About Us

Starting in November 2019, I traveled for the first time to Labuan Bajo by joining an open trip for 2 days 1 night. At that time, we used a small wooden boat trip to the islands of Rinca, Komodo, Padar, Pink Beach and Kanawa. There is a sense of awe and falling in love with the beauty of the waters surrounding the Komodo National Park. At the same time, there was a desire to have a beautiful phinisi boat that has a sail, so that it looks very beautiful to look at, blending in with the beauty of the small islands with the blue and clear sea. When I came back from Labuan Bajo, I talked to my husband about the phinisi boat business and the unique travel trend in Labuan Bajo, namely live on board. Incidentally my husband also likes fishing, and once thought of owning a boat for fishing.

After talking, we looked for information about the phinisi boatbuilding site. Based on information obtained from relatives, we decided to go to Makkasar, then headed to Bulukumba district which is the place for phinisi boat craftsmen. The boatbuilding sites in this area are spread over several villages, namely Ara, Tanah Beru and Bira villages. We went to almost all the shipbuilding shipyards to ask the shipyard owners regarding the manufacture of phinisi ships, after 2 days exploring the phinisi village, we finally decided to order the phinisi shipbuilding from the phinisi maker/craftsman/maestro of phinisi, namely Syarifudin who is better known as  “Bapak Pudding”.

Pudding, he is the son of a legendary shipbuilder, who sailed using a phinisi sailing ship from Makassar to Vancouver Canada round trip which took 6 months. Because of this, UNESCO gave an award to Pudding’s family, as a preservation of the phinisi shipbuilding culture. The skill of building a Phinisi ship has become a hereditary tradition for Bugis people, even Pudding’s father has also passed down his skills to his 3 sons, namely Pian, Ilham and Ridho. , who since childhood has been involved in building a phinisi boat. The boat that we ordered was originally 6 meters wide and 25 meters long, but because there is a local wisdom of the Bugis culture which says: “Don’t cut the long ones and don’t connect the short ones”, so the long logs are not cut, so the ship is then made. phinisi Sukha sail measures 7 meters wide and 34m long, because it follows the length of the wood available at the time of manufacture.

We really respect and admire the greatness of the phinisi shipbuilders, that’s why we decided to follow all the traditions that the Bugis people usually do when building ships, starting from the ceremony of cutting the keel of the ship, lowering the ship into the water, and then releasing the ship the first time it goes sailing. From the beginning of the ship’s construction, we routinely went directly to oversee the construction to ensure that all the wood used was of really good quality, which consisted of ironwood, beet wood, teak and sandalwood, and moreover we wanted to ensure that the ship did not wobble and was stable when sailing, because there are so many ships whose hulls are not properly shaped when they are made so that the ships are easy to shake and shake strongly when sailing.

We really enjoyed the process of building the sukha sail boat which took a long time, from February 2020 to July 2022, I was directly involved in designing the layout of the room and my husband was in charge of finding the completeness of the ship along with the ship’s engine, generator and other supporting equipment. In preparing the sukha sail boat, we pay attention and consider several aspects, namely, safety, comfort, and energy saving which means it will also save costs.  To support all of that, we use boat engines with marine engine specifications and for electricity needs we have used solar panels to reduce the use of diesel fuel.

To ensure that fresh water needs are met during sailing, we have equipped the ship with a water maker. That’s why then we named our phinisi ship with the name SUKHA SAIL. The word sukha is taken from Sanskrit which means: happiness, delight, joy, pleasure and comfort. In accordance with the meaning of the word sukha, then our desire is implied that everyone who goes sailing with the ship, will feel safe and comfortable because the ship is large, strong and stable. So that they will get fun, excitement and joy during live inboard, while enjoying and exploring the beauty of the places visited during sailing.

We deliberately provide a lot of space to gather and chat during live in board, we even made a sharing room with a large number of beds. Because traveling with extended family, officemates and playmates/gangs are much more exciting, and it will be even more fun and enjoyable if during the live on board filled with chatting, playing, and singing together, it’s a shame that the togetherness is missed by sleeping more in the room. We want to invite the passengers of sukha sail to really not miss the amazing beauty that is presented.

“Climb the high hill, and dive into the underwater world that is so unique and beautiful, enjoy the bright moon at night, the sea breeze and the sprinkling of stars in the sky that looks bright. Let’s go on an adventure to enjoy life with sukha sail, don’t delay time, because tomorrow we won’t be getting younger, and the older we are, we won’t get fitter”.

Best Regard

Sukha Sail Management