Teluk Bakau, Bintan · Jong School founded 2012

Traditional Sailing Club

Reviving traditional sailing on the east coast of Bintan — the Moana Sampan, the sampan layar, the jongs, and the school built up around them.

Traditional Sailing Club

"In the hope to revive the art of traditional sailing on the east coast of Bintan, we have two sampan layar on site, one seven meters and the other three meters. For the jong, we are building a special room that will display and have jongs for rent or sale, and instruction courses on how to sail them. Children but also adults can learn the art in a laid-back atmosphere." Anyone is welcome — food and drinks available on request during the week, and on-site weekends.

Full Sailing Club Gallery
34 photographs — Moana Sampan, sampan layar and some of the jongs — view full gallery →

The full Jong School site

Race galleries back to 2013, youth programs, the craft of building a jong — the complete Jong School Zakirudin site lives on its own.

Visit jongschool.weebly.com ↗

The Jong School

Founded 2012 by Michel Lippitsch with Zakir, in Teluk Bakau, near Tanjung Pinang and Gunung Kijang. Two seasonal races drive the calendar — Utara (northeast monsoon) and Selatan (southwest) — now drawing dozens of groups from Bintan, Batam and Pulau Penyengat, up from a handful of villages at the start.

"Thank you to everyone who sailed, danced, cooked, judged, and showed up — this only exists because so many people choose, quietly, to make it happen." — from the 2026 race writeup. That year: 23 groups, Penyengat sweeping all three prizes, dangkung dance alongside the Taktido art collective and an evening of Malay music and DJ sets.

Though Zakir has since passed away, "his influence persists in every boat constructed and every student trained in traditional hull-carving methods."