Outrigger Boats in Manokwari and Numfor island

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On my trip by ferry boat from Manokwari city to Numfor island last year, I  had some opportunities of taking pictures of outrigger boats usually used by fishermen to catch fish or to carry people and goods from one place to another. I guided 2 Dutch volunteers on a snorkeling and birding trip to Numfor at that time. Because we went to the tropical island by a ferry boat, we had plenty of time talking with people or just taking pictures of the sea and coastal areas both in Dorey bay of Manokwari and when the boat was approaching the ship harbor of Numfor island.

When the boat was approximately 5 kilometers outside of the bay, I saw some outrigger boats in the middle of the sea. I was holding a Sony D-SLR camera in my hands. I pointed it to one of the boats that was going in parallel direction with the ferry boat and shot the boat several times. The sizes of the photographs which the D-SLR camera created were very large and not suitable for this blog. I had to compress the pictures in Adobe Photoshop software before uploading them to this post.
The motorized outrigger boats were used by fishermen to catch fish from the fishing ground which they had made at certain places at sea. To make a fishing ground, fishermen tie long rope to a drum that has been filled with concrete cement as a weight and throw it into the sea. At the other end of the rope, they tie floats. Below these floats, from the surface of the water down to around thirty or even fifty meters, they tie coconut palm leaves around the rope. During the days and nights thousands of fish like to gather around the leaves. These typical man-made fishing grounds can be seen many islands in tropical region. In West Papua waters, we can easily recognize them if we see bamboo rafts with some coconut leaves on them floating at sea. Sea birds such as terns patrol around such rafts to catch fish.

Because most of the fishing grounds are located in the middle of the sea, the fishermen who go to those points need outrigger wooden boats that are powered by outboard engines. Fishermen who only catch fish near the beach or at the edge of coral reef do not need to have outboard engines installed in their outrigger boats. Outrigger boats are quite safe in rough seas as long as the bamboo rods and the wooden booms that were used to make the outrigger are fastened to each other and to the hull of the boat tightly with ropes. They will not easily be broken by big waves.

Numfor is a tropical island that is located between Manokwari and Biak. It is a nice destination for anybody who likes snorkeling, birdwatching or interacting with the indigenous Papuan people to see their unique culture in their daily life. Very little information has been mentioned about this island in travel guide books. But it is really a nice tropical island.

As a tourist guide, I have guided tourists to this island many times. Some of them go by ferry boat whereas others by Susi Air airplanes. I personally like to go there by ferry boat first (because there is a chance of us watching dolphins and seeing fish market at the harbor) and then return to Manokwari city again by airplane. One thing that I like about Numfor is that it is a very beautiful tropical island in Indonesia and the cost of traveling around this island is quite affordable for most tourists. If you are interested in visiting Numfor and need me as your guide, please contact me via e-mail: peace4wp@gmail.com.

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Outrigger boat as tourist boat

Outrigger boat is the predecessor of trimaran - a high speed marine vehicle that is now being considered as an alternative choice for passenger or pleasure boat besides catamaran.
In the northern coast of Manokwari, this outrigger boat is usually powered by Yamaha 25 to 40 hp outboards to help fisherman transport their day catch from the sea to the main island of New Guinea. Last July 2010, I used one of the boats to carry Netherlands' tourists for snorkeling around the Kaki island - a one-hour car ride from Manokwari city - the capital of West Papua province of the Republic of Indonesia. I have been trying to introduce ecotourism scheme to Papuan fishermen communities living near Mansinam, Lemon, Raimuti and Kaki islands in Manokwari regency. If at nights, the fishermen use their outrigger boats to catch fish, during the days the boats can be used as water taxi to transport people.

When the fishing boat is converted into tourist boat, a number of safety precautions has to be taken into account. From my personal experience, most of the boats are not equipped with life jackets. To prevent accidents at sea, I limit the number of tourists that can be transported in one trip to Kaki island to three people to allow for a large freeboard at the side of the boat so that it will still be safe when facing big wave although the actual capacity of the boat is ten passengers.   Because Kaki island is located in the northern coast of the New Guinea island facing the Pacific island, the limitation of the number of tourists that can be transported by the boat is important to avoid any accidents at sea involving international tourists. The outriggers of the boat are made of bamboo - the material that can easily be found in the nearby tropical rainforest of West Papua not far from the village.
I hope that with the introduction of the outrigger boat as tourist boat, local Papuan fishermen who live near Kaki island will give more attention to the preservation of coral reef in Kaki island and other coral islands around the area.

Outrigger Boat

Outrigger boats that you see on the photographs and video below are  typical boats which fishermen in Manokwari of Papua island use to catch fish or lobster. The boat is usually dug out of a single wooden log that is taken from the nearby forest. The length of the boat ranges from 4 to 6 meters depending on the cut log which is the raw material for boat building. Outrigger boat is very stable boat. The floats on either sides of the boat are made of light wood locally called kayu gabus or bamboo. Boat with outrigger is more stable than a boat or canoe without outrigger.

With these gabus or bamboo floats attached at both ends of the outriggers, the metacentric height (GM) of the boat can be increased significantly without needing to increase the breadth of the boat and her displacement. The average light displacement of this outrigger boat, which is the weight of the boat when it is empty without a fisherman sitting on it with his fishing gear, is around 50 to 70 kilograms for small boat and 60 to 150 kilograms for larger boat with lengths of 6 to 8 meters. Please, see the following video of how an elementary school Papuan boy in Manokwari Papua dragged his outrigger wooden boat from the beach to the sea to take lobster. He used wooden paddle to move the boat at sea.

Because of its slender hull, the water resistance of the boat is also small. It can be powered with outboard diesel or gasoline engine. Outrigger boat whose lengths are between 8 and 12 meters are usually used to transport passengers from one island to another or from the main island of Papua to many smaller islands.
The advantageous working principle of outrigger boat whose water resistance is small with greater stability has been used in the develop trimaran - a modern high speed marine vehicle that is used as pleasure boat or yacht. Some experimental trimarans are powered with diesel engine and wind.

The traditional outrigger boat in West Papua island that you see in this article does not experience many technological improvements. In the past when modernization had not entered the island, fishermen used paddle to power their boats. Now, although paddle is still used in many smaller boats, larger outrigger boats  that can carry up to  12 passengers are usually installed with a 25 to 40 horsepower outboard engine manufactured by Yamaha. Usually the propeller installed in such boats have three blades made of aluminum.by Charles Roring