A New Zealand Wharram Meeting is being planned for next (NZ) Summer - likely in January 2011. I thought it best to give plenty of notice. The venue is not finalised yet, but it may be at Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf. It is hoped quite a number of Wharram catamarans will be able to attend. There is already a small group of enthusiastic Wharram sailors working on things!
If you are interested in taking part, please contact me.
Hi Everyone
I thought it may be of interest to say a few words about Hans Klaar's boat Ontong Java. I was fortunate in having the opportunity to go on board her recently when in Opua.
You may already be familiar with this boat from the Wharram Web site or the Wharram Builders and Friends site, but if not the attached photographs and information may be of interest.
Rory McDougall and his capable Tiki 21 catamaran “Cooking Fat” are off again on more adventures. Since sailing into the record books in 1997 as the smallest catamaran around the world, Rory and Cookie have had time away from ocean voyaging this past decade. Rory met his wife Michelle, shortly after the circumnavigation and they have been raising two kids in the Caribbean since. Cookie, of course, came along as part of the family and has been great for getting the young ones acquainted to sailing. Now it’s high time to get back on the horse!!
I watched the first Jester Challenge back in 1996 with great interest and made a vow that I would be on the start line for the next one in 2010. With 2800 miles of singlehanded upwind sailing from Plymouth UK to Newport Rhode Island USA, this is just the new adventure I need! The Jester Challenge embodies the self sufficient aspect of sailing small boats across oceans. The Challenge is open to all those who are up to the task and who like to voyage on boats from 20ft to 30ft. The Jester group of folks inspire small boat sailors to follow in the footsteps of our heroes of yesteryear. I can’t think of any better group to join with as it falls right in line with the minimalistic sailing I do in Cookie. The start is on Sunday 23rd May 2010 at 1300hrs off Plymouth breakwater. continued.......
IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN GETTING EMAILS ABOUT WHARRAM EVENTS, PLEASE FORWARD THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES TO floridawharramrendezvous@hotmail.com. THANKS.
First, Wharrams available and related information (to the best of our knowledge as of this email!):
1. Tiki 26, ‘05, Staten Island, NY, Betsy, betsy@vinestreetworks.com, 718-524-0221.
2. Tangaroa, ’02, MKIV+, Islamorada, FL. Dan, drkunz@hotmail.com, 305-664-0190.
3. Tangaroa, ’83, MKI, Annapolis, MD, Carl, cdkral@gmail.com.
4. Tahini, Pennsylvania, unfinished, Don, don.jones@live.com, 305-801-5663.
5. Professionally built Wharrams, Florida, David, www.boatsmith.com, 561-744-0855.
6. Professional built and kit Wharrams and a very informative website with Wharram forum, Texas, Shane, www.wharrambuilders.ning.com, 254-232-4033.
We will be holding our annual summer rendezvous in May 2010. Specifically, May 14, 15 and 16. It will be in Islamorada, FL (Florida Keys). We are expecting Wharrams of various sizes and descriptions.
Friday, March 05 2010 @ 11:21 AM GMT
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 1,223
By James Wharram
The PCA was founded in 1967 by a small group of the first Wharram builders. It started with the writing of a thin, rough, but very poetic magazine, called ‘The Sailorman’.
Who were these first Wharram builders?
During WWII thousands of young Englishmen were taken out of the pre-War English class system into the Army, Navy and Airforce.There they learnt the value of being oneself, to have the courage to stand alone, as we would now say: “to learn to think outside the box”.
Before the War not many of these ordinary people had the opportunity to enter the Class ridden society of ‘Yachting’. After the War, with the arrival of boats like the ‘Folkboat’ there was a beginning of small boat sailing for a wider public.
Even so, a large number of would-be sailors, through lack of money and being in the wrong social class, were frustrated in attempts to find the beauty, solitude and companionship of Sailing the Sea. You could say I was one of them, no-one in the British established yachting circles of the early 1950s was prepared to take my wish to cross oceans on a catamaran seriously, I came from the North of England, spoke with the wrong accent and had no ‘friends’ in yachting circles. I was on my own, but did get help from old working sailors of that time and they taught me a lot.
My early pioneering voyages are now well known. When I settled back in Britain in the early 1960s and was living on my 40ft catamaran Rongo in North Wales, I was approached by an ex-Wartime soldier, Eric Jones. A steam railway engineer from Crewe, he asked me to design a seagoing catamaran that would cost him no more than £600 to build.
Eric Jones
Friday, March 05 2010 @ 11:04 AM GMT
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 1,107
by Bob Bois
As I write this, yet another low pressure system is spinning off the coast of New England, dumping another 10 inches of snow on us. My building shed is cold and dark. I have a long way to go.
How many years left on your build? Two? Three? Four, five or more?
Where do you turn for inspiration when the process seems to go one forever? Or the epoxy has gone off too early? Or you tell yourself for the hundredth time: I can’t afford this.
Where are the photos and stories that will prove to you that, yes, it is possible to build this boat and sail it wherever you want to go? Where are the guides and mates that have been where you are now and are more than willing to show you that you will get to the end of the build, you will live the life you have envisioned – whatever that means for you.
I’ll tell you where they are: they’re in the pages of “The Sea People” magazine, published regularly by the Polynesian Catamaran Association (PCA).
And you don’t need to be a Wharram builder to appreciate the organization. If you bought your boat from another builder, or had it professionally built, you will still find oceans of information available to you through the PCA. I know this firsthand. We bought a Tiki 30 a few years back (we are now building Tiki 46 no. 38) and the owner included practically all back issues of the “The Sailorman” and “The Sea People”. We devoured these magazines. We dreamed of sailing to Culatra, Martinique, transiting the Panama Canal and seeing the entire Pacific spread before us.
When the New England winter bit down hard, we huddled in front of the fireplace and went through the magazines chronologically, following tales of John Shores and his big, black, engineless Tehini. Or the Wharrams building and voyaging on the original Tehini and, later, the Spirit of Gaia.
The later issues of the magazine contained articles by more recent Wharramites: Ann and Nev Clement of Peace IV (Tiki 46), Rory MacDougall and Cooking Fat (Tiki 21 that sailed round the World!), Dave Vinnicomb and his Dragon (Tiki 38). There are too many examples of ‘the Wharram spirit” in the back issues of the magazine to list here.
In addition, the PCA sponsors sail-ins and meets across the globe, events where Wharram builders, sailors, or those merely interested in the boats, can get together and swap stories and innovations over a pot luck meal and their favorite beverage.
Friday, March 05 2010 @ 06:03 AM GMT
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 58
My story is really a personal one for James.
When my husband David Graham was a young boy in Manchester, England, James' family were neighbours and David met James and talked boats with him occasionally I gather.
David and I met and married in the early 6o's then emigrated to Australia and though David worked in the aircraft industry he maintained a great interest in boats.
In about 1989 David was begining to think about early retirement and what we would do. At this time we had a trailer sailer which we took all over the place. David however had bigger and better ideas, he would build a catamaran, which he did, it was not a Wharram but we had it for nine years after our retirement, and enjoyed every minute of it.
We had to sell her in 2005 as David became sick and passed away on Jan. 1st. this year aged 70yrs.
I thought James might be interested in this little story and what influence he may have had on this young boy living in industrial Manchester.
Pauline Graham
We are thinking of taking our Tiki 30 to the Abacus and making her available for charter. We have a charter operator there who is interested in working with us and we are trying to determine how much interest there is in chartering this boat.
Please let us know if you would be interested in bareboat chartering this boat in 2010 and we will keep you informed of the boat's availability.
Thanks!
Boatsmith Inc
We Build Your Dreams
(561) 744-0855 off (USA)
(561) 632-2628 cell (USA) www.boatsmithfl.com
Hi JWD just to let you know that Dragon and I have successfully sailed from Durban SA (Jan 09) to Opua in NZ (Nov 09) via the Panama Canal and the South Pacific islands, meeting Hans Klaar and John Jameson in Tahiti!
Great trip. Dragon (T38) did exceptionally well and arrived in NZ in as good a condition as she left.
Had two bad storms on the way which needed drogues but very comfortable once deployed.
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