The most impressive fleet of wooden sailing vessels still in normal commercial work is the so-called Bugis prahus of Indonesia, commonly known as Pinisi. There are still about 800 engaged in the timber trade from Kalimantan to Java and many others scattered around the other islands of the archipelago. They range from 120 to 200 tons and many are still built from curved planks cut from hardwood without power tools. Except for a few bolts inserted by nervous shipwrights. Some are heavy, slow and picturesque but what the tourist doesn't see is that they are only the present stage in a long line of sailing boat evolution that stretches back to before the arrival of the western explorers.

The Bugis were a seafaring people based in south Sulawesi that the Portuguese missionary, Tomé Pires, writing in Malacca in 1512, noted "sail around plundering...among all the islands of Java and they take women to sea. They have faires where they dispose of the merchandise they steal, and sell the slaves they capture."

When the first western adventurers arrived in what were known as the East Indies they were looking for spices, gold and silks. They quickly conquered the area from the Muslim traders based in Malacca. This was mainly due to superior ship design and therefore superiority at sea. Whether they made their own changes or not, the local shipbuilders slowly copied the European models and with time the modern pinisi was born.

These antique looking prahus have been built for centuries on isolated beaches, far away from any villages, by local people working from an oral tradition without any drawings or plans. The sailors are Bugis or Makassarese of south Sulawesi but the crafts are built and then sold by craftsmen of the Konjo, an isolated people related to the Makassarese.

Prahu names usually refer to the hull design and not the rig. To understand the building of a prahu it is essential to realize that the process is a specialized cult that is supported by the strongest feelings of the society. The systematic practice of ceremonies and the belief in the supernatural world that justifies them, provide the strength for the commitment that has kept the tradition in its perfect living form for centuries. Like many Indonesians the Konjo boat builders believe in magic and spirits. To keep ghosts and spirits happy it is essential to live an orderly life and to maintain the old traditions in every detail. The persistence of their traditions in boat building is always attributed by the Konjo people to the importance of doing exactly as taught by their ancestors.

In this way has the hull design of these impressive and powerful schooners remained in tact. For further reading please refer to "The Konjo Boat builders and the Bugis Prahus of South Sulawesi" by Professor Adrian Horridge.