Sailing the Asian Seas - Phinisi Schooners Part 3
The word pinisiq does refer to the rigging only 
-i.e. seven to eight sails, consisting of three foresails on a long bowsprit, a mainsail and a mizzen on standing gaffs, two topsails and a staysail on the mizzen-mast’s forestay- while the different types of hulls bear their own names. In the early years the schooner-ketch rigging was set on padewakang hulls, but after some experience the Sulawesian traders decided to use the sharp-bowed and faster palari (derived from lari, ‘to run’) as being much more fit for the driving power of the fore-and-aft sails. Being genuine sailing ships, pinisiq were fitted out with masts much taller than those you find installed on the motorised vessels of today; the whole hull was cargo space, and only a small cabin for the captain was placed on the aft deck, while the crew slept on deck or in the cargo-hold. The two long rudder blades fixed to strong traverse thwarts projecting out on both sides of the aft part, like those used on a padewakang, were retained as a steering device.
During their heyday in the 1970's, several thousand of pinisiq, then the biggest fleet of sailing traders in the world, connected virtually all the islands of the archipelago, and formed a major backbone of Indonesia’s economy. However, just at the same time the government’s efforts in motorisation did bring about some major changes.
Since the1930's more and more indigenous sailing craft adopted a new kind of rigging, the layar nade, which had been derived from cutters and sloops used by western pearlers and small-scale tradesmen in Eastern Indonesia. Besides, European hull-shapes more and more influenced constructional features of Indonesian boats, and the nade-rigged sailor per se, the Butonese lambo, uses a centre rudder and stem and stern posts which are set in an angle onto the keel - in contrast to the traditional shape, where keel and stems form a continous curve. Today there still are several hundred of lambo/nade vessels trading between the small islands of the Moluccas and the bigger ports in Java and Sulawesi.
When during the 1970's more and more palari-pinisiq were fitted out with engines, hull and rigging of the traditional Indonesian trader quickly changed: As the indigenous hull designs didn’t proof fitting for installing a motor, the lambo became the alternative. In the years to follow loading capacities were continuously increased, until today’s average perahu layar motor (KLM - ‘motorised sailing vessel’) can load up to 300ton. Nearly all the hulls of the vessels you find in the busy traditional harbours of Sunda Kelapa in Jakarta, Kali Mas in Surabaya or Paotere in Makassar today are modified lambo, though still retaining some of the features of the original palari-hull like the additional side-rudders.
As their sailsare just used for supporting the engine, the mizzen of nearly all KLM was cut down: Using many sails does mean needing many hands, and in modern times labour and wages became a more and more important factor in even seemingly traditional economics. Today, on bigger ships a one-masted pinisiq-rig is used, while medium sized vessels are fit out with nade-sails. However, as their masts are much too short and the sail area is too small, these boats cannot be moved with sails alone, but use them in favourable winds only.
Still, pinisiq, more often (wrongly) spelt ‘phinisi’, became the icon per se of Indonesia’s sailing traditions, and today often enough is used for any kind of local-build wooden vessel. And, since about 1995 the pinisiq saw some revival as a charmingly Indonesian charter boat employed in the growing marine tourism between the Islands Below the Wind: At present a fleet of some 50 traditionally build vessels -some rigged as Indonesian schooners, others as cutters, sloops or ketches- serve a wide variety of routes and targets. Though better part of these vessels are actually modern motor-sailors turned into small floating hotels, in today's ever changing world they at least help a tad in preserving some fragments of one of our Planet’s salient maritime traditions.
However, there is a revival of a few small individuals focused on the actual sailing vessels. Of course it is common sense to have engines, even if in the case of emergencies...but actual sailing vessels do exist and are in great demand.
Keep an eye out for one! They are beautiful!
Similan Diving
-i.e. seven to eight sails, consisting of three foresails on a long bowsprit, a mainsail and a mizzen on standing gaffs, two topsails and a staysail on the mizzen-mast’s forestay- while the different types of hulls bear their own names. In the early years the schooner-ketch rigging was set on padewakang hulls, but after some experience the Sulawesian traders decided to use the sharp-bowed and faster palari (derived from lari, ‘to run’) as being much more fit for the driving power of the fore-and-aft sails. Being genuine sailing ships, pinisiq were fitted out with masts much taller than those you find installed on the motorised vessels of today; the whole hull was cargo space, and only a small cabin for the captain was placed on the aft deck, while the crew slept on deck or in the cargo-hold. The two long rudder blades fixed to strong traverse thwarts projecting out on both sides of the aft part, like those used on a padewakang, were retained as a steering device.During their heyday in the 1970's, several thousand of pinisiq, then the biggest fleet of sailing traders in the world, connected virtually all the islands of the archipelago, and formed a major backbone of Indonesia’s economy. However, just at the same time the government’s efforts in motorisation did bring about some major changes.
Since the1930's more and more indigenous sailing craft adopted a new kind of rigging, the layar nade, which had been derived from cutters and sloops used by western pearlers and small-scale tradesmen in Eastern Indonesia. Besides, European hull-shapes more and more influenced constructional features of Indonesian boats, and the nade-rigged sailor per se, the Butonese lambo, uses a centre rudder and stem and stern posts which are set in an angle onto the keel - in contrast to the traditional shape, where keel and stems form a continous curve. Today there still are several hundred of lambo/nade vessels trading between the small islands of the Moluccas and the bigger ports in Java and Sulawesi.
When during the 1970's more and more palari-pinisiq were fitted out with engines, hull and rigging of the traditional Indonesian trader quickly changed: As the indigenous hull designs didn’t proof fitting for installing a motor, the lambo became the alternative. In the years to follow loading capacities were continuously increased, until today’s average perahu layar motor (KLM - ‘motorised sailing vessel’) can load up to 300ton. Nearly all the hulls of the vessels you find in the busy traditional harbours of Sunda Kelapa in Jakarta, Kali Mas in Surabaya or Paotere in Makassar today are modified lambo, though still retaining some of the features of the original palari-hull like the additional side-rudders.
As their sailsare just used for supporting the engine, the mizzen of nearly all KLM was cut down: Using many sails does mean needing many hands, and in modern times labour and wages became a more and more important factor in even seemingly traditional economics. Today, on bigger ships a one-masted pinisiq-rig is used, while medium sized vessels are fit out with nade-sails. However, as their masts are much too short and the sail area is too small, these boats cannot be moved with sails alone, but use them in favourable winds only.
Still, pinisiq, more often (wrongly) spelt ‘phinisi’, became the icon per se of Indonesia’s sailing traditions, and today often enough is used for any kind of local-build wooden vessel. And, since about 1995 the pinisiq saw some revival as a charmingly Indonesian charter boat employed in the growing marine tourism between the Islands Below the Wind: At present a fleet of some 50 traditionally build vessels -some rigged as Indonesian schooners, others as cutters, sloops or ketches- serve a wide variety of routes and targets. Though better part of these vessels are actually modern motor-sailors turned into small floating hotels, in today's ever changing world they at least help a tad in preserving some fragments of one of our Planet’s salient maritime traditions.
However, there is a revival of a few small individuals focused on the actual sailing vessels. Of course it is common sense to have engines, even if in the case of emergencies...but actual sailing vessels do exist and are in great demand.
Keep an eye out for one! They are beautiful!
Similan Diving
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