catamaran wharram

• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

James Wharram: life and legacy of the iconic designer

• January 29, 2024

Julien Girardot meets Hanneke Boon in Cornwall to discover the legend and legacy of pioneering catamaran designer James Wharram

Falmouth, Cornwall, 1955: a legend is born along Customs House Quay. A smartly dressed young man with wild, curly hair has launched a 23ft catamaran, built in just a few months for the modest sum of £200 (the equivalent of around £6,500 today).

Rigged as a ketch with battened junk sails, the aptly named Tangaroa (meaning ‘God of the Sea’ in Polynesian) marked the beginning of the epic Wharram story.

At the time, catamarans were considered dangerous and eccentric, while yachting was a pastime largely reserved for high society. But sailing already has other visionaries. On the deck of Tangaroa, beside James, are two young women: Jutta Schulze-Rhonhof and Ruth Merseburger. In puritanical post-war England, setting off to cross the Atlantic with two young women – and German ones at that – was downright shocking! But these three young people care not a jot about conventional thinking. They dream of adventure and their enterprise is an act of defiance.

For years James Wharram has nurtured a passion for the history of sailing pioneers and the ethnic origins of the multihull. Devouring every book on the subject he could lay his hands on, he discovered the story of Joshua Slocum, the first solo circumnavigator (1895-1898), and the voyage of Kaimiloa by the Frenchman Eric de Bisschop. The tale, published in English in 1940, of de Bisschop’s attempt to prove the seaworthiness of double canoes by making a voyage from Hawaii to France on a catamaran he had built on the beach, became Wharram’s primary source of inspiration.

Riding out the storm: James Wharram at the helm of Tangaroa in Biscay in 1955. Photo: Julien Girardot

Wharram disagreed with many assumptions of the time, and his first Atlantic crossing was an opportunity to refute Thor Heyerdahl’s theory on the settlement of the Pacific islands. Wharram contested the assertion of the Danish anthropologist who, after his voyage aboard the Kon-Tiki in 1947, affirmed that the boats used were simple rafts. Wharram was convinced that the boats were more akin to double canoes with sails, capable of going upwind and holding a course. These early multihulls, consisting of two hollowed-out tree trunks, were connected by crossbeams bound together with plant fibre. The sails were probably made from what is known as ‘tapa’ in Polynesia, hammered tree bark, which was also used to make clothes.

The three young adventurers left Falmouth on 27 September 1955 on a boat loaded with books, basic foods, and very little else. Despite a fraught passage, encountering storms in the Bay of Biscay and being suspected of being spies by Franco’s Guardia Civil, the trio successfully crossed the Atlantic and reached the island of Trinidad on 2 February 1957.

Without a penny to their name, they adopted a simple island life, and Jutta gave birth to her and James’ first child, Hannes. The unconventional polyamorous family lived aboard a raft inspired by the floating dwellings of the Pacific, nicknamed ‘the paradise island of the South Seas’. Tangaroa, now tired, was abandoned, as Wharram decided to build a new catamaran. By chance, two solo sailors came to anchor in the bay where the Wharram tribe lived afloat, and the legendary Bernard Moitessier and Henry Wakelam helped Wharram build his new design, Rongo.

Wharram, Merseburger and Schulze-Rhonhof aboard Tangaroa in Falmouth, 1955, before their Atlantic crossing. Photo: Julien Girardot

Thanks to the experience of his first transatlantic voyage, as well as knowledge gathered from Wharram’s endless reading, Rongo was much more accomplished. While Tangaroa was flat-bottomed, Rongo has V-hulls. To prove the design’s seaworthy qualities, Wharram decided to tackle the North Atlantic, sailing from west to east with his two companions. This route was known to strike fear into the hearts of multihull sailors of the time, as the two previous attempts had tragically ended in two deaths.

The crew left La Martinique for New York on 16 April 1959, one year after Rongo’s construction began. The return voyage to Conwy in Wales took 50 days, but the gamble paid off, and Wharram’s new design was the first to achieve what many thought impossible. The curly-haired eccentric became something of a celebrity, and following his great Atlantic adventure, James published his first book, Two girls, Two Catamarans. The years that followed were Wharram’s golden age, with plans released to suit every budget and every dream. Soon there were Wharram designs all over the world, connected by a powerful community spirit.

Drawing a Wharram

My own journey to this remote corner of Cornwall began decades before. After 15 years of travelling the world, inventing and reinventing my life, including many years living in the Pacific islands, I felt the need to capture these experiences by creating the boat of my dreams.

Illustrations inspired by a visit to the Wharram design office in Cornwall. Image: Benjamin Flao

While living in Tuamotu, I was involved in several incredible projects to build traditional sailing canoes under the directive of talented local Tahitian boatbuilder, Alexandre Genton (now chief of operations at Blue Composite shipyard in Tahiti). At first we launched small single-seat sailing canoes with two outrigger floats. These are the simplest way to sail: a sheet in one hand, a paddle in the other, which you plunge over the side of the canoe into the water, and it makes a perfect rudder. Then we built a larger version, Va’a Motu, for a hotel in Bora Bora, of splendid stripped kauri planking. Finally, we worked with the local population to build an ambitious 30ft Va’a Motu with a single ama, on the atoll of Fakarava in the Tuamotu archipelago.

Curiously, after many experimental trials at building and sailing canoes, my imagined ideal yacht turned out to be something very close to a Wharram design, which I learned as soon as I shared my first cautious sketches with friends. I realised I had to meet James Wharram.

In October 2021, I dialled the number of JW Designs. A woman answered; James’ long-term life and business partner Hanneke Boon. I tell her my ideas to build from one of their plans: the Islander 39. We began an email exchange and when I asked her what James thought of this model, in November 2021, less than a month before he died, she replied: “James is enthusiastic about your project. He’s now 93 years old and nearing the end of his life.

The Pahi 63 Spirit of Gaia which Wharram and Boon sailed around the world. Image: Benjamin Flao

“He has been looking at the Islander 39 design for several years and often says, ‘I wish I had one myself.’ It’s the only Wharram design that has never been built, so your project is a wish come true for him.”

On 14 December 2021, James Wharram passed away. Out of respect for the bereavement, and due to Covid-related travel restrictions, we decided to postpone our meeting. Some months later on a beautiful spring afternoon, I landed in Plymouth with my friend and artist Benjamin Flao, himself the owner of a Wharram-designed Tiki 28, and headed for Devoran near Truro in Cornwall, the stronghold of the Wharram family.

Hanneke welcomes us into her office. It is a beautiful wooden cabin, warm and bright, overlooking the changing lights of Cornwall. The place looks like a museum telling the story of a life of travel and passion through yacht models, photographs and unusual objects. James is there, you can feel it. A glance at the shelves of the library shows an impressive array of rare and precious books, mostly dealing with navigation and shipbuilding in Oceania, and demonstrates the seriousness with which Wharram and Boon studied the history and technicality of ‘double canoes’.

“I’d like our boats to be called double canoes and not catamarans, which I think is a mistake,” Hanneke explains. The word catamaran, originally pronounced ‘catamaron’, comes from the Tamil dialect of katta ‘to bind’ and maram ‘wood’, as they were actually one-man rafts used to work on the outer hull of ships. The English pirate and adventurer William Dampier, in the 1690s, was the first to describe a two-hulled vessel as a catamaran, but although catamarans might be the commonly accepted word nowadays, it’s actually a mistake.

oon unfolds the plans of the Islander 39, the only Wharram design that has never been built. Many plans were hand-drawn by Boon. Photo: Julien Girardot

Hanneke unfolds the Islander 39 plan on her drawing board. Like all Wharram plans for half a century, it has been marked with her signature. Despite this unique pencil stroke, she has remained in the shadow of Wharram’s mythology for 50 years. Since 1970, Boon has drawn the majority of the construction plans by hand. They’re works of art and the best way to imagine yourself aboard a Wharram. Without her, JW Designs would not be what it is.

Originally from the Netherlands, Boon grew up in a family of sailing enthusiasts. By the age of 14 she was already building small canoes and at the age of 20 she joined the Wharram team and quickly became his co-designer. They criss-crossed the Atlantic twice in quick succession aboard Tehini, the crab claw-rigged double canoe on which James and several women lived for 10 years. Since then, Hanneke has escaped from her office whenever she can to sail thousands of miles on all the seas of the world, always using a double canoe.

Those radical vessels included the Spirit of Gaia, also built on site, through a sliding door next to Hanneke’s office. It was aboard this 63ft Pahi, Wharram’s flagship, that the Wharrams sailed around the world from 1994 to 1998. James described Spirit of Gaia as “a beautifully shaped woman he was in love with”.

Boon’s design office is adjacent to the Wharram HQ in Devoran and looks out over one of the River Fal’s many creeks. Photo: Julien Girardot

In Wharram’s wake

James and Hanneke’s home is a former veterinary surgery. The furnishings are basic, with only the essentials, but the doors close by themselves, thanks to an ingenious system of weights, ropes and pulleys. Benjamin and I offer to shop and cook, and in the living room, we put the dishes down and eat on the floor, like on the deck of a Wharram.

Jamie, James and Hanneke’s son, joins us for the meal with his partner Liz. “James has remained the icon of the business, but it’s really Hanneke who has been doing the job for the last 10 years. She is JW Designs,” confides Liz.

Jamie is at first more subdued, but talking to him you soon discover a true character. Given the world he grew up in, it’s surprising to learn that sailing is not really his thing: “I get bored quickly at sea and I’m sick most of the time! I prefer to be underwater. Above the line is not my thing.

Evocative illustration of the Wharram workshop in Devoran, Cornwall. Image: Benjamin Flao

“I do like the calmness of the ocean though, that parenthesis effect, detached from our hectic lives on land. In fact, I think the best thing about sailing is remembering long voyages, not making them,” Jamie jokes.

But he is keen to preserve Wharram’s legacy and the couple are thinking ahead to when Hanneke can no longer hold the fort. “As long as Hanneke is alive, the business will be run in her own way. But it’s certain that something will be put in place to enable people to continue to acquire the building plans, at the very least, this service will remain guaranteed.”

Back in the office next door, Nicki John answers clients and sends plans around the world. She’s only been with JWD for a couple of years, but that’s long enough for her to fall in love with the company’s story.

“One of the things I loved about James was that he came in every day. He’d knock on the door and jokingly ask, ‘Do you have time for some gossip?’ And then he’d tell me all sorts of stories. His travels, the women he had shared his life with, it was fascinating. When he was 18, he hitchhiked to Europe, smuggling coffee on the black market to finance his adventures. James’ story is just phenomenal.

Mana 24 is available as a CNC-cut self-build kit boat. Photo: Julien Girardot

“One day James came in, took out a plan, unfolded it as he sat down, and said, ‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ James was deeply convinced of Hanneke’s talent. He never stopped admiring her,” Nicki says fondly.

The community Wharram fosters is unique. Nicki shows us a photo that defines the ‘Wharram spirit’, of the hull of a Wharram being lifted out of the second floor window of a home in England. With no shed to build their Wharram design, they decided to use their living room as a boatyard. “This picture shows that if you really want to build a Wharram, you can do it anywhere,” says Nicki, “During Covid, we sold a lot more plans. Confined, people dreamed of freedom and took time to figure out how they wanted to live their lives.”

Now it’s Hanneke’s turn to shine as the head of JWD. In contrast to the technologically-led path that sailing often follows, James and Hanneke’s ‘low tech’ approach drives those who follow it to reconnect with past knowledge, practices, and philosophical approaches to our relationship with the world and the way we live in it.

Their love of minimalism is also at odds with many trends in modern yachting, but it brings its own luxury. The joy of not having too much of anything allows you to make room for the essentials, and for the beauty that surrounds you.

My dream of building Wharram’s unfulfilled plan, the Islander 39, remains. I’m in no hurry. Like the libertarian vision of James Wharram, it endures.

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• Digital edition

James Wharram: Eight bells for the multihull pioneer

• Katy Stickland
• January 7, 2022

Tributes have been paid to pioneering multihull designer and sailor James Wharram, who has died aged 93

James Wharram dedicated his life to to proving the Polynesian double canoe was an ocean worthy craft. Credit: James Wharram Designs

James Wharram, considered by many as the father of modern multihull cruising, has died, aged 93.

The free-spirited sailor and designer specialised in double-canoe style sailing catamarans, inspired by the Polynesian double canoe.

Born in Manchester in 1928, Wharram designed his first offshore cruising catamaran, Tangaroa in 1953 having read about Frenchman Éric de Bisschop’s 1937-1939 voyage from Hawaii to France in his double canoe.

Ruth Merseburger, later Ruth Wharram, was an early believer in James’s designs and theories and helped build his first multihull, Tangaroa . Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

Determined to prove the seagoing qualities of the double canoe, Wharram, accompanied by Ruth Merseburger, who later became Ruth Wharram, and Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof, sailed his 23ft 6 inch multihull from Falmouth across the Atlantic to Trinidad in 1956.

Wharram wrote about crossing the Bay of Biscay in Tangaroa for Yachting Monthly in 1956, going into details about the catamaran’s performance, easy motion and stability. This was in direct contrast to the then held opinion that a motion of a catamaran would be worse than on a keel yacht.

Three years later, having built the 40ft Rongo on a beach in Trinidad with the help of French sailor Bernard Moistessier, Wharram, Ruth and Jutta sailed to New York before crossing the North Atlantic – the first ever North Atlantic West-to-East crossing by multihull.

Onboard Rongo in the Atlantic with his son Hannes. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

James Wharram started designing for self-builders in 1965.

Along with his partners Ruth Wharram and Hanneke Boon, he created distinctive V-hull double-ended catamarans, from 13ft to over 60ft, selling more than 10,000 sets of plans.

Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof and Ruth Merseburger with James Wharram before they left Falmouth onboard Tangaroa. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

Wharram believed in a ‘less is more’ approach to boat building, and all of his boats are of simple construction, aimed at amateur boat builders, including the Tiki 21, Cooking Fat , which became the smallest catamaran to sail around the world when skippered by Rory McDougall from 1991-1997.

In May 1992, Wharram launched the 63ft Pahi, Spirit of Gaia , from his home on Restronguet Creek in Cornwall, sailing 32,000 miles around the world from England to Greece via the Pacific.

Spirit of Gaia. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

The catamaran, which has a low freeboard and trademark Wharram Wingsail Rig, was conceived as a base ship for studying whales and dolphins at sea, able to accommodate 16 people offshore.

Continues below…

Wharram cats launched to search for ancestors

Lapita voyage boats launched in Philippines

60th anniversary of first Wharram catamaran to set sail from Falmouth

60 years ago, on the 27th September 1955, James Wharram set sail from Falmouth aboard a self-built 23ft 6in flat-bottomed

In 2008, Wharram’s career came full circle, when 50 years after his pioneering voyages, he sailed 4,000 miles on one of two 38ft double canoes along the island chains of the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and the Solomons.

Sailing Spirit of Gaia. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

Known as the Lapita Voyage , the canoes were based on an ancient Polynesian canoe hull-form, and were powered by sail alone, using traditional Polynesian crab claw sails and steering paddles.

Paying tribute to her life partner, Hanneke Boon wrote: ‘ James was a trailblazer, a fighter with great determination and vision. From a young age he followed his passions – to roam the hills – for fair politics – for intelligent women – to sail the seas – to prove the Polynesian double canoe an ocean worthy craft – to become a Man of the Sea.

With his life partners, Ruth Wharram, who died in 2013 aged 92 and Hanneke Boon. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

‘These passions made him into a pioneer of catamaran sailing and a world-renowned designer of unique double-canoe catamarans that now sail the oceans.

‘He designed for people who wanted to break out of mundane lives, gave them boats they could build at an affordable cost and gave them the opportunity to become People of the Sea like himself.’

James Wharram preferred sailing to building and tried to make all of his design as simple as possible to build. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

In the last few years of Wharram’s life he developed Alzheimer’s. He died on 14 December.

‘He could not face the prospect of further disintegration and made the very hard call to end it himself. It was with great courage that he lived his life and with great courage he decided it was the time to finish,’ wrote Hanneke

‘In this moment of great loss we should all remember the good and glorious times of a life fulfilled. This is not the end, I, we, all the Wharram World will keep his work alive.’

James Wharram 1928-2021

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JAMES WHARRAM: His New Autobiography

Dec. 18/2020:  James Wharram, who first came to notice back in the 1950s after sailing a crude homemade catamaran across the Atlantic from England to Trinidad with two occasionally (and famously) unclad women, has cut a unique trail through the firmament of modern yacht design. He has always planted his flag far outside the boundaries of Western nautical convention, and in spite of this, or because of it, became one of the most successful creators of build-it-yourself boat designs in the history of sailing. Now in his tenth decade, with the help of his longtime design and business partner Hanneke Boon, James has at last shared his full story in People of the Sea , recently published by Lodestar Books . Those who have long wondered about this enigmatic figure, and even those who have never heard of him, will find it a fascinating tale.

Coming of age in Manchester, England, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, James Wharram came from a working-class background and early on developed a liberal, some would say libertine, frame of mind. His first exposure to outdoor sports was as a “bog-trotter” who spent weekends mucking about the moors and mountains of northern Britain, but his interest soon switched to seafaring after he found a seductive node of small-boat adventure books in the Manchester Central Library. The most influential of these was The Voyage of the Kamiloa , by Eric de Bisschop , who sailed a Polynesian-style “double canoe” from Hawaii to France via the Cape of Good Hope in the late 1930s.

The great “anti-influence” in Wharram’s life was the much more renowned Thor Heyerdahl , whose raft voyage from South America to Polynesia was documented in his bestselling book Kon-Tiki . Heyerdahl had hoped to prove that the Pacific islands were first populated by mariners who drifted downwind from the Americas. Wharram, with de Bisschop as his inspiration, has spent his life championing the opposite proposition, which has ultimately proven correct, that the islands were in fact first populated by mariners from Asia, sailing to windward in supple, seaworthy double-canoes.

Though he made his name in catamarans, Wharram’s first serious boat was a 20-foot converted lifeboat with a junk rig named Annie E. Evans . He’s seen here aboard Annie with his first sea-going partner, Ruth Merseburger. Ruth and James lived and worked together until her death in 2013

Ruth aboard Wharram’s first catamaran, Tangaroa , built in 1954

James sailed transatlantic on Tangaroa in 1955-56 with both Ruth (right) and another woman, Jutta Shultze Rhonhof (left). His first book, Two Girls Two Catamarans , tells the story of this voyage and its aftermath. Both Ruth and Jutta were German, hardy survivors of the apocalyptic postwar scene there. Jutta, sadly, was traumatized and badly scarred by her postwar experience

Tangaroa eventually disintegrated after James and crew reached Trinidad aboard her. Here we see James building a new boat there, a 40-footer to be named Rongo , with some help from the famous French singlehander Bernard Moitessier (center) and Henry Wakelam (right), who was a great friend and mentor to Moitessier

Rongo under sail. Wharram sailed her with Ruth and Jutta from Trinidad first to New York City, then on back to the UK in 1959. Rongo was Wharram’s first design with a V-shaped hull, a feature that became increasingly important to him

Those familiar with Wharram’s career will wonder if he explains in this new book what exactly has been going on with all the women around him. In addition to Ruth and Jutta, seen above, James’s Dutch partner, Hanneke Boon, whom he first met when she was but a teenager, has also played a very major role in his life. He has had children by both her and by Jutta. And indeed, one intriguing fact we learn in this autobiography is that Wharram at one point worked professionally with a group of five different women in Ireland, but was ultimately “divorced” by three of them.

To his credit, Wharram’s treatment of the subject is perfectly straightforward and not at all lascivious. He makes it all seem very natural–as it obviously has been for him and all concerned–and by the end you are left to wonder why more people don’t live this way. Wharram’s great talent it seems, both as a designer and as a person, is not that he has attracted women to sailing per se, but rather that he has fostered sailing communities (hence the book’s title) in which women have played very prominent roles.

Sailing in the West Indies aboard the third ocean-going double-canoe James designed and built for himself, the 52-foot Tehini

One of the great overarching goals of Wharram’s life had always been to sail one of his own boats into the Pacific, and it is surprising how long it took for him to achieve this. It wasn’t until 1995, aboard his great Pahi 63, Spirit of Gaia , the most Polynesian of his design iterations, that James and company (after a nearly calamitous Panama Canal transit) finally emerged in the great ocean that had originally inspired him as a designer.

It is also a bit ironic that just as James sought and did not receive recognition from the British yachting establishment early in his career, he likewise was dissed during his voyage into the Pacific by the traditional Polynesian sailing revivalists who emerged in the late 20th century. In the end, however, Wharram has had his sweet revenge. The British establishment has at last paid him his due. And in what was likely a crowning affirmation of Wharram’s career, when the last of the great traditional Polynesian navigators, Mau Piailug, boarded Gaia in Raiatea he at once pronounced “this is how it should be done.” Mau in fact was so impressed he eventually asked James for a custom design, the Islander 65, but unfortunately passed on before it could be built.

Design for the Pahi 63. James and company ultimately sailed this boat around the world

James meeting with elders aboard Gaia at Tikopia in the Solomon Islands

Hanneke Boon steering Lapita Anuta , a recreation of a prehistoric Pacific voyaging craft, into Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

I have read many memoirs by yacht designers, but this one, I have to say, has been by far the most various and intriguing. I am sure anyone else interested in the “outer limits” of modern yacht design will feel the same way.

People of the Sea

James Wharram with Hanneke Boon

Lodestar Books (2020)

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The enthusiasm for trimarans and cats in the 1960s-70s is an under-recorded part of the history of sailing. I think it’s because they were part the of counter-culture of the time (aka hippies) and the boats were not ends in themselves but part of a voyaging lifestyle- embodied by the likes of James Wharram, and Arthur Piver. I was a tangential part of that movement in the ’70s on the West Coast and it was a fabulous time. The sailing sky seemed to be unlimited and the Pacific Ocean a blue highway to a better, more integrated life. The whole scene had a lot of flaws but it was fun while it lasted!

I remember when a 10 year over 60 years ago in a boatyard at hoo a plywood catermerang being built, never raw it finished,

HI my name is Keith Davies and i know a man named Geoff Gatley who was a close neighbour of James in south Manchester and he helped to build one of his catamarans and then transport it down to the south coast. The reason i am telling you is he is reading People of the Sea and we were talking about his time with James bringing back happy memories . if there is any more information it would be much appreciated to remember more happy memories

Hello Keith! Glad you are enjoying James’s book and found this post. As for more information, I hope I’m not the first to tell you this, but James recently passed away: https://wavetrain.net/2021/12/19/dead-guy-james-wharram/

He had a good long run. But he will be missed.

Hi Charles yes. Wharram ‘s designs were a way for dreamers to become sea people. My wife and I Joined that gathering in 1976; we met Hanneka while building a Tangaroa. After two years cruising the Caribbean we vowed to build a bigger cat, using many of James’ ideas. For 10 years now, here in Florida, we have been creating a 46′ cat, and teaching apprentices boatbuilding. If anyone would like to learn more about the above, please shoot me an email.

I share your fascination for James Wharram, his wonderful designs and his reluctance to live a commonplace existence. Alas his autobiography, seems out of print at this moment.

@Anton: Is it? I know the first edition sold out, but I thought I heard a second had been printed, in a somewhat smaller format. I’d check the wharram website. I think Hanneke Boon may be offering them there.

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Interview with Hanneke Boon of Wharram Catamarans

• Post author By Diane Selkirk
• Post date August 9, 2023
• 6 Comments on Interview with Hanneke Boon of Wharram Catamarans

Diane interviews Hanneke Boon who is a long time partner of James Wharram and designer of Wharram. She gives a historical recount since the 1938’s of catamaran design and sailing! She talks about her opinion of modern cruising catamarans and how Wharrams are different and really better for cruising.

She and the team at Wharram are still busy selling plans to people all over the world!

• Personal:  [email protected]
• Office: [email protected]
• Website:  www.wharram.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/JamesWharramDesigns
• Websites on canoe project for Tikopia and Anuta:  www.lapitavoyage.org   

Wharram’s book of memoirs ‘People of the Sea’: www.wharram.com/shop/books/people-of-the-sea

Please enjoy the recorded interview available below and the transcript with many photos.

Today, we’re really happy to be here speaking to Hanneke Boon, head of James Wharram Designs. Hanneke also co-designed the boats alongside the legendary multihull pioneer and designer, James Wharram. Hanneke, welcome. I’m wondering if you could tell us a little bit about yourself, and your role at Wharram.

I’ve spent most of my life with James, actually. I first met him when I was just 14. My father was interested in his boats, this was in the 60s, when James had fairly recently done his voyages. He’d started selling designs in North Wales and my father wanted to go and meet this unusual character he’d read about. We ended up on the beach where James was living on his catamaran “Rongo,” which he did his first crossings on.

We bought a set of plans for a 22-footer and then we built that in Holland. I’m originally from the Netherlands. We built that boat over about a year, and then we got to know James and Ruth very well during this period. We did further trips to England to help them build their previous boat. It was a 51-footer called “Tehini.” That was being built out in the open with hand trowels in North Wales. This was 1968-69. In fact, a lovely film on YouTube about it, people can find out on our channel.

Can you tell me the name of the film?

It’s called “The Building of Tehini.”

Okay, great!

“The Building and the Sailing of Tehini.” It’s on the James Wharram Designs YouTube channel.

So we’re up to ’69. Keep going with your story, it’s fascinating.

So we got to know James. I got to know him more, and a few years later, somehow I ended up sailing across the Atlantic on “Tehini.” It was James, Ruth, and several other girls that were part of the crew at the time, and that’s where it all started. I’ll keep trying to keep it brief.

From the beginning I started doing drawing work. [Didn’t] really like the way I was drawing. In fact the Hinemoa plans, which are 23-foot or whatever you’ve got, I drew when I was 19 or something. That was my first set of plans. From then, I’ve gone onwards drawing plans. Of course, more and more, we did a lot of design work together. We design, we work on, we have a sort of brainstorm between us. I would be sketching, and we would be having ideas, and then that evolved into a new design. That’s how it’s gone for years.

In the ’80s, we started building a new boat. We built this 63-foot “Spirit of Gaia,” and we sail that around the world. I still got this boat, and I’m still sailing it. It’s in the Mediterranean at the moment. Over all the years, we’ve done lots of different design projects, and different designs. We’ve sold over 10,000 sets of plans over all those years. There’s hundreds of these boats everywhere.

Now, with social media, there’s a huge following actually. Facebook groups, people talking about Wharram Catamarans quite a lot. Now they are being bought second-hand. There’s old ones, classics, 40-something, even 50-year-old boats that are being bought by people. Then they’re lovingly trying to restoring them back into life.

Oh, that sounds amazing! I think we should probably go back a little bit then, and learn Can you tell us a little bit about where the designs came from, and who James was?

James, back in the ’50s, he read a book called, “The Voyage of the Kaimiloa” about a Frenchman called Eric de Bisschop. Eric de Bisschop, just before the war, had been sailing in the Pacific on a Chinese junk, trying to work. He was very interested in Polynesian migrations, and he was studying the ocean currents and all sorts of things, making lots of notes. Unfortunately, he wrecked his junk in Hawaii, and they were starving on board because they had been held up in the Marshall Islands by the Japanese at the time. It was quite a story.

So he ended up there, and instead of building another junk, he built a double canoe on the beach in Hawaii. Then he sailed his boat together with his male companion, a Frenchman, all the way to France. Through the Pacific, Indian Oceans, went around the Cape of Good Hope, and all the way into the Med to Toulon, which was an incredible voyage. It showed how good a double canoe could sail. It wasn’t totally Polynesian, the hulls were inspired by Polynesian boats, but he put a junk sail on it, and those other junk elements because he was used to them.

Anyway, James read this book in his teens, ran out of the library, was very much inspired by it. Then Thor Heyerdahl came up with his Kon-Tiki voyage, who claimed that the Polynesians must have come from South America because of the ocean currents and the prevailing winds. But having read the Eric de Bisschop book, James was convinced that was not true, and the Eric de Bisschop theory is often coming out of Southeast Asia were correct, which they were of course. So he decided he wanted to go ocean sailing. The easiest for him to build was a double canoe. It’s a very small budget, he built a 23-foot, 6-inch double canoe.

Did the concept of catamaran even really exist at that point?

Not really, no. There had been a Frenchman that built a steel-heavy sort of catamaran and sailed across the Atlantic. It was all a bit of a disaster story. But there were the knowledge of the double canoes of the Pacific, the Polynesian boats. There was a book published called “Canoes of Oceania” by the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, [around] 1938-39, and that was in the library. James studied that quite deeply when he was trying to design his boat, also went to museums studied models.

Anyway, with that boat, they managed to sail from England to Trinidad. While the boat was too small, they suffered from Teredo worms (shipworms). It was built in softwoods, so they built a 40-foot plywood catamaran of “Rongo,” and then sailed that up to New York [in] 1959. From New York to England, that was the first west-to-east crossing by any multihull and that’s what they did. A few years later, they actually did a whole other Atlantic circuit. In fact, that was also still the only catamaran across the Atlantic that way. So that was all in ’61.

That’s remarkable!

But they want to sail around the world. Very sadly, James’s other partner, he was living with two German girls/women at the time, she died. It was a terrible shock to them, and it was one crew member missing, that decided not to sail into the Pacific.

He ended up settling down in Wales. At some point, people asked for a design, “can you design me a boat like yours?” That’s where it all took off, in 1965. He started designing different sized boats, and he developed some very good building techniques at that time. Because he wanted always simplicity, he was not in particular experienced or a woodworker, so he always looked for simple methods.

He was quite a bit inspired by an American book actually, “Boat Building in Your Backyard,” which he’d been given a long time ago by an American woman. Because in America, they built a lot of quite simple Dory-style boats and things. James developed a very interesting method, which was building the hulls upside down, and building a plywood backbone, and then slotting bulkheads onto it. That way, people could get the accurate shape of a boat without difficult lofting, or all this leveling and built. You didn’t have to build a heavy building base, and that makes a huge difference. In fact, all our designs are still built in that method. I mean, we’ve evolved it, and made it more sophisticated, but we still use that upside-down backbone and bulkhead methods, and it works extremely well.

Let’s talk a little bit about design. In many ways, I would assume James is considered sort of the father of modern catamarans.

He’s certainly considered that, and he is really, because I think in the early days, the majority of ocean-going catamarans were Wharram designs. Now the Lagoons have taken over.

It would be very interesting to have a coffee with you to see what you think of modern catamarans.

You’d be a great admirer of them, I’m afraid!

No! Wharrams are certainly beautiful! In many ways, compared to what’s happened, the Wharram designs have evolved quite slowly. Why is that?

Parallel, but very differently. We’ve always kept with the basic Polynesian principles of having separate hulls, having flexibility in the hull structure, and the general simplicity. The whole philosophy behind it is that you have a a sailing boat, not a motorboat. You can have motors, but the boat should be a good ocean sailing boat. That’s what the basis is behind the design.

But we always keep simple, and we try to avoid a lot of hardware and complications. All our designs now are basically ply-epoxy built, which is an easy way for self builders to build. But the plans are incredibly detailed, so we need to build the right step-by-step through the whole process of how to build it. They don’t have to have technical drawing knowledge, how to read them. It’s all illustrative. I’ve always been good at drawing, so I’m an illustrative artist as well as a technical drawer. Our plans all consist of some measurement drawings, big drawings with measurements which you need. Then a whole book, like a sketchbook of plans, instructions, and they’re all 3D drawings with one, two, three, four, follow the text around it.

I’ve seen a few photos they look like a work of art.

I don’t use a computer to draw. I draw by hand.

How have the designs evolved from the early ones?

With the introduction of epoxy. You see, epoxies came in around about 1980. The Gougeon’s were working on the middle-late ’70s, and we met them at the time. In fact they listened to one of their talks back in ’76, it was a big conference in Toronto. There’s all the multihull designers there, and the Gougeon’s were there. James was quite intrigued by it, but a little bit skeptical when they said it was wood epoxy’s saturation technique. The saturation bits. The question then, how deep does it saturate? In fact it’s more of a coating than a saturation, but that’s beside the point.

The whole system of using epoxy gave his whole new method by using epoxy fillets. The woodworking skills can be reduced. You don’t have to have absolute accurate jointing and everything, because the epoxy will take care of that. As long as you teach people how to use the epoxy correctly. The whole coating of all the wood and the glassing on the outside makes the boat much more durable than the earlier ones were, because your sealing seals up. It allowed us to to do a lot more sophisticated design work. It was all in plywood, cutting it and fitting together this epoxy.

We started in 1981 with stitching glue boats. We’ve got our whole Tiki range in stitch-and-glue was the small ones. Again, that really made us focus on how to make boat buildings really simple. Our smaller Tikis, the stitch-and-glue ones are really very simple to build and consistent in simplicity. The same technique is used throughout, and not at the end, suddenly gets complicated. It can happen.

We didn’t want to make it suddenly complicated when they came to masts and other things. That’s all been part of it and it was very much James was behind it. That’s what he wanted. He wanted it consistently simple techniques and throughout. Then these stickies just evolved bigger and bigger, and every time you go big and you have to work out different ways of doing it. So you get the correct strength, the right balance. That’s what we worked on. I did a lot of work on that kind of thing with working out techniques of how to achieve it easy and simple.

We encountered many Wharram catamarans in harbors around the world, and we saw them in the harbors and they’re always very beautiful to look at, but I always wondered what they were like to sail?

Well, they slipped through the water very easy actually, because we’ve always had slim hulls. All our hulls are at least 11or 12-to-1 beam:length ratio on the water line. Actually, a lot of these modern catamarans say about 8-to-1, they’re much fatter. If you want them to go fast, you’ve got to put a lot of sail on it. Whereas our boats will sail, and it’s very little sail, actually. They’re weak sails. Imagine you’ve got the force forward on our boat we can reduce the sail here to nearly half of it and not lose much speed.

We never aim for some of these really high speeds, but our 63-footer will sail happy at 9-10 knots. The moment you’ve got more wind, it will sail down to half the sail area. It’s a lovely passage-making boat. Because they flex, they go with the waves, and they’re fairly low freeboard, so you’re much more connected to the ocean through the boat. They’re more simple. Some people say they’re spartan, which they may be, but it’s that simplicity that attracts a lot of our builders actually.

Just seeing all this kind of complication and people having everything they have at home on their boats, and we say “I don’t want that, I want to sail, I wanted to be simple, I don’t want things to go wrong.” They choose the Wharram catamarans for that reason.

Tell me a little bit more about the people who choose the cats. I know you talked about that, there’s a real resurgence and interest, and it sounds like it’s the people looking for simplicity.

Yes, definitely. It’s a kind of way of life as well as a type of boat. Of course our boats have a kind of timeless look. We’ve not gone with fashion of boat fashions. Now, fashions every year, you need a new model, like cars. We haven’t gone that way. We stick because the boats are based on a traditional craft from the past. The historic craft, we stayed natural, it was in traditional lines. Sheer lines, overhangs, and things like that, which we feel work.

Our boats still have overhangs of the bows now, all the other cutting ones. Up and down, straight bows, or even retro bows, that’s now the fashion. That’s what you’ve got to have. Whereas, we don’t believe in them.

The other thing of course, we’ve always stuck with V-towers, V cross-section, slide carefully. I still feel that it’s got canoe stern, so even if you load them, you’ll never drag a transom wave behind the boat. They slip really through the water well actually, because they kind of slice the ocean open, there’s a V. Whereas if you’ve got a big round, you kind of push it downwards, and I think that has a different effect on the water.

Of course a V, the lower you go below the water, the slimmer the hull gets. If you have a beam-length ratio of 12-to-1 on the actual sea level water line every time you go down, say six inches, the water line is slimmer, and slimmer, and slimmer. So at the bottom, you’re cutting it with a knife. We don’t need any keels or daggerboards as a result. All the people that sail our boats swear by them, others not.

Right! It’s a matter of sailing them. You’ve talked about new builders who are finding the old boats and redoing them. What kind of people are doing them? Is it a cross-section?

I don’t know, there are all sorts of people that are rebuilding boats. Actually, one interesting thing that’s been happening, there’s been a number of women buying old Wharram catamarans and doing them up. In fact there’s a very large following on Instagram for a woman called Kiana, and her Instagram account is “Women in the Wind.” She got a 50-year old Wharram catamaran and has now sailed it four times across the Atlantic, three of them mostly single-handed, and once with two other women. They report on that a lot and, and they do some beautiful romantic reporting actually. I mean, the boat is simple and it leaks, and it’s rigged with natural spars made from trees, because it was all helped with a friend.

It’s a fascinating Swiss chap called Hans Clark who built a really genuine ethnic double canoe in West Africa. He’s been sailing around the Atlantic now for many years with it. This woman met him and he’s helped her turn this boat into a a new-style boat, very simple. A rig that’s kind of just a rebuilt rig from from older sails, with trees at spars. It’s beautiful, and everything’s lashed. There’s been now a number of women that have been doing that too.

It must be very gratifying to see these 50-year old boats still having such a beautiful life.

It’s also a lifestyle people just love, that basic connection with the ocean. None of this trying to bring your hotel room on the sea. Really connecting with it in a basic way, like people used to sail many years ago.

Then there’s other people. There’s a young Englishman at the moment who’s found a 42-footer by 42 in Holland, which he managed to buy. Somebody built it beautifully actually, but never finished it. It was in the water, it was two hulls, and beams, and some windows that weren’t really fitted on. They’d been lying there for, seven or eight years, nine years, filling with water. It looked a mess. It was filthy, and horrible, and he and I had to look at it over WhatsApp. I said to him, that boat looks well built, buy it. He bought it, for 2000 Euros only, which is the price for a plan.

Everybody was sort of like, “Bob, what’s he buying?” Because then he started cleaning, with all the cleaning, and as the dirt came off, a rather beautiful boat came out from underneath the filth. The bilges had been full of water, but because they were so well sealed with epoxy, which shows again, no rot down there at all. There’s only rough patches because these windows weren’t put in properly, and the hulls were draught. Otherwise, the boat is in very good order.

It sounds like the office is still very active with you there. Is it mainly people getting in touch with you for information about boats, or are people still buying new plans?

Buying plans and building new boats. I’ve got some really good people working in the office here. I’ve got a woman who sends out all the plans. I’ve got a man who does a website, who lives on site here. I’ve got now a lovely young woman called Tori who’s now taking on the Instagram and more social media aspects of it. So it works really well. I’ve actually been going off sailing quite a bit.

Oh! Good for you!

James died 18 months ago about. After, I was offered to sail across the Atlantic with some German friends who’ve got a sister ship to my own, and I took that offer up. That was spring last year. [In] August, sailing the Atlantic. Then in the autumn we got our “Spirit of Gaia” and sailed it from Greece to Sicily. This springtime, I sailed it from Sicily to Ibiza, in the Mediterranean. In September, I want to carry on the voyage to Portugal, which is why I’m aiming for. I want to do an all-woman sail myself, so I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve already got probably two or three, they’re not quite certain yet.

Sounds remarkable! Well, thank you Hanneke, I’ve really enjoyed speaking with you, and it sounds like James has a beautiful legacy. Can you let me know how people can reach you?

First of all, our website is Wharram.com . W-H-A-R-R-A-M.com. We have a YouTube channel as well, called James Wharram Designs. That can all be found via the website. James and I wrote a book autobiography not so long ago, which was published two years ago, three years ago. That gives our whole life story and everything about boat designs that we built, and how we sailed around the world, etc. There’s a lot of YouTube videos can be found through our website, again. Once you’re in the website, you can read there for hours. It’s not just a selling of designs, it gives all the philosophy, and ideas, and articles about things.

Thank you so much Hanneke, I really appreciate you taking the time today to speak to us at CatamaranSite.

• Tags Catamaran Designers , Catamaran Interviews

By Diane Selkirk

I love to travel and have spent the past seven years sailing with my family aboard our 40 Woods Meander catamaran - traveling from B.C.'s north coast, to the west coast of the US, Mexico, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, across the Indian Ocean to South Africa and on to St Helena, South America, the Caribbean and Central America.

6 replies on “Interview with Hanneke Boon of Wharram Catamarans”

It’s easy to tell a story and write a book when the major person involved has passed on. Also she doesn’t understand modern engineering or anything. She simply could draw what’s James told her to and now that he’s gone she’s a major part of the story. Lastly this design is nothing that the islanders haven’t been doing for a very long time and James gave them all the credit along with Americans because of our ability to live out our dreams and build boats in our backyards and take chances with sailing or whatever the dream is yet hanneke doesn’t like the Americans being given credit and in older interviews where James is obviously up there in age she’s stopping him and guiding the story she wants told. James Wharram was charging very little for plans unless it was a custom new design and hanneke is detailed to make a nice living from selling James Wharram work with her as the brains behind it all.

What an impolite, ignorant, sexist comment.

Been, from what fantasy did you distill this drivel? What basis do you have to be so mean spirited, when James Wharram frequently called her his partner and collaborator.

I’m a lifelong sailor from a family of software, electrical, mechanical, and aeronautical engineers. I’ve seen nothing in Hanneke Boon’s comments or writing that indicates that she does not understand sailing or the design and construction of multihulls.

I have always loved the aesthetic of these designs and the imagery of the Wharram catalogue. Certainly, Hanneke’s drawings are in large part responsible for the romantic perception of Wharram designs today.

Regarding the comment by “been davis,” who’s to say Wharram was the brains of the operation? Hanneke joined Wharram not long after he started selling plans and has been there for 50 years. Neither of them have any formal education in yacht design and have been known to hire trained naval architects to help with their designs. The Tiki 21, which is probably the most popular Wharram design of all time, says “designed by James Wharram & Hanneke Boon” very clearly on every page of the plans, and that was over 40 years ago. If anything, she seems to be a staunch defender of his legacy.

Been Davis, is obviously lacking in knowledge, Hanneke was maybe more than 50% of Wharram designs over 50 years. Actually Benn Davis your an uneducated mouthpiece, which nobody appreciates.

Vor 37 Jahren habe ich mir die Tiki 21 gebaut. Auch heute segle ich noch im Alter von 74 Jahren auf dem Lipno-Stausee in Tschechien. Vor 25 Jahren bin ich zweimal auf der Spirit of Gaia mitgesegelt; auf der Narai IV von befreudeten Deutschen habe ich in der Ägäis das Segeln sehr oft genossen. Das Segeln auf meiner Tiki 21 ist zur Zeit mein liebstes Hobby. Rückblickend finde ich es, dass die Wharram-Katamarane faszinierende Segelfahrzeuge sind. Sie sind problemlos. Auch einige Stürme habe ich auf meinem Katamaran ohne Komplikationen überstanden.

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> > Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. 08-08-2015, 08:14   Boat: looking build or buy a boat to escape from the rat race.. , namely the tiki 38, that I have thought about building and then living on it in . This way I can do what really brings me inner peace, sailing, and live on the too. I have looked at the site and their builders as well. Has anyone in this forum sailed a Wharram and if so, would you mind giving your opinion on the good things and the issues with them? Many thanks!! Fernao 08-08-2015, 08:41   Boat: Woods Vardo 34 Cat 08-08-2015, 08:55   ? 08-08-2015, 10:04   Boat: looking build or buy a boat to escape from the rat race.. I can build the just the way that I want it I am not ready yet to go cruising. I have set my plans to start building about six years before I retire. (I have , $$$ and other issues to take care of first. that is a bit of a problem for me right now.) I want to name the boat "pequeno paraiso" which is Portuguese for "small paradise" as being retired and cruising the world on a boat will be paradise for me on this earth. I know that I could probably get in cheaper via a second hand boat. I would like to know though, if anyone on this forum has cruised in a wharram. I wanted to know how they sail. Many thanks to all of you on this one. 08-08-2015, 18:53   Boat: Wildcat 35, Hobie 33 out there that you might try. I like a lot of Wharram's design ideas and I've sailed a couple of Tikis. Performance overall was good, but tacking was not their strong suit. 08-08-2015, 20:31   Boat: Traditional 30 . This way I can do what really brings me inner peace, sailing, and live on the boat too. I have looked at the wharram site and their builders as well. Has anyone in this forum sailed a Wharram Catamaran and if so, would you mind giving your opinion on the good things and the issues with them? Many thanks!! Fernao 09-08-2015, 07:43   designs are available. 09-08-2015, 09:09   Boat: various over the years of others. one for a week. Here is one outfit that charters Wharrams. A search of the web will show others. 09-08-2015, 09:44   Boat: Brent Swain design 36' steel sloop island. i loved it but it can feel cramped and cavelike. to heat you need to mount tht heaters near the sole. i mounted a big over the which vented gasses straight up. hatches over each sleeping are. they don't tack well but you can learn to do it. they won't go close to the . you can get into shallow spots and dry out--this was the envy of many monohulls. very comfortable in strong and lumpy conditions. i built a center pod that joined the hulls -- flexibly. you could access it through each . This was a huge improvement. I bought the boat second hand and was really glad I did as I could sail immediately and it was a lot cheaper. For example, there is a tiki 31 on victoria bc craiglist for $5000. you could dismantle it and put it on which is what i did. scott multihulls in britan is worth checking out as he has all over the world. as aliveaboard something like a 42 wharram has more room. my boat was like glorified camping annnd one woman said it could be argued you actually live outside. stay away from wharrams with the beam troughs as they impede heat and air circulation. will answer any questions. 09-08-2015, 10:31   Boat: wharram tiki 26 . It is a big for sure, a tiki 38 is a big boat to build on your own, will you have help? If you are intent on building,make sure you have a place to build that is tight and somewhere that you will be able to use for the entire build. If you start to build your own,make sure you shop around for materials and buy in bulk to save $$$. This was difficult for me as i had to earn the for materials whilst building. Consumerables like latex gloves and mixing cup/sticks for and sand paper really do add up to not an insignificant amount of money over the build.Screws and bolts can also be bought cheaper in bulk .Buy heaps of rags for cleanup,these too can be in large quantities. The tikis do sail better than the designs apparently and yes you could build something that would sail better and has better accomodations but for me there is just ''something'' about these that does it for me. Good luck. 09-08-2015, 11:36   as you tack and let it back till filling then release and set for new tack. 2/ Or... if you are too close to the wind and lack the speed to complete the tack.. If you get caught 'In the Irons' push the tiller hard across and reverse onto the new tack.. 09-08-2015, 11:41   Boat: Condor Trimaran 30 foot the ability to start such a big . Then when I finally had the money and time to do it I finally understood that it was a mammoth undertaking and would I be a guy building a submarine that was really supposed to be a boat. Smile. I have renovated two homes now from top to bottom. Windows, doors, floors, tiles, all , and minor . Self taught and lots of youtube tutorials. Why do I tell you this? Because what my life lessons have taught me is that it always goes slower than you thought. It always ends up much more expensive than you thought. What did it really teach me the most? That, personally, it is a dogfight to get through big projects. As you grow older your energy levels get less. After a long day repairing my father's house to new condition I can feel sapped for days. I am not trying to rain on your dream. But just search your soul deeply and try and really understand what you are biting off. Many boats on the market that will be cheaper than what you can build it for without the many years of building it yourself. I love the throwback looks of the Wharram designs. I love the simplicity and low tech approach of J. Wharram. Have looked at many of them over the years and dreamed like you. Take a look at a used Farrier , Woods designs, , and many others. Maybe an extra job for a couple of years and really live dirt ....save the coins and build up the dream kitty. Never give up on your ideas...you are dead if you do. But just really understand what a labor of love, financial dedication, and drain on your life clock a boat will be to build. I wish you the best, 09-08-2015, 13:23   Boat: EuroCat 2000 71 ft so the extra space was welcome. My views- Wharram provides lots of experience , great safe design and real value for money. 09-08-2015, 14:54   in the centre. I got to it for a while and commented that it seemed to have lee . They ran around and adjusted the 4 and it balanced perfectly. I have looked at all his designs and I like them and I'm sure they sail well and are . They are though almost cult designs excellent as they are appealing to certain people, including myself. However I don't think resale would be very quick or return the cost of building even though they are lo tech. It would be a good project to build one if you don't have time for sailing yet. Around the Pacific there is a fleet of big cruising Polynesian Waka / Vaka similar Wharram's designs, but made in fibreglass, though it's really the other way around. Wharram's designs are based on Polynesian ideas as he always points out. These Vaka have made big journeys recreating the ancient routes. They have large across the stern and retractable propellor units for motoring. They are steered with a long sweep / oar out the stern. 09-08-2015, 15:47   Boat: John Pugh Moonwind 35' Hinemoa. It was a tad sad when I bought it so an extensive refurbishment process was called for. indicated that the Wharrams tended to 'hobbyhorse' due to their symmetrical bows and sterns and use confirmed this. I resolved the problem by fitting "sharp" bows and bow bulbs. What a difference! She just sliced through the . Other additions included a Gibb for use as an , Accraman , the central to turn with the rudders (more positive and direct steering), and a two pot job. She was cramped but a joy to sail and her performance really surprised both cat and mono sailors who crewed with me. , Thread Tools Rate This Thread : Posting Rules post new threads post replies post attachments edit your posts is are code is are are are Similar Threads Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post 380: 3Eagles Lagoon Catamarans 23 28-02-2013 17:25 Finditsurfit Classifieds Archive 4 22-08-2009 10:16 SkiprJohn Multihull Sailboats 6 12-08-2007 20:03 No Threads to Display. - - - - - - - Privacy Guaranteed - your email is never shared with anyone, opt out any time.     Beam:  16'    Draft:  2'     Beam:  21'    Draft:  3.5'     Beam:  20'    Draft:  3'     Beam:  22.5'    Draft:  3'     Beam:  12'    Draft:  1.5'     Beam:  15'    Draft:  2'     Beam:  20'    Draft:  3'2'     Beam:  20'    Draft:  3'     Beam:  21'    Draft:  3'     Beam:  13'    Draft:  1.5' © 2001-2024 ./)   . . ./)   . . Know-how About Sails The catamaran designs of james wharram. About Sails , Multihull , News Atlantic Crossing , Catamaran , Multihull Sails James Wharram is known for his characteristic multihull designs that have enabled thousands to follow their dreams of building and sailing their own bluewater-boat. Over the years, his designs, and rigs, have been constantly developed but still remain true to the principles of simplicity, beauty and romance. At Rolly Tasker Sails, we are thrilled when we provide sails for these very special craft, which we often do. “In a world of shifting values, to build and sail one’s own boat, gives an inner certainty, strength and aptness to live one’s own lifestyle”. James Wharram. James, born 1928 in Manchester, UK, is acknowledged by many as the pioneer of offshore catamaran cruising. In 1956, he made the first Atlantic crossing in a multihull, on the 23-foot cat “Tangaroa” which he had designed and built himself. This was a small and very simple boat, but it carried him and two young German ladies all the way from England to Trinidad. The return voyage was made with the 40-foot catamaran “Rongo” that the three built on the beach in Trinidad, with some help and advice from Bernard Moitessier, himself a bluewater legend. In 1959, James and his two girls sailed “Rongo” from New York to Wales and so became the first to cross the Atlantic West to East in a multihull. Ever since, he has devoted his life to the design of simple but capable catamarans for amateur builders. The basic principle that runs through all of his boats is his firm conviction that sailing need not be expensive and that less is often more. In his highly creative and productive working life, he has constantly developed his designs, always looking for ways to make things cheaper and easier to build, but also more effective in use. ANCIENT “DOUBLE CANOES” His design ideas are based on the ancient Polynesian “double canoes”, basically large platforms with open bridge-decks, whose two hulls are joined by strong beams that are lashed together, rather than glued or bolted. This to give a more flexible structure that is tough through its bounciness, rather than pure static strength. WHARRAM WINGSAIL RIG – SIMPLE BUT EFFICIENT The best example for the latter is his simple but very efficient Wingsail rig. This shows James’ approach to sailing maybe better than any of his many clever design details: Preferring clever modesty and intelligent simplicity over advanced but expensive high-tech. The “Wing Sail” concept is a high-aspect mainsail with only a short gaff (similar to more modern “Fat head” Mainsails used in other multihulls) to combine upwind performance with more downwind sail area in the mainsail. The Wharram Wing sail however is ingeniously simple, in keeping of course with his overall design philosophy. The simple sleeved sail luff effectively reduces mast turbulence and needs neither slides nor mast groove. Even the halyards run inside the sail sleeve. No full battens are needed, either, and the short gaff allows twist control by means of a vang, while camber is controlled by sheeting angle and traveller positions. This simple yet advanced sail is not only used on the small, coastal catamarans of the Tiki range, but also on many other designs, right up to James’ flagship, the majestic, 63-foot Pahi design. ROLLY TASKER SAILS FOR WHARRAM DESIGNS At Rolly Tasker Sails, we are proud to be providing many sails for the various Wharram designed catamarans. As the first choice by so many bluewater sailors around the globe, and always thriving to provide best value for money, we feel a natural connection with the world-wide family of Wharram sailors. TIKI DESIGNS James Wharram Designs make up a large portfolio of designs. Always with the same philosophy but in different forms, shapes and sizes. Apart from the more simple “Classic” designs of the early years, there is the range of more sophisticated “Tiki” designs. These vary in length from 21 to 46 feet; from coastal sailing to ocean voyaging. The larger Tiki designs have a central deck pod to give more shelter. Larger Tiki designs are being lived on permanently or used as work spaces, several are also successfully operated as charter boats. The “flexispace” concept of layout allows these boats to be tailored for the intended use. We have made many Wharram Wingsail mainsails, jibs and downwind sails for Wharram Tiki 21, Tiki 26, Tiki 30 and Tiki 38 designs. PAHI DESIGNS The Pahi designs have a more rounded and, as Wharram himself says, female shape than the Classic or Tiki designs. This range again spans all sizes from the Coastal Trekking Pahi 26 to the impressive 63′ flagship of the Wharram fleet, “Spirit of Gaia”. They offer a different visual approach to the more basic Classic Tiki designs but are also easily built. Rope lashings for the beams were first used in these designs to give a shock-absorbing, flexible connection of beams to hulls. The Pahi 42, “Captain Cook”, has become a popular live-aboard ocean voyaging boat which set fresh standards for ocean cruising when it was first introduced in 1979. We have made many Wharram Wingsail mainsails, Genoas, other foresails and downwind sails for Pahi 42, Pahi 46 and Pahi 52 designs. HITIA DESIGNS These are the perfect, simple but fun beach catamarans for the family or camping tours on inland or sheltered coastal waters. They can be trailered or transported on the roof of a car from one sailing area to the other. Easy to build for affordable week-end adventures. We have made gaff mainsails and jibs for the Hitia 17 design. For more information on James Wharram Designs,  go to the Wharram website . Photo Credit to Gunther Nutt of Seascape Asia. Do You Like this Content? Hop on our list and be the first to find out about the best sailing tips, news and special offers. Related Posts Step-by-Step Guide: How to Sail a Code Zero on a Catamaran Flying a Code Zero on a cruising catamaran Handling a Code Zero sail on a modern cruising catamaran: This informative Viking Explorers Rally 2024 and Rolly Tasker Sails Rolly Tasker Sails Canary Islands are very happy to be involved in the Viking Explorers Rally that brings together a Interview about Atlantic Passage to Martinique 2842 Miles from Las Palmas to Martinique. 5,1 knots average, nearly 23,5 days at sea. Winds of up to 36 We prioritize quality and sustainability, as it directly influences not only our customers' satisfaction and safety but also the well-being of our sailmakers and the environment. Sailing is an experience in nature, which is why crafting sails should be done with the future of our planet in mind. Services for Sailors In our sail-loft in Phuket, we make new sails – and offer other services for anything from the deck up on your sailing boat: Chandlery for deck and rigging hardware Spars and rigging services Cordage and running rigging We also have an extensive network of local dealers around the world, bringing our service nearer to you. Most Popular Sails Let's stay in touch, latest news, beautiful classic gaff ketch cariad with full suit of rolly tasker sails, meet youtube sailing star eric aanderaa at our stand during boat show “boot 2024” in germany, most read posts. Quick Links Legal pages, © 1949 –2024 rolly tasker sails – international sailmakers. James Wharram Designs Search Our Site Classic designs, the early wharrams - sturdy and stable. The early 'Wharrams', now known as the Classic Designs, are recognised as beautiful, safe boats - easy to build, and easy to sail . Many anchorages around the world are graced by these Classic Designs, and of the seventeen drawn between 1957 and 1976, nine are still available, from the 16ft Maui to the 51ft Tehini. They were the first range of Wharram catamarans, designed in the 1960s and 70s, based on the sea experience of James Wharram's pioneering ocean crossings. They are sturdy, very stable, but relatively basic in design. They are built using simple plywood construction over a backbone and bulkhead frame . About Classic Design Building Plans The Classic Designs Building Plans follow a sequential drawing layout, drawn to scale on large sheets, showing the boat at different building stages and clearly showing which parts are added at each stage. They are accompanied by a written building sequence giving details of every stage of the construction . There are also written Building Instructions with advice on all aspects of the build, from advice on work shelters and the buying of timber and plywood, to encouragement for your first sail. Design Improvement packages are available to update the Classic Designs, whether building new or renovating an existing design. See information about building costs . Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 16' 9" 5.10 m Beam overall: 8' 2.44 m Waterline length: 13' 7" 4.15 m Draft: 11' 0.23 m Weight: 400 lbs 180 kg Loading capacity: 440 lbs 200 kg Sail area: 100 sqft 9.3 sqm Building Time Estimate: 200 hours The Maui is the smallest Classic design, very sturdy in build using backbone and bulkheads, with solid timber keel, and hence heavier than the more modern stitch & glue Hitia 17. Suitable as a small workboat, or when one wants to leave the boat on a rough mooring. Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 23' 7.10 m Beam overall: 11' 4" 3.46 m Waterline length: 19' 5.80 m Draft: 1' 3" 0.38 m Weight: 1150 lbs 530 kg Loading capacity: 1000 lbs 460 kg Sail area: 173 sqft 16 sqm Building Time Estimate: 500 hours Developed out of the 22ft (6.70m) HINA, designed as a tough dayboat with overnight accommodation in the individual hulls. A decktent will give further accommodation and space for a double bunk. The sprit sail rig has a short mast and can be quickly brailed when mooring. Though designed as a dayboat, some HINEMOAs have crossed oceans , one even survived a hurricane off the coast of America in 1975. Building Method: GRP Foam Sandwich OR Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 28' 3" 8.61 m Beam overall: 12' 6" 3.18 m Waterline length: 23' 7" 7.18 m Draft: 1' 8" 0.50 m Weight: 2204 lbs 1000 kg Loading capacity: 2204 lbs 1000 kg Sail area: 310 sqft 28.8 sqm Building Time Estimate: 1000 hours Based on the 1960s 27' TANE design with more beam and higher freeboard, she can be built in foam/GRP sandwich or in plywood . The Classic hull seaworthiness of the TANE encouraged many people to make ocean passages on her. We designed the TANENUI in 1973 to give these people on a low budget a sturdy, seaworthy basic boat with just that bit more internal space than the Spartan TANE. Tangaroa Mk IV Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 35' 6" 10.82 m Beam overall: 19' 5.80 m Waterline length: 28' 6" 8.69 m Draft: 2' 1" 0.63 m Weight: 2 tons Loading capacity: 1.5 tons Sail area: 410 sqft 38.1 sqm Building Time Estimate: 1800 hours The Tangaroa Mk IV was a design that evolved from the Tangaroa Mk I , James’ first design for which he drew Self-building Plans in 1965. The Mk IV has more graceful hull lines, wider hull beam, more freeboard over the bunks and a longer cabin with standing headroom, so it is not to be mistaken for the Tangaroa Mk I of which many are still sailing. Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 36' 10.97 m Beam overall: 19' 5.80 m Waterline length: 30' 9.14 m Draft: 2' 0.61 m Weight: 1.7 tons Loading capacity: 1 - 1.5 tons Working sail area: 415 sqft 38.6 sqm Max. sail area: 627 sqft 58.3 sqm Building Time Estimate: 1600 hours The RAKA class, the same length as the TANGAROA, is a slim-line ship . Originally designed for George Payne who wanted a boat that he could enter in local club races in the Bristol Channel and stand a chance of winning. He won several. Narai Mk I/Mk II Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 40' 12.19 m Beam overall: 18' 6" 5.64 m Waterline length: 32' 9.75 m Draft: 2' 3" 0.69 m Weight: 3 tons Loading capacity: 3 tons Sail area: 600 sqft 55.8 sqm Building Time Estimate: 2000 - 2500 hours The NARAI design is a direct descendant of the 40ft RONGO on which James made his pioneering voyage across the North Atlantic in 1959. NARAIs have been rigged as junks, Polynesian sprits, Bermudan ketch, Bermudan cutter or gaff schooners - powered by deck mounted diesels or outboard engines, the NARAIs attract the pioneering type . Now also available with the Wharram Wingsail rig (extra package). The Mk I is the basic design. The Mk II has an extended centre cabin, giving more accommodation space. Drawings for both included. Narai Mk IV Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 41' 12.50 m Beam overall: 19" 5.80 m Waterline length: 32' 9.75 m Draft: 2' 4" 0.71 m Weight: 3.5 tons Loading capacity: 3 - 3.5 tons Working sail area: 529 sqft 49.1 sqm Max. sail area: 840 sqft 78.1 sqm Building Time Estimate: 2500 - 3000 hours After considerable experience with the Narai Mk I and II we brought out a new design to get more volume on the same length. The Narai Mk IV has wider individual hulls and increased headroom by raising the decks to the level of the gunnels and placing the cross beams in beam troughs. This is a very sturdy ocean cruiser with many ocean crossings and circumnavigations to its name. Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 45' 6" 13.88 m Beam overall: 20' 6.10 m Waterline length: 38' 11.58 m Draft: 2' 5" 0.74 m Weight: 3.2 tons Loading capacity: 2 tons Working sail area: 712 sqft 66.2 sqm Max. sail area: 977 sqft 90.8 sqm Building Time Estimate: 3000 hours A smaller version of the TEHINI and a bigger version of the RAKA. Designed for an Australian who wished to enter the 'Single-handed Trans Atlantic Race' in the early 1970s. A very rakish looking design with simple to construct, fast, slim hulls . However, if you are looking for more accommodation check out the newer Tiki 46. Building Method: Ply/Timber/Epoxy/Laminate Length Overall: 51' 15.55 m Beam overall: 24' 6" 7.56 m Waterline length: 40' 12.19 m Draft: 2' 8" 0.81 m Weight: 4 tons Loading capacity: 3-4 tons Working sail area: 820 sqft 76.2 sqm Max. sail area: 1346 sqft 125 sqm Width of bunks: 2' 11" - 2' 6" tapered 0.9 m - 0.75 m tapered Building Time Estimate: 3500 hours The TEHINI is breathtakingly beautiful. She has a timeless look about her and dominates any harbour with her rakish, piratical looking lines. James built this boat as his own and spent 10 years living on her with five others. The Tehini Building Plans include design modifications for Tehini Mk II. These comprise improved accommodation space with raised decks, increased overall beam, added centreboards (optional), increased sail area and various other additional details. Questions about Classic designs? Contact us: 441 COMMENTS James Wharram Designs Wharram Self-build boat plans start from only £120. Wharram designs are based on years of practical, hands-on experience of building and ocean sailing catamarans. They are renowned for their seaworthiness, stability and safe simplicity. Designs from 14' - 63' are available for self-building in ply/epoxy with very detailed, easy to follow ... Self Build Boats Everything you need to build your own sea-going catamaran: 3 steps. Familiarise yourself with our range of designs and their unique qualities. For more detailed information read the Wharram Design Book which reviews each self-build boat model and offers a detailed introduction and understanding of the world of self-build catamarans.; Order one or more sets of our Study Plans and immerse ... James Wharram This was the first west-to-east crossing of the Atlantic by catamaran or multihull. The story was told by Wharram in the 1969 book Two Girls Two Catamarans. [7] From 1973 Wharram was assisted by his co-designer Hanneke Boon. [8] In 1987-92 James and his partners built a new flagship, the 63-foot catamaran Spirit of Gaia, which they sailed into ... Mana 24 MANA's 23'6" hull length has a special significance for James Wharram. In 1956 he made the first successful catamaran voyage across the Atlantic in his first catamaran, the 'Tangaroa', also 23'6" long. In trailer/sailer design every increase in length equals harder launching and recovery work. At 23'6"- 7.15m hull length MANA 24 sits between ... James Wharram: life and legacy of the iconic designer Tangaroa, now tired, was abandoned, as Wharram decided to build a new catamaran. By chance, two solo sailors came to anchor in the bay where the Wharram tribe lived afloat, and the legendary ... James Wharram's First Catamaran Build James Wharram's First Catamaran Build. James Wharram. Jul 2, 2021. Ruth aboard Tangaroa shortly after the boat's initial launch. More than just a sailor and designer, James Wharram, originally of Manchester, England, is also both a free-thinker and an individual clearly dedicated to getting as much out of this life as possible. Wharram Catamaran boats for sale Wharram; Wharram Catamaran boats for sale. Save Search. Clear Filter Make / Model: All Wharram Category: Sail - Catamaran. Location. By Radius. By Country. country-all. All Countries. Country-DE. Germany. Country-FR. France. Country-TH. Thailand. All. Alle 25 km 50 km 100 km 200 km 300 km 500 km 1000 km 2000 km 5000 km. from your location ... WHARRAM PAHI 42: A Polynesian Catamaran The catamaran designs that British multihull pioneer James Wharram first created for amateur boatbuilders in the mid-1960s were influenced by the boats he built and voyaged upon during the 1950s. These "Classic" designs, as Wharram termed them, feature slab-sided, double-ended, V-bottomed plywood hulls with very flat sheerlines and simple triangular sections. James Wharram: Eight bells for the multihull pioneer Wharram believed in a 'less is more' approach to boat building, and all of his boats are of simple construction, aimed at amateur boat builders, including the Tiki 21, Cooking Fat, which became the smallest catamaran to sail around the world when skippered by Rory McDougall from 1991-1997. In May 1992, Wharram launched the 63ft Pahi, Spirit of Gaia, from his home on Restronguet Creek in ... Catamaran Man: James Wharram Catamaran Man: James Wharram. Author: Sam Fortescue. Updated: Apr 30, 2019. Original: Jan 8, 2019. Wharram's timeless designs evoke a sense of history and adventure; the Lapita design was created to show how settlers from Southeast Asia could have reached the Hawaiian islands. Wharram World A Global Family Of Sailors The Wharram World circles the globe. Wharram catamarans have been built and are sailing in all the World's oceans and can be found in far away ports and anchorages. With over 10,000 sets of Plans sold since the 1960s this is not surprising. Many of the builders and sailors of Wharram catamarans are now writing blogs about their exploits and JAMES WHARRAM: His New Autobiography Lit Bits. Dec. 18/2020: James Wharram, who first came to notice back in the 1950s after sailing a crude homemade catamaran across the Atlantic from England to Trinidad with two occasionally (and famously) unclad women, has cut a unique trail through the firmament of modern yacht design. He has always planted his flag far outside the boundaries ... James Wharram Sailed Across the Atlantic on a Home-built Catamaran A great pioneer of multihull voyaging, James Wharram sailed from Las Palmas toward Trinidad two days before Christmas 1955. His crew consisted of two girls, Ruth and Jutta, and Pepe the dog. His boat was the 23ft catamaran Tangaroa, which he had designed and built himself. Against advice from most of the pundits of the day, he held true to ... Interview with Hanneke Boon of Wharram Catamarans Diane interviews Hanneke Boon who is a long time partner of James Wharram and designer of Wharram. She gives a historical recount since the 1938's of catamaran design and sailing! She talks about her opinion of modern cruising catamarans and how Wharrams are different and really better for cruising. She and the team at Wharram are still busy ... James Wharram Designs James Wharram Designs, Truro. 3,556 likes · 63 talking about this · 11 were here. Designers of unique, safe and stable self-build double-canoe sailing catamarans. James Wharram built the first... WHARRAM Catamarans Support Lady K - http://www.patreon.com/ladyksailingOr http://www.ladyksailing.com/team-kCatamarans, Sailing Catamarans, Sailing Cats - it all starts with Wh... About James Wharram Designs James Wharram was the pioneer of offshore multihulls, making his first Atlantic crossing by catamaran in 1956 and the first ever North Atlantic West-to-East crossing by multihull in 1959. He started designing for self-builders in 1965. In 1973 Hanneke Boon joined him and became his co-designer. Review of a Wharram Catamaran Posts: 41. Review of a Wharram Catamaran. Dear Forum: I have looked at a Wharram Catamaran, namely the tiki 38, that I have thought about building and then living on it in retirement. This way I can do what really brings me inner peace, sailing, and live on the boat too. I have looked at the wharram site and their builders as well. Official James Wharram Designs An afternoon sailing on a Wharram Tiki 21 in Cornwall with the crew of @un.tide 🌤⛵️🌊 ⛵️: @hairry_scrott 🎥: @flyingcloud_max • • • #sailing #sailingcornwall #falmouth #wharram #wharramcat #kernow #catamaran #womenwhosail #womenoffshore #traditional #polynesian #cornwall #liveaboard #nomad #seawomen #peopleofthesea #travel #adventure #instatravel #multihulls #reel #sailingreel Wharram sailboats for sale by owner. Wharram preowned sailboats for sale by owner. Wharram used sailboats for sale by owner. Choosing a Boat Many prospective builders also ponder the question of whether to build from scratch or buy a professionally built / second hand Wharram catamaran. In this video, Mark of Wildlings Sailing visits James Wharram Designs in Cornwall, speaks to head of JWD Hanneke Boon about the pros and cons of each, and receives advice on what to look for in a ... The Catamaran Designs of James Wharram James Wharram Designs make up a large portfolio of designs. Always with the same philosophy but in different forms, shapes and sizes. Apart from the more simple "Classic" designs of the early years, there is the range of more sophisticated "Tiki" designs. These vary in length from 21 to 46 feet; from coastal sailing to ocean voyaging. Classic Designs The Early Wharrams - Sturdy and Stable The early 'Wharrams', now known as the Classic Designs, are recognised as beautiful, safe boats - easy to build, and easy to sail. Many anchorages around the world are graced by these Classic Designs, and of the seventeen drawn between 1957 and 1976, nine are still available, from the 16ft Maui to the 51ft ... catamaran gulet powerboat riverboat sailboat trimaran yacht