At the age of 15, Satrohan Sookdeo was required by his father to end his formal schooling and seek an apprenticeship in a trade that might one day provide him with a regular income. He does not clearly remember the sequence of events that took him to Berbice and into the highly specialised trade of boat-building. Upon reflection, however, he is in no doubt that his choice of trade was an inspired one. He believes that he has done well.
It took Sookdeo, better known as ‘Sat’ five years to learn to build boats, during which time he subsisted on a modest stipend. It was, he says, a painstaking learning process in which there was little if any room for error. For obvious reasons considerations of safety and durability cannot be compromised.
His particular specialisation is cabin cruisers: fishing vessels comprising four modest compartments for sleeping, storing ice, fish and seine. The steady growth of the