Lal De Silva is making a big splash in Indonesia with his lifestyle businesses of high quality. Following an early career as a pastry chef, culminating in the five-star kitchens of the former Regent, Jakarta hotel (now rebranded as Four Seasons), the Sri Lanka-born entrepreneur set up the country’s first European-style bakery chain, The Harvest, in 2004. De Silva sold his business in 2016, after the company grew across the nation.
De Silva began boat charters after moving to Indonesia. With its more than 17,000 islands scattered across the country, he enjoyed sailing aboard traditional phinisi wooden-hulled pleasure craft, which are double-masted and powered by an inboard engine or sail. De Silva was so enamored with the boats that he started building them.
Although phinisi cruising is possible across much of Indonesia, it was in some of the country’s most treasured aesthetic waters – the Raja Ampat archipelago – that De Silva was smitten.
“I’ve travelled around the world and seen a lot of beautiful sights,” he recalls. “However, I was on a friend’s boat and as soon as I saw the mountains of Raja Ampat, its colourful birdlife and the very nice people living there, I fell in love with it.”
He was also captivated by the native vessel that accompanied him on the journey. “During that trip, I remember thinking that one day I would build my own boat like this and spend a lot more time enjoying these beautiful islands.”
He then ordered two more hulls from the phinisi shipyards on Sulawesi Island.
Taste For Luxury
De Silva was already a boat owner, having bought a brand new Azimut Flybridge Motor Yacht in 2016.
He selected the Italian brand’s 21m model due to its sophisticated design, high-quality materials, performance, as well as the comprehensive after-sales maintenance and services offered by its Jakarta dealership.
De Silva, who was enjoying his luxury yacht with its designer interiors and decks, as well as the high-end audiovisual systems, thought he’d really enjoy these features on a Phinisi. This cumulative ‘Eureka moment’ led De Silva in his building of three phinisi hulls, all destined to be fitted to De Silva’s high expectations in Bali.
First, there is the 37.3m NalaThe first yacht, completed in 2016, has already been chartered. The next two will be ready by the end of this year. De Silva chose Yacht Sourcing in 2016, founded by Boum Senous, as the Central Agent to handle chartering. Nala.
“We looked around for an agency, I met Boum and I liked him. I met with Boum a couple of times and liked what I learned about his plans and how he would take care the boat. After I made a couple of trips with the boat, they started to work with us from the end of last year.”
LDS Styles Nala
Nala’s design concepts came from De Silva himself, and were then formally drafted by his in-house team to pass to contractors. LDS Lifestyles has three divisions: property, restaurant, and gym. Interior and graphic design is largely done internally.
The maximum number of passengers on board Nala There are 12 guests on board and 10 crew. Opting for large windows in the five en-suite guest cabins – the family cabin can sleep four – as well as the saloon, fabrics are sumptuous when possible and more practical on and around outdoor deck areas on the 6.6m-beam yacht.
Cabins feature traditional Indonesian art and crafts such as wood carvings, textiles, and more, against a backdrop of clean, simple colors.
The three large decks allow you to dine under the canopy of the upper deck or alfresco at the cockpit. Or, in the air conditioned saloon located on the main deck. There’s also a lounging area in the saloon.
At night, the upper deck – among other outdoor spaces – offers guests sunset views and superb star studded night skies, and has been known to host a guest DJ or two to plug into its on-board Bose audio system. All the outdoor areas that aren’t covered can be converted into sun decks for the day. The main-deck cabins have immediate access to balconies.
Exploring Indonesia
De Silva, a scuba-diving expert, insisted that the equipment required to explore the depths be included in the cost of the charter, along with other water toys.
All of the models are high-end, top-brand models. Outborn builds the two custom RIBs (6m each) with a 10 passenger capacity. Jet-skis and scuba equipment are made by Sea-Doo. On demand, two kayaks are available, each designed for two users. The 400hp Mitsubishi S6B is the engine. Nala Eight knots is a comfortable cruise speed without sails.
Nala’s clients so far have been from the UK, France, the US and Brazil, among other places. “Indonesians tend to prefer modern yachts rather than phinisis,” De Silva says.
During the Covid-19 epidemic, when Indonesians were unable to travel abroad, many young people began travelling east of Bali. Many of them reported on the stunning scenery of Raja Ampat, and the Eastern Nusa Tenggara Archipelago.
Some visited Labuan Bajo, on Flores Island. This island is popular among overseas visitors because of its proximity to Komodo National Park and the waters, which are favored by scuba diving enthusiasts, as well as Komodo Island, by dragon-spotters.
“During and after Covid, the number of Indonesians going boating for the first time have grown. Our strength is having a divemaster on board to supervise snorkeling and scuba diving activities. And with our restaurant business experience, we try to serve food and drinks to a higher level than many others, to meet the expectations of those used to dining out in Jakarta.”
www.lds-voyages.com
www.yachtsourcing.com
This article was originally published on yachtstyle.co
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