Pinisi boat FAQ: thirty short answers about Indonesia's wooden schooner

By Pinisi Boat Editorial Desk

Sourced figures: prices in the table carry their source and check month. Asking prices are not sale prices, and nothing here is legal advice.

A pinisi is a Sulawesi sailing rig of two masts and seven to eight sails, and UNESCO inscribed the art of building these boats in 2017. Below are thirty short answers on the boat, its history, building, buying, chartering and visiting. Where we have no reliable source, the answer says so and points to where to check.

All sources were checked in October 2026 and are listed at the foot of the page. Prices are not repeated in the text; they appear in the price table on this page, with their source. For a wider introduction, start with the Pinisi Boat guide.

What exactly is a pinisi?

What does the word refer to? UNESCO uses it for the rig and sail of the Sulawesi schooner, within a millennia-long Austronesian tradition of boatbuilding and navigation. In daily use it also names the boat that carries the rig.

How many masts and sails does it have? Two masts and seven to eight sails, arranged like a gaff-ketch with standing gaffs. The main sails are pulled out along the gaffs like curtains instead of being hoisted. Our note on the seven-or-eight count explains why both numbers circulate.

What are the sails called? The Buginese names are sombala for the main sail, tanpasere for the small triangular sail at each mast, and cocoro pantara, cocoro tangnga and tarengke for the additional front, middle and row sails. Anjong is the balancing triangle on the foredeck.

Which hulls carry the rig? Three general types: palari, the older form with a curved stern and keel; lambo, favoured by motorised vessels; and jonggolang, a mid-20th-century type built high from the start. The hull design guide compares them.

Is it pinisi or phinisi? Same boat. Phinisi was an attempt to mimic the Indonesian pronunciation and was first used for Phinisi Nusantara in 1986. See the spelling page for the detail.

Is every wooden boat sold as a phinisi a true pinisi? No. The word is often used indiscriminately for most kinds of Indonesian wooden ship, including charter and diving vessels. Check the masts and sails, not the label.

What is the history, and what did UNESCO inscribe?

When was the first one built? The first Sulawesi pinisi is thought to date from 1906, built by shipbuilders of Ara and Lemo-Lemo for a skipper from Bira. Treat the year as a common dating, not a documented launch.

Who built them, and who sailed them? Mainly the Konjo-speaking people of Ara, in Bontobahari district of Bulukumba, together with people of Bira, Lemo-Lemo and Tana Beru. Buginese and Makassarese seafarers made wide use of them as cargo vessels.

What did they do for a living? They carried inter-island cargo, for example timber from Kalimantan to Java. Before the trading fleet was motorised in the 1970s and 1980s they were the largest Indonesian sailing ships. Motorised versions are called Perahu Layar Motor (PLM), and average cargo capacity rose to about 300 tons.

What exactly did UNESCO inscribe, and when? "Pinisi, art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi", file no. 01197, went on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2017 (12.COM, Jeju). The inscription concerns the craft, not any single vessel.

Is the pinisi a World Heritage Site? No. World Heritage is a different UNESCO list. Komodo National Park has been a World Heritage Site since 1991, which may be where the mix-up starts.

Is the craft under threat? A summary of UNESCO's periodic report, which we have yet to read in the original, lists fewer young people entering the work, rising costs, scarce quality timber and pressure from modernisation and commercialisation. The UNESCO page covers the inscription at length.

Where are pinisi built, and how large do they get?

Where are they built today? UNESCO's decision names Tana Beru, Bira and Batu Licin as contemporary centres. Indonesian Wikipedia, citing the 2021 statistics office figures, lists Bira and Tanah Beru in Bonto Bahari district of Bulukumba. Our Tana Beru page looks at that stretch of coast.

How large do they get? One cargo example completed in Bulukumba in 2011 measured 50 m by 9 m with capacity of about 500 tons. Among yachts, Lamima is 65.2 m, delivered in 2015, and is marketed as the world's largest wooden sailing yacht; that phrase is a marketing claim.

How long does building take, and which timber is used? We publish no general build time or timber list, because the accounts available to us have not been verified. One vessel-level detail is sourced: Lamima has an ironwood hull. The building guide has more.

What does buying and owning involve?

What does one cost? Two sale listings serve as examples, a 1998 traditional phinisi at Labuan Bajo and a 2012 Phinisi Custom; both figures are in the price table on this page. They are asking prices, not sale prices, and we have not recorded the length of either, so we cannot compare them by size. Our cost guide takes this further, and YachtWorld's Indonesia page shows what is on the market now.

Can a foreigner own one? We make no claim either way. Put the question, with your nationality and intended use, to a licensed Indonesian maritime lawyer. The ownership page sets out the terms you will hear.

What flag, company structure and law apply to charter boats? Emerhub, a business consultancy, says a liveaboard or charter business is typically run through a PT PMA with Indonesian flag registration and Indonesian crew. That is a commercial guide, not a legal text. The shipping law is UU No. 17 of 2008, generally summarised as a cabotage principle of Indonesian-flagged vessels with Indonesian crew. A Hubla notice names the law, and its text should be read directly. None of this page is legal advice.

How does chartering work, and what do park fees look like?

What does a charter cost? The one published rate in our table is for Lamima, from a broker listing, and it appears in the price table on this page. A 65.2 m vessel says little about what a smaller boat would charge, and rates move with the season. The hire guide explains how chartering works.

What is the Komodo park fee? Read the current table on the official Balai TN Komodo tariff page. Weekend figures in third-party guides disagree, so we quote no weekend ticket price.

What is the Raja Ampat fee? New rates took effect on 3 August 2026 and are in the price table on this page. The international permit lasts 12 months, the Indonesian rate is charged per day, and children under 12 are exempt. Permits are sold at the Sorong harbour booth, the Waisai office and online.

Which months are good for sailing? We have not confirmed sailing seasons for Komodo, Raja Ampat or the Banda Sea. Ask the operator to put the route and months in writing.

What can a visitor to Bulukumba expect?

Can I visit the boatyards? We have found no published visiting rules or opening hours, so arrange any visit locally and expect a working site. Lamima was built on the beach at Bira/Ara, which gives a sense of the setting. Our where-to-see guide covers other places too.

How do I get there? The airport we can document is Sultan Hasanuddin International (UPG), on the Makassar-Maros border, about 20 km from the city centre by toll road. We have no verified road distance or driving time onward to Bulukumba.

Which numbers will you not find here?

None of the figures below has a source we can cite, so the table gives what we can offer in place of a number.

Who writes these answers, and what is the site's role?

The Pinisi Boat Editorial Desk writes them. The site is a specialist brand of Juara Holding Group, combining this guide with a desk for requests, and it signs no contracts itself. A request can end in a contract with a company in our group, so weigh that offer as hard as you would weigh anyone else's. The about page names the companies and explains our method.

What are the remaining short answers?

Why are pinisi boats famous?

Three things stand out in the record. UNESCO inscribed the art of building them in 2017, a pinisi featured on Indonesia's 100-rupiah banknote, and Phinisi Nusantara sailed from Indonesia to Expo 86 in Vancouver in 1986. Charter marketing has since carried the name further.

Why are pinisi boats made of wood?

We have not found a source we can rely on that explains the choice of material, so we offer no single reason. UNESCO places the pinisi inside a long Austronesian boatbuilding tradition, and a summary of its periodic report names the scarcity of quality timber as a present threat to the craft.

How far can a pinisi boat sail?

No published range figure for the type has reached us, and any figure would depend on the vessel, its fuel and its rig. One long voyage is on record: Phinisi Nusantara, a motorised traditional vessel, sailed from Indonesia to Vancouver in 1986. In ordinary trade, pinisi carried cargo between islands, such as timber from Kalimantan to Java.

How fast does a pinisi boat go?

We give no speed, because no reliable figure for the type has turned up. Hulls and engines differ, and Indonesia's traditional trading fleet moved to engines in the 1970s and 1980s, so old sailing accounts say little about a modern boat. For a particular vessel, ask the seller or operator for the speed in writing.

Are pinisi boats safe?

There is no general answer we can stand behind, because we hold no safety record or stability data for the type. Judge the individual vessel instead: ask for its registration, safety and class papers, and read them before you pay. Our separate safety guide sets out what can and cannot be said.

Can I book or buy a boat through this site?

Not from the site itself, which signs no contracts. A request sent to the desk can lead to an offer from a company in our group, and that offer names the company, the work location, any fee and the payment terms.

Which sources support this page?

Each was checked in October 2026.

• UNESCO: Pinisi, art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi
• UNESCO: Decision 12.COM 11.B.13
• UNESCO: thirty-three elements inscribed, December 2017
• UNESCO: 12.COM decisions document
• UNESCO: periodic report
• Wikipedia: Pinisi
• Indonesian Wikipedia: Kabupaten Bulukumba
• Wikipedia: Komodo National Park
• Wikipedia: Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport
• YachtWorld: 1998 traditional phinisi listing
• YachtWorld: 2012 Phinisi Custom listing
• YachtWorld: boats for sale in Indonesia
• Emerhub: liveaboard business in Indonesia
• Directorate General of Sea Transportation (Hubla): notice citing UU 17/2008
• Balai TN Komodo: official tariff page
• Stay Raja Ampat: marine park entry permit
• Navelia Indonesia: Lamima
• CharterWorld: Lamima completed
• Boat International: Lamima

How do I reach the desk?

Send your question and the page it relates to, and the Editorial Desk will reply. WhatsApp: 6281139414563. Email: bd@juaraholding.com.