HOMECOMING VOYAGE
OF THE 36 METER SAILING PINISI
Click for Larger Image
THE BUGIS PEOPLE OF INDONESIA
"The Boogie man (Bugis-man) will get you if you don't watch out!" is perhaps the best known reference to a truly remarkable people, the Bugis. There are an estimated five million of the largely seafaring Bugis people amongst some two hundred million Indonesians.
Indonesia is a collection of around 17,500 islands which stretch thousands of miles across the Southwestern Pacific Ocean, in effect creating the boundary between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Indonesian archipelago extends over a region larger than the US. High island mountains, tropical jungles and volcanic activity throughout Indonesia have never made roads and transport of goods over land very easy. As a
result, the seaways have always been, are now, and will always be the primary freight rails of Indonesia. The boat building and sailing prowess of the Bugis people have been an indispensable part of the survival and economic growth of the island peoples of Indonesia.
The sailing-dhow-like Indonesian pinisi is a freight hauler uniquely well suited to the waters of Indonesia and to the available local technologies. Like most other South Asian craft, and very much the opposite of craft built in the West, these vessels are built planks-first, then the frames are fitted afterward. The skill required to log massive trees from the jungle, transport them, and hew the timbers required to
build these relatively large wooden vessels right on the beach is unique, in particular as it is accomplished without a high tech infrastructure as back-up.
Historically, the various ceremonies of the native Bugis and Konjo boat builders have been an integral part of the construction and launch of these craft, and are in fact an epic part of the Bugis culture. During recent times, much too little focus has been placed on the celebration of and the preservation of the rich cultural traditions of the Bugis / Konjo people.
Contemporary pressures to motorize the fleet of cargo carrying phinisi, and
to build boats ever larger, have caused these people to little by little
abandon the 'cultural' side of the boat building process.
Ara Fish Logo Watercolor - Copyright 2002 Lena Kasten
THE 36m PHINISI
Fortunately, over the last decade or so the concept of recreational tourism in Indonesia has become a dream moved to reality. A small fleet of traditional sailing pinisi now cater to divers and cultural tourists. Their overall focus is toward a celebration of sailing aboard a Bugis pinisi, and toward the physical and cultural diversity of the remote and magnificent Indonesian islands.
Among the vessels in this fleet is the recently launched 36 meter
Phinisi. Rather than having big cargo holds as with commercial vessels now being built,
this vessel has luxury accommodations to serve a diversity of guests interested in diving, bird watching or other adventures ashore, various cultural events, or the wildness and beauty of the Indonesian archipelago.
To create the 36m Phinisi, the Bugis / Konjo builders were not asked to simply create another motorized cargo vessel... Instead, the building process itself and
observing the age-old rituals of boat building were among the primary objectives. Having been built with an intentional focus on resurrecting the Bugis traditions and ceremonies associated with boat building, the
36m Phinisi is considered by the Bugis people to be a unique and therefore special
vessel.
For a thorough review of the design and building of the boat, please see our web page on
Building the 36m Phinisi
and for more detailed background information about the boats themselves,
check out our Phinisi History page.
Also, you can review a number of images from this and other trips to
Indonesia at the Indonesia Boatbuilding Images page.
36m Phinisi anchored off Gunung Api volcano - Click for Larger Image
Service On Deck
| Tools of the Trade
| Bugis
Sailor |
Toward the Islands
THE VOYAGE
After a season of charters from June through October of 2004, the owners of
the 36m Phinisi wished to take a special trip during November in order to observe the significance to the Bugis people of the building of the
36m Phinisi. This would be a chance to resurrect several rarely observed launching ceremonies no longer commonly practiced.
We were invited, so naturally we accepted! This would after all be the "homecoming" voyage of the
36m Phinisi. On this trip the vessel would for the first time come 'home' to the original birth place of these craft at the village of Ara and Tanah Biru in South West Sulawesi, home of the local Bugis / Konjo builders.
In other words, the 36m Phinisi was actually built in Batulicin, Kalimantan
Selatan (Borneo) by people from Ara in South Sulawesi. When asked
about this, pak Tandra one of the Konjo builders said, "We are boat
builders. We will always follow the wood." And Kalimantan is
where the big timbers are found these days. This trip would be a
chance for us to bring the 36m Phinisi to the actual home of the people who
had built her.
The trip lasted for two weeks and covered a total distance of approximately 1,100 nautical miles. See the map below for the route. During those two weeks we
took part in a variety of cultural events, we experienced world class diving and snorkeling,
we saw birds and sea life, we found dragons, we celebrated the building of the
36m Phinisi with the Bugis / Konjo people, and
we visited a number of other villages among the islands of Nusa Tenggara and the islands to the south of South
West Sulawesi.
The route began in Bali. On arrival, we stayed a few nights in
Wantilan Lama, a traditional Balinese pavilion in Sanur. We then boarded the
36m Phinisi and departed for Lombok to the east of Bali. In the days that followed, we explored several of the islands near Lombok and Sumbawa.
We circled the large volcano-island of Gunung Api, where we went ashore at a
local spring. We had fine diving, beach parties, excellent food and fine wine on the way to Komodo National Park.
Within the park, on the island of Rinca we
went in search of dragons - and we came upon quite a few of them feasting on a water buffalo...!
Near the Komodo island group, we visited Labuanbajo on Flores to receive
additional guests. From there, we headed northward in order to spend a few
days visiting the islands and atolls between Flores and Sulawesi. One
such village was Bonerate, near the town of Asambi on the chart below.
With an excellent harbor and a strategic position in the middle of the
traditional trading routes, the people of Bonerate claim heritage from quite
a few places in Indonesia. And of course as with most villages near
the sea throughout Indonesia, a variety of large and small boats are being
built on the beach.
The highlight of the voyage was our arrival in South Sulawesi at the
village of Ara, just to the south of Kajang on the chart below. This
is where the homecoming celebration was to take place the following day. The homecoming celebration was spectacular - a heartfelt experience! After almost three days in South Sulawesi visiting the villages of Ara, Tanah Biru, and Bira Beach we sailed southwestward, bound once again for Bali.
Overall, we experienced excellent diving and snorkeling sites, we saw plenty of indigenous boat building activity, we participated in a number of outstanding cultural events, and we were very well cared for along the way.
Aboard the 36m Phinisi, we had comfortable
rooms, were served the best food that the region has to offer, wines from around the world, and we were very fortunate to enjoy local music performed by
a Bugis / Konjo drummer, as well as one of Indonesia's most popular native
music performers.
Here is the chart of our
Homecoming route:
Image Copyright Microsoft Encarta 2002
| Story Copyright Michael Kasten 2005
MORE INFORMATION
For more information on these or similar craft, please
inquire.
Check out these web pages related to the Indonesian Phinisi and KLM types
of our design:
Phinisi History | Phinisi
Building |
Sailing Phinisi vs. KLM Types
30m Sailing Phinisi
| 36m Phinisi
| 50m Sailing
Phinisi
30m Charter KLM |
36m Charter KLM
| 50m Charter KLM
36m Phinisi "Homecoming" |
Indonesia Boatbuilding Images
