What's it like?

That is a really good question

Keep in mind that the experience on this palari is authentic. This one hasn’t been tarted up for the tourist trade. This is the real deal. The first thing that grabbed my attention upon stepping on board, it moves laterally to your body weight! When two average western frames move to leeward, she heels over. That was not something I was expecting for a boat made of tonnes of hardwood.

In the days that followed, every time we tacked or gybed the stored water on deck had to be tacked over as well as there were no holding tanks on board. If you were looking for a motor in the hold, you’d be disappointed! When the wind is not favourable you either drift or anchor - just like how it was!

A quick walk around the deck reveals that all lines on board (heaps) are all the same colour. All terminate around a rail or on the belaying pins on the mast collar. There are two trees but these have been shaped into two-piece masts. The lower section is square and the upper has been shaped from a square to a round section. All hand done.

All hand made too are the canvas sails and there’s lots of them. A yankee on the very front of the bowsprit followed by three jibs. Two top sails sprout from the masts above the gaff boom. Then the boomless mainsail between the two masts and finally a mizzen sail that is as big as the mainsail. All canvas. All hand stitched in Sulawesi!

Does canvas work as a cloth? Yes, and it’s great for art! Does it work as a sail? Not really! - but in the day there wasn’t really a lot of choice.

All sheets and halyards are from the same one inch 3 strand stock, thankfully all the same white colour so that we newbies will always be pulling the wrong ones! What was really interesting was, when you pulled the wrong rope three times, the stern of the boat would creak in a manner that  sounded a lot like German!