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.
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.
This story is from the May - June 2019 edition of Action Asia.
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This story is from the May - June 2019 edition of Action Asia.
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