IT’S A BRAVE NEW WORLD

A TRADITIONAL PHINISI IS LEADING THE WAY FOR LUXURY SUPERYACHT TOURISM IN THE WATERS OF INDONESIA – AND BEYOND.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

A traditional phinisi is leading the way for luxury superyacht tourism in the waters of indonesia – and beyond.

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A VOLCANO RISES sheer out of the water, its plume of smoke feathering into a dusky sky. The equatorial sun descends so fast that it seems almost to crash into a sea that is periodically agitated by waves from the mysterious tectonic forces of the aptly named Ring of Fire. The apocalyptic scene could be an image of the end of the world. Or perhaps of its beginning.

‘Dunia baru’ is a phrase that you hear often in Indonesia. Meaning ‘new world’, it brings to mind promises of the future of the world’s greatest island nation as well as evoking the adventure that is found everywhere in this incredible tangle of 17,000 islands. And Dunia Baru is a fitting name for the 51m phinisi that is slipping stealthily – almost silent under a full head of sail – around the smouldering cone of Kumba Volcano.

Captain La Suwu (from Central Sulawesi) has charted a course here from the north shore of Kawula island, east of Flores. He and the yacht’s American Owner Mark Robba are standing on the bridge watching the crew of 16 trim the sails. The crewmembers hail from five islands and, as is often the case in this culturally diverse country, they speak seven regional languages.

Many have worked for Robba for the best part of a decade, since Dunia Baru’s timbers were being prepared in the Borneo rainforest and honed to the elegant lines of a phinisi by Konjo shipwrights (related to the Bugis) of South Sulawesi. Robba, who lives and works in Java, had imagined a building project that would take between two and three years and cost about US$1 million. But he refused to aim for anything other than utter perfection and underestimated the cost seven-fold.

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“I wanted the boat to be more than just the best ever built entirely in Indonesia,” Robba said at the time. “I wanted it to be numbers one, two and three.”

By the time Dunia Baru had been fitted with the finest rigging and sails money could buy, with interiors crafted by the best Balinese carpenters, seven years had passed. But Robba looks back on the project as the first of many unforgettable adventures with Dunia Baru.

Traditional timber ships have been built along similar lines for centuries by Bugis sailors. Their fearsome reputation – giving rise to the Boogie Man of childhood myth – arose from six-month-long raiding parties in which they ran their great schooners before the monsoon winds on voyages between their Sulawesi homelands and the distant tribal villages of Papua.

Since Dunia Baru was launched in December 2013, she’s plied those same waters many times and her iconic sweeping bow has probed virtually unexplored islands as far north as Myanmar’s Mergui Archipelago. She and her crew have seen the channels and reefs of Sulawesi, Sumbawa, Flores, Java, Sumatra, Komodo, Bali and Raja Ampat on diving and adventure charters.

Robba believes that ships like Dunia Baru have a vital part to play as the modern-day pioneers in opening a whole new world of tourism in Indonesia.

“How else is it possible for most people even to access these remote spots,” he asks, “much less to do so in 5-star comfort? This is world-class adventure – true exploration... but at a level of luxury that is impossible to find travelling by any other means.”

I’m not arguing. We’re sitting on the foredeck sipping Moët and Chandon and enjoying fresh tuna canapés (made by Australian chef Tom Brett from a yellow-fin that was reeled in over the stern about an hour ago). Chances are that we’re the only champagne drinkers within several hundred kilometres of this uninhabited volcano island, a day’s sail from the north coast of little Kawula island.

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“The beauty of travel by boat,” Robba continues, “lies in the freedom to be able to change tack at will to check out unexpected landscapes. While we plan the itinerary for our charters in great depth this is inherently an adventure and we try to be open to new experiences.”

I didn’t have to think back far to see what he meant: we’d dived on unexplored reefs in the company of mantas and turtles, we’d visited a traditional village of the Abui head-hunters on Alor island, we’d watched an immense pod of perhaps 1,000 dolphins that seemed to fill the great stretch of Pantar Strait from shore to shore. We’d surfed a perfect sixfoot wave that had never seen a surfer. We sunbathed on empty beaches and strolled through friendly stilted villages where we chatted with seaweed farmers and arak distillers, and swam with Sea Gypsy children.

Perhaps it was the philosophical effects of the third glass of Moët but, as we sat on the deck talking that evening, I pondered the intriguing mix of realist and romantic ideas that seems to define Robba’s outlook. I keep this feeling to myself – sensing that the man who has carved a fortune through his Java-based glove company is likely to claim staunch affiliation as a card-holding realist.

But even to chase the crazy dream of building this ship must take a fair measure of romantic imagination. A keen sailor since his high school days, Robba spent several years skippering a 52-foot yawl in the Caribbean but international business (with factories in Mexico, India and Java) led eventually to a lasting love affair with Indonesia. It is easy to imagine that it was the seductive spirit of the Far East that drove him finally to resign his American citizenship and pledge himself to Indonesia.

These days Robba seems to be inspired chiefly by the life of a pioneer in the world’s most exciting tangle of islands – just as Dunia Baru’s charter clients are inspired by that romantic image of a classic timber schooner sailing into the sunset under the shadow of a brooding volcano. After all, there’s no better way to find yourself face-to-face with a new world among Indonesia’s remote islands.
www.duniabaru.com
www.37southyachts.com

ABOUT DUNIA BARU
Based in Komodo from April to September and Raja Ampat through October and November, Dunia Baru offers access to unexplored Indonesia (and the region). Her fully equipped dive centre is operated by a PADI-certified Western instructor, and she boasts a gourmet eat-in galley (plus prep room and walk-in freezer) where experienced chefs work their magic in creating Indonesian, Asian and Continental cuisine. All-inclusive rates to charter the entire ship start from US$11,000 per day. For more information, contact Allanj@37southyachts.com.