Re-Shaping A Tradition

MORITZ DRABUSENIGG OWNS DIVE OUTFITS in Komodo and Sumbawa. Together with two friends, he has spent the last two years building the Fenides , a new liveaboard that blends traditional techniques with modern expectations of comfort and amenity.

- Steve White

What was the genesis of the project?

The idea to build Fenides Liveaboard came when we realised our Komodo catamaran liveaboard is relatively slow and difficult to relocate. A new boat had to be built, a once-in-a-lifetime project that would eat up all our time, funds and energy – in a good way! To build it, I came together with Michael Schnadhorst [shown right], a German engineer realising a long-time dream to build a modern pinisi [a traditional Indonesian design], and Dominic Stewart-White from the UK, who moved to Indonesia as a young man and has been diving there ever since.

Aren’t there enough liveaboards in Indonesia?

There are the high-end boats with history, the boats that people know: Amira, Arenui, Damai, Seven Seas, Silolona… But these boats have been around for a while, built when a pinisi was still something special and the market easy to tap.

Then there are the copycats – shamelessly copying designs, construction methods, routes and even dive sites. Built quick ly with low budgets and low-quality materials, they are the ‘hobby’ of wealthy businessmen or investment groups, never really sailing or having booked trips. Labuan Bajo Harbour is full of them.