Phinisi yacht: how Indonesia's cargo schooner became a wooden sailing yacht

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 phinisi yacht in Indonesia is a wooden vessel built or fitted out for guests instead of cargo and sold under the phinisi name. The usual reference example is Lamima, a 65.2-metre motor-sailer launched in 2014 and delivered in 2015, built on the beach at Bira and Ara with an ironwood hull, 7 suites and room for 14 guests.

How did the cargo pinisi turn into a yacht?

The record gives two fixed points, close together in time and place. In 2011 a pinisi-rigged cargo vessel of 50 metres was completed in Bulukumba, as Wikipedia notes. In 2014 Lamima was launched on the beach at Bira and Ara, which both lie in Bonto Bahari district of the same regency. So the same stretch of South Sulawesi was producing very large cargo hulls and very large guest hulls within about three years. AramcoWorld dates the superyacht trade's interest to the late 1990s, and Kasten Marine Design says it was asked in 2001 to design a 36-metre charter pinisi, Silolona, built in Kalimantan. We have not found a dated account of the first guest conversion.

Our Komodo page carries the visitor figures, and none of them counts the yachts themselves.

What does Lamima tell us about phinisi yachts?

Do not read Lamima as typical. Its published particulars come from CharterWorld, with Boat International confirming the length and delivery year.

The phrase attached to it, the world's largest wooden sailing yacht, is marketing language, and we have seen nothing that tests it. The layout is the more instructive number. Fourteen guests in seven suites on a hull of that length shows size spent on space per guest. The price table on this page carries one broker's published charter rate for Lamima, a figure that says little about ordinary boats. Famous phinisi yachts looks further at the named vessels.

What sits inside a traditional-looking hull?

Kasten Marine Design says iron drifts and steel bolts now sit beside the wooden pegs. Ask what is installed on the boat you are offered.

One part of the story is firmly on record: engines reached these hulls through cargo work, decades before Lamima. The cargo fleet was motorised in the 1970s and 1980s, producing the Perahu Layar Motor, and the 1986 voyage of Phinisi Nusantara used a motorised traditional vessel. Lamima is a motor-sailer. An engine alone therefore does not disqualify a vessel, and the useful question is how much it relies on one. The boatbuilding guide sets out what is confirmed about building and what is not.

Why is the word phinisi used so loosely for charter boats?

UNESCO and Wikipedia define pinisi by the rig: seven to eight sails on two masts with standing gaffs. Wikipedia also records that the word is now often used indiscriminately for most types of Indonesian wooden ship, with charter and dive vessels marketed as phinisi. So a phinisi boat in a charter brochure may carry no pinisi rig at all.

A wooden boat with a mast may be comfortable and well run without that rig, and the accurate term for it is phinisi-style. If the sailing itself is what you are paying for, ask to see the rig in use.

Which design questions should I put to a seller or builder?

Get design figures in writing, vessel by vessel.

• Rig: how many masts and sails, are the main sails set on standing gaffs, and is the rig used at sea?
• Hull type: palari, lambo, jonggolang or another form?
• Beam and draft: what are the measured figures, and where will the vessel need to anchor?
• Deck space: how much area is open to guests, and how much goes to crew and working gear?
• Cabins: how many, what size, and what is the licensed guest number?
• Engines and systems: what is installed, when was it last serviced, and who holds the records?
• Timber: which species were used where? Scarce quality timber is among the pressures on the craft on record.
• Papers: what flag, what registration, and what class if any?

For how these play out on board, see cabin layouts and capacity and phinisi boat sizes.

Who builds phinisi yachts today, and where?

The firmest geographical statement comes from UNESCO, whose 2017 decision document names Tana Beru, Bira and Batu Licin as contemporary boatbuilding centres. Lamima's record adds Bira and Ara as a build site for a very large guest vessel. This page does not rank or name individual builders. The pressures recorded in UNESCO's files, set out on our UNESCO page, belong in any conversation about a new hull and its timetable.

How do I own, charter or commission a phinisi yacht?

There are three routes, and each has its own guide.

• Charter: the least commitment, and the sensible way to find out what you want from a vessel. See phinisi yacht for hire.
• Buy used: YachtWorld keeps a country page for Indonesia. The price table on this page shows the asking price of a custom vessel built in 2012, already reduced once. An asking price is not a sale price, and our cost guide explains what those figures can tell you.
• Commission: a new build, where the specification and the contract carry most of the risk. See commissioning a pinisi.

Running one commercially raises separate questions of flag, crew and company structure. Our ownership page and our regulations page set out what is on record. This page takes no position on who may own what, so take legal advice on your own case.

A request through our desk can end in a contract with a company in our group, so hold our offer to the same questions as anyone else's. The about page names those companies, and the offer itself gives the work location, any fee and the payment terms.

What are the short answers on phinisi yachts?

Is a phinisi yacht a real pinisi?

Only if it carries the rig. UNESCO and Wikipedia define pinisi by its sails and masts, while the market uses the word for most wooden charter boats.

Which phinisi yacht is the largest?

Lamima is the one marketed as the world's largest wooden sailing yacht, at 65.2 metres. That phrase is a sales description, so treat it as a claim.

How many guests does a phinisi yacht carry?

It depends on the vessel, and we publish no general range. Lamima has 7 suites for 14 guests, and each other boat should be asked for its own licensed number.

Do phinisi yachts have engines?

Lamima does, since it is described as a motor-sailer. Cargo pinisi had engines from the 1970s and 1980s, so ask each vessel how much it relies on sail.

Does this site sell phinisi yachts itself?

No. The site publishes guides and runs a request desk, and any contract comes from the company named in the offer.

Which sources support this page?

Rates, listings and rules can change. These are as published when last checked in October and November 2026.

• CharterWorld: 65 m traditional phinisi completed
• Boat International: Lamima
• Navelia Indonesia: Lamima
• YachtWorld: boats for sale in Indonesia
• YachtWorld: 2012 Phinisi Custom
• Wikipedia: Pinisi
• Wikipedia (Indonesian): Kabupaten Bulukumba
• UNESCO: Pinisi, art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi
• UNESCO: 12.COM decisions document, December 2017
• AramcoWorld: Pinisi Boats Sail into the Future (February 2021)
• Kasten Marine Design: The Indonesian Pinisi

How do I reach the desk?

To ask about a yacht, or to send a request, use WhatsApp at 6281139414563 or email bd@juaraholding.com. Include the vessel name if you have one.