Despite being built in Indonesia, the 46-metre wooden hulled schooner Mutiara Laut has truly European roots. Constructed by a deeply passionate Dutch owner named Leendert “Leo” Van Oostenbrugge, Mutiara Laut was the realisation of a lifelong dream to build his own sailing yacht, himself, from the keel up. Born in Rotterdam, Leo made his career navigating the oceans at the helm of cargo ships before swallowing the anchor and heading to shore to manage marinas back in the Netherlands. Locally he became well known for building small sailing yachts but on his retirement he and his wife moved to the balmier climes of Bali, where he set about the construction of Mutiara Laut or “Pearl of the Sea” in Indonesian.
As the months went by, Leo began to struggle with his health and turned to a fellow Dutch expat Kees Groenendijk, who’d recently emigrated to Bali with his family. Together Kees and Leo ran the yacht, with Kees managing the charter sales and Leo overseeing the maintenance and management of the yacht. When Leo suddenly died only seven months later, Kees was left in a bind – to retain the yacht, or to sell… “I was thinking, what should I do? I didn’t know a huge amount about boats and had only really been involved on the business side for a few months but I’d loved the time I’d…