing enthusiast for decades and has been part of crews on sailing boats in Malta and abroad. In recent years he has carried out research on lateen sails in Malta and Sicily and other parts of Italy.