Crafting relationships in a Surabaya shipyard<\/p>\n
Duncan Graham, Contributor, Surabaya<\/p>\n
A famous French TV journalist has launched Indonesian wooden
\nboat-building skills into Europe with the commissioning of a 16.5
\nmeter sailing craft based on a traditional archipelago design.<\/p>\n
The keel of the unnamed 12-tonne boat coded K111 has been laid
\nin the Mitra PAL shipyards in Tanjung Perak, Surabaya. The boat
\nis expected to be ready for delivery early next year.<\/p>\n
It will cost Paris-based reporter Gregoire Deniau about
\n100,000 Euros (Rp 1.25 billion) and will be used on the Red Sea,
\nmainly as a pleasure craft.<\/p>\n
The shipbuilders hope that the high profile of K111's new
\nowner will help promote the Surabaya shipyards overseas.<\/p>\n
K111's designer, marine architect Michael Johnson, said it
\nwould cost four to five times that amount to construct the boat
\nin Europe, while getting the timber outside Indonesia might prove
\nimpossible.<\/p>\n
Commercial wooden boat-building skills are now rare in Europe
\nand North America, as aluminium and fibreglass are widely used.<\/p>\n
Although Indonesians seldom follow the Western system of
\nnaming boat types, this two- or three-sail style of craft is
\ngenerally known in Sulawesi as bago lambo, a general purpose
\nfishing vessel using wind and diesel power.<\/p>\n
It is being built of seasoned merbau timber from West Irian.
\nThe design is based on the traditional flat Indonesian pajala
\nkeel with a draft of 1.1 meters. This allows shallow in-shore
\noperations. Lateral rudders provide stability. Maximum speed is
\nexpected to be nine knots.<\/p>\n
The boat builders are handpicked shipwrights from Central
\nSulawesi who have worked on other projects with Mr Johnson in
\nSurabaya. They use electrical drills and saws along with ancient
\nhand tools like adzes.<\/p>\n
Although the K111 design is based on traditional ideas, modern
\ntechnology is also employed. To overcome the difficulty of
\nobtaining naturally curved wood for the keel boomerang shapes are
\ncreated by laminating selected planks.<\/p>\n
Last year, two wooden fisheries training vessels designed by
\nMr Johnson were built in Surabaya for the regent of Jembrana,
\nBali. After the tsunami hit Aceh 20 canoes were built for local
\nfishermen to use inshore. These are now being assembled in Aceh
\nby students from the Center for Marine Studies at the Institute
\nTechnology Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya (ITS).<\/p>\n
Almost Rp 2 billion to build the canoes was donated by Pt
\nTerminal Petikemas Surabaya (TPS), the Indonesian-Australian
\ncompany that runs Surabaya's sea container terminal.<\/p>\n
ITS Marine Studies director Dr Daniel Rosyid said the wooden
\nboat project fulfilled a dream he had held since 2002. In that
\nyear ITS sent 20 students and a 12-meter sailing boat they had
\nbuilt to an international competition in the U.S.<\/p>\n
The boat, a replica of craft used during the Napoleonic era in
\nFrance, was judged the most beautiful entry.<\/p>\n
"At that time I envisaged a situation where Indonesian wooden
\nboat-building skills might be commercially recognised in the West
\n-- and now that's happened," Dr Daniel said. "I believe this
\nproject will help improve our international relationships. We
\nneed to build new friendships that have been so sadly damaged
\nsince the so-called War on Terror began.<\/p>\n
"Here we have an Englishman working with Indonesians to build
\na boat for a Frenchman to be used in the Middle East."<\/p>\n
Mr Deniau's discovery of ITS skills came about by chance. Two
\nyears ago he was in East Java on an unsuccessful attempt to
\ninterview the U.S. consul about the invasion of Iraq. While in
\nSurabaya he met then French consul Olivier Debray who invited him
\nto lunch.<\/p>\n
Also at the table was Mr Johnson, an Englishman who normally
\nlives in France but who was then working as a consultant marine
\narchitect to ITS. The conversation moved away from war zones,
\ninto boat building and eventually a firm contract.<\/p>\n
Mr Deniau, an award-winning journalist who specializes in
\nreporting from war zones, was not at the keel-laying selamatan
\n(blessing ceremony) because he was shooting a program in Somalia.<\/p>",
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