Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1543791
at sea Handcrafted from ironwood, Dunia Baru is one of Indonesia's most extraordinary charter yachts. Travel Editor Mark Ellwood sails it on a one-of-a-kind voyage through Raja Ampat, Komodo, and beyond. ark Robba is uncompromising whenever he tackles a project. The New Englander, a manufacturing entrepreneur who has lived in Indonesia for almost four decades, is a seasoned salt, and nothing makes him happier than being out on the water. When he remarried in 2005, Robba initially planned to build a new family home, but instead pivoted to his passion for sailing. He approached it with that same obsessive pursuit of excellence. "Most of the boats here used household plumbing and wiring, and I didn't want to make that same mistake. I decided it would be better to build a boat," he says, pausing. "My sister told me once that I'm a perfectionist, which is usually the trait of people who had traumatic childhoods." No wonder Robba wouldn't settle for one of those thrown-together runarounds that are so commonplace around Southeast Asia—wooden skiffs more than yachts. Instead, he resolved to build an unrepeatable vessel: a superyacht that would be as much a work of art as a workhorse on the ocean. The result was Dunia Baru. Today, that 167-foot yacht remains unmatched on Indonesia's waters, and will likely always be a one-of-one. Wooden boats, or phinisi, are a familiar sight in these locales, their dark teak M C O U R T E S Y D U N I A B A R U