Over the last two weeks of July I was being interviewed by a French yachting journalist (Jean-Yves Poirier – one time Wharram French agent and long-time friend) for an extensive biographical article in the French Yacht magazine, Chasse Marée.
Going through my past life and old files we were constantly distracted by the many offshore voyages – single handed, couples, families - made on Wharram catamarans. These people were/are not following a ‘master’, but are themselves ‘masters’ who use my design ability to become ‘People of the Sea’. One of these people is Rory McDougall.
In my last weblog about the Jester Challenge I wrote:
“In the early hours of Saturday 26th June Rory sailed his Tiki 21 ‘Cooking Fat’ into Newport, Rhode Island, finishing second in the Jester Challenge, just 2.5 hours after the Russian 25ft yacht ‘The Grand’, having sailed in 34 days from Plymouth, UK. ….
“I could not be at the start of the Jester Challenge as I had just had a knee replacement operation. From my armchair I was quietly confident in Rory’s planned voyage. I knew Rory knew what he was doing and the boat would look after him, simple as that. …..
“Take care Rory, our thoughts will be with you. We look forward to welcoming you home.”
The July issue of Classic Boat magazine features the winners of this year’s design competition for an Eco Fishing Boat.
They wrote: “The brief was for an under 10m boat that would not need a license for fishing under sail or oar. Many entries nodded to traditional types, but the winner was surprisingly radical.”
They chose the new Wharram Ethnic design, the 27ft Amatasi double canoe, the only catamaran entry. The design is developed from the 21ft Tahiti Wayfarer design and inspired by the Ethnic canoe craft of the Pacific. The hull lines are derived from the fishing canoe hulls of Samoa (bonito canoe, Va’a alo or Amatasi) and similar canoes in the Society islands. They have very shallow draft and are easy to row and beach. The boat is steered with steering paddles.
In the early hours of Saturday 26th June Rory sailed his Tiki 21 ‘Cooking Fat’ into Newport, Rhode Harbour, finishing second in the Jester Challenge, just 2.5 hours after the Russian 25ft yacht ‘The Grand’, having sailed in 34 days from Plymouth, UK.
In this office it was joy and Laphroaig whiskey all round.
Congratulations Rory, you have done magnificently!
Photo Credit: Mary Beth Pike
Photo Credit:Dave De La Cour
Monday, June 14 2010 @ 10:47 AM BST
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 128
Boatsmith has delivered two Tiki 8M sailing catamarans to the beautiful Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort on the west coast of Florida. These boats are used for captained day sail charters for snorkeling, shelling and dolphin watching excursions. These boats were custom made to serve the needs of this resort. Their shallow draft allows them to be pulled up to the resort's beachfront for guest boarding. They feature a separate cockpit for the charter captain, custom cockpit seating for passengers, a large comfortable trampoline area, and a full marine head. The captain's are very happy with the performance and report that their customers love the comfort features and sailing experience on these boats.
If you are on the West coast of Florida, stop by the Marriott and sign up for a sailing adventure on these beautiful vessels.
Please note that the sailrigs on these catamarans are not the standard Wharram Wingsail
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.
Friday, March 05 2010 @ 11:21 AM GMT
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 1,211
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: 1,092
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.
Boatsmith Inc. the professional Wharram yard in Florida, have finished their first fiberglass production Tiki 8m and took it out for a sea trial. All went smoothly and the boat sailed really well. The wind was very light but the boat zipped along. Here's a link to a short You Tube video of the Tiki under sail during the trial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEGWexJ8tc
Boatsmith is building two Tiki 8m for the Marriott Hotel, this is the first one sailing. You will notice the boat is rigged with a Bermudan rig, this rig belonged to the catamaran the Tiki 8m will be replacing as beach charter boat. JWD recommends the Wharram Wingsail Rig for this design, as it is easier to hoist and lower in all wind directions and has less turbulence with the wrap around mainsail.
The Tiki 8m is now available from Boatsmith, please contact them for further details: www.boatsmithfl.com
It has been a long time with little news from the Wharram office. There is a reason for this, James has not been well.
Ever since returning from the Lapita Voyage in March, James was suffering from discomfort in his gut. In fact this was one reason for him returning before the finish of the voyage. We assumed it was some microscopic tropical parasite or tenacious bacteria and several tests were done. Finally an internal examination was ordered and the result was very disturbing as bowel cancel was diagnosed.
James about to board the plane in the Santa Cruz Islands, to take him back to Europe.
Looking on the good side, further scans showed no spread and a prompt operation in October removed the offending cancer. James has however now been put on a course of oral Chemo therapy, which will keep him on a low work schedule for a few more months.
These disturbing developments did not stop all the work. James and Hanneke had been invited to give a major presentation on the Lapita Voyage at the International Symposium of Boat and Ship Archaeology – ISBSA12 – in Istanbul in October.
We would like to draw attention to the problems people have experienced by ordering their Wharram catamaran to be built by the ‘RB Power & Sailing’ yard of Raoul Bianchetti in Pattaya, Thailand.
The first boat built was a heavily modified Tiki 38, of which the owner refused to take delivery and which since being launched in February 2009 has broken up at anchor. The second Tiki 38, which was being build for Warren Matthews, was removed from the yard last January for finishing in New Zealand, after the owner discovered serious deficiencies in the build.
Practices like these are the reason for James Wharram Designs setting up Franchised Yards, where the owners can be sure to get a correctly built, high quality Wharram Design. RB Power & Sailing is NOT a franchised yard!
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