FYI in other news I just received this from james
wharram
which I will probably go to,so if anybody has any questions for james or hanneke I can pass them on
PRESS RELEASE - 60th anniversary of first
offshore catamaran to set sail from Falmouth
This year on May 15th I was 87 years old.60 years ago, on the 27th September 1955, I set sail from a Falmouth quayside aboard a self-built 23’ 6” flat-bottomed double canoe (now called catamaran) called TANGAROA with two German girls as crew. My quest was to sail the Atlantic to prove the double canoe was a
seaworthy vessel. In a Pathé newsreel clip filmed in Falmouth
I called myself a
marine archaeologist, a profession which did not exist in 1955.The story was that in 1948 Thor Heyerdahl made the famous KONTIKI voyage across the Eastern Pacific from
Peru to the Tuamotu Islands ‘proving’ he said, that the inhabitants of the central Pacific islands must have come from
South America by sailing raft (not as is now accepted from SE
Asia by canoe craft.)At the age of 16 during the war years I had bought a book ‘The voyage of the Kaimiloa’ written by a Frenchman, Eric De Bisschop; my first and probably most influential book in what is now an extensive boat library. De Bisschop built a 38’ junk rigged, Pacific inspired double canoe in
Hawaii in 1938 and sailed it with a companion across the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans (via Cape of Good Hope) to Toulon in
France, thereby proving that the Pacific double canoe was a
seaworthy craft, capable of making long ocean voyages. On arrival he received a heroes welcome, then in 1945 was written out of
history because of WW2 and his
family connection to the President of Vichy France! As a result Thor Heyerdahl was able to persuade the public with his widely acclaimed Kontiki raftt voyage that the ancestors of the Polynesians came from the south American mainland by sailing raft, because, as was then believed, the canoes of the central Pacific were not sufficiently ocean worthy for migratory voyages. This explains why I, as a disciple of Eric de Bisschop, was in Falmouth 60 years ago with a 23’6” double canoe, about to cross the Bay of Biscay and on to
Las Palmas to sail across the
Atlantic Ocean to Trinidad. An ambitious
project to prove Thor Heyerdahl was wrong. From that voyage with a greater understanding of ocean sailing double canoes I built a 40’ v-eed hull
catamaran in Trinidad (called RONGO), sailed it 1500 miles north to
New York, then made the first ever
multihull voyage from West to East across the stormy north Atlantic in 1959. This led me to become a
designer of catamarans.In many ways life is a series of seasons that echo our beginnings and in my design life I have come full circle with a brand new design, the same length as my 23’6” TANGAROA, a light weight
trailer sailer/Coastal Trek catamaran, the MANA 24. She has modern features and influences, but essentially the design philosophy that inspired me as a young man still motivates me now.Suffice to say; I think that modern sailing
boats are being priced out of the market. Not just by 20% VAT but by the
price of moorings and
marinas. The best solution to this problem is to self-build your boat and totrail it home. The other advantage of a
trailer boat is that you can take it to different sailing grounds, or to where the
weather is good, giving you a much wider horizon.Last year a book called ‘Micro Adventures, local discoveries for great escapes’ by Alistair Humphreys was published. This book ties into my life philosophy as a rock climber and wanderer before I became an oceansailor. A
small boat that can be trailed, like the MANA 24, can satisfy this spirit of adventure that so often never gets a chance in our hectic modern urban lives.o the practicalities: I/we assisted by a team of Cornish enthusiasts; local
designer and CAD expert Simon Holman, the computer cutting firm Fibrefusion and the Cornwall
Marine Network, have tied all our sailing, design and building knowledge into this new 24’ car trailer-sailer design to be
sold as an easy to assemble ‘Ikea’ style kit boat using state of the art CNC machines, 3D graphics and a design
concept we hope will appeal to an audience of adventurous, free spirited people. Low
budget sailing, camping and adventure for families feeling the sting of the economic downturn. The plan was to have the first MANA 24 moored in Falmouth at the pier where we departed from with TANGAROA in 1955. However such is life, the boat will not be ready to launch on that date, so we plan to host a
reception (incl. drinks and refreshments) in our studio/workshop in Devoran with exhibits of the voyage in 1955 as well as the MANA 24 under construction to view. This can be followed by a visit to the quay in Falmouth for a
photo opportunity. We hope to be able to moor our other 27’ double canoe AMATASI at the quay.You are warmly invited to this
reception, which will be held on Wednesday 30th September at 2pm at the address below. RSVPJames
Wharram FRGSJames Wharram DesignsGreenbank Road, Devoran, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6PJ, UKTel: +44 1872 864792 Personal
email:
james@wharram.com Office
email:
wharram@wharram.com Website:
James Wharram Designs | Unique sailing catamarans, self-build and professional built boats of distinction.. Websites on canoe project for Tikopia and Anuta:
Tikopia canoe project by Hanneke Boon. and
Herzlich willkommen auf der Internetseite: Lapita-Voyage More on Mana 24:
Mana 24 is becoming a reality – by James Wharram | James Wharram Designs
I usually just put a dab of the glue along the length, just enough to hold and no more! As it cools, it holds. I just made back splash units for a kitchen out of Corian and its held in place by a dab or two as the silicone cures......
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