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• 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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Practical Boat Owner

• Digital edition

Channel Hopping: Wonderful Wharram Women

• Kass Schmitt
• August 1, 2022

Our resident YouTube fanatic marvels at the generations of women who have crossed (and continue to cross) oceans on Wharram catamarans.

As I write, friends and admirers of the maverick multihull designer and occasional PBO contributor James Wharram , who passed away last November, are gathering in Cornwall to celebrate his remarkable life.

A parade of sail, including many of his designs, has set out from Falmouth to scatter his ashes, along with those of his wife Ruth Wharram (neé Merseburger) , who passed away eight years ago.

It was 67 years ago that James, Ruth and Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof famously set off from Custom House Quay on the 23-foot Tanagaroa , on the first of many journeys that would inspire many over generations.

One of the oldest Wharram designs still afloat, the 41-foot plywood 1974 Narai Mara Noka was notably absent, having only just completed a lengthy – but obviously very low budget and at times ingenious – refit in St. Augustine Florida and set out towards Flores in the Azores.

Kiana Weltzien, the 26 year old American owner, acquired the boat in Panama in 2018 and is already on her third transatlantic passage with it.

Kiana has chosen to document her journey predominantly in prose on her blog, but recently tried her hand at vlogging, producing a couple of beautifully poetic videos.

The first borrows heavily from Ruth Wharram’s documentary about the building of their 51ft catamaran Tehini in the late 1960s by an army of young women (including Hanneke Boon, who would become James’ design partner and mother of his second son), segueing into her own refit of Mara Noka and subsequent Atlantic circuit.

The second video tells the story of Kiana’s gutsy solo passage from the Canaries to Guadeloupe during the early months of the pandemic.

For her current adventure, Kiana has teamed up with the Danish surfer/artist/activist Lærke Heilmann, and Chicago-based photographer Alizé Jireh to form the Women and the Wind project, which aims to promote positive action against plastic pollution while touring the Azores, Canary Islands and Cape Verde under sail.

They have been sharing short-form, playful videos of their preparations in the Captain’s log section of their website, and occasional photos and position reports via their Instagram account @womenandthewind .

I’m looking forward to the promised documentary series about this latest generation of independent, intelligent Wharram women.

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Interview with Hanneke Boon of Wharram Catamarans

• Post author By Diane Selkirk
• Post date August 9, 2023
• 5 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.

5 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.

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Boat Profile

A Wharram catamaran

From Issue   March 2018

J ames Wharram is a multihull pioneer who has been sailing and designing exceptionally seaworthy catamarans since the 1950s. For his first voyage, he built, TANGAROA, a 23’ catamaran and sailed her from the U.K. to the Caribbean with Jutta Schulze-Rhonhof and Ruth Merseburger, both from Germany. While in the Caribbean he became a father, and the boat mothered a growing colony of teredo worms. With a strong desire to sail home, Wharram built a 40-footer and did the first North Atlantic crossing by catamaran. His designs are based on firsthand experience, regularly updated and improved, and have a safety record that is hard to beat.

I built his Tiki 21, which is designed as an easily built, trailerable coastal cruiser for adventurous folks who don’t mind bearing a small amount of discomfort to be rewarded with a boat which is in harmony with the sea. The plans are highly detailed and provide illustrations for almost every step of the process. The plans include a materials list, down to the last fitting, and an epoxy technique manual depicting everything from laminating to fairing. The plans call for 18 sheets of 1/4″ marine plywood and one sheet of 3/4″. My Tiki 21, BETO, took around 10 or 12 gallons of epoxy and a good helping of mahogany and Douglas-fir.

While the Tiki’s main is designed to be sailed with a loose foot, the author finds an easily mounted, aluminum sprit boom provides improved performance in light air.

The hulls are built using the stitch-and-glue method, making it a fairly quick build, even for the first-time builder, though practicing with some scraps of plywood and epoxy is recommended for beginners.

Construction starts with forming the hull panels and stitching them together, then moves on to installing bulkheads and bunks and fitting the decks and cabintops. After the hulls are complete, just three beams, two tillers and rudders, and a wooden mast remain as the last major projects. For BETO, I chose an aluminum mast—a 22′ length of 4″ aluminum tubing with a 1/8″ wall thickness, as recommended in the plans. I chose aluminum over wood in hopes of a lighter mast that would require less maintenance and be easier to raise when rigging.

The Tiki 21’s most controversial feature is, perhaps, the use of lashings, rather than conventional marine hardware, to hold the amas and akas (hulls and cross beams) together. Wharram believes that the lashings allow for shock absorption and decrease shock loads at the joints. Each wrap of the five loops has a 2,800-lb breaking strength. The lashings are frapped so tightly that small movements between structural members are unnoticeable. The lashing system is proven by both Wharram cats and the well-traveled Polynesian voyaging canoes of the Pacific.

The Tiki 21 plans include a motor mount set within the perimeter of the deck. The pod added to this boat frees up deck space and includes a place for the gas tank. The cross beams, or akas, are stitch-and-glue I-beams.

The Tiki 21 was designed to be assembled on a beach at low tide and to float away when the sea returns. It has a 14″ draft, and each hull weighs in right under 200 lbs when completed. For our negligible tidal range and for freshwater sailing, I chose to build a trailer with telescoping sides that allow the hulls to be expanded outward for boat assembly before being backed down the ramp. We currently sail BETO on a small lake, so it rests on the trailer between outings.

When we want a taste of salt water, we unlash the beams and slide the hulls together for a package that is a little wider than my small Toyota truck. I can assemble the boat by myself in two hours and disassemble it in an hour. This is pretty fast to be on the water, and a helper could easily bring this time down as the lashings and frappings are the most time-consuming tasks. Some Tiki sailors have had good luck with ratchet straps and nylon webbing when trailering to daysail. I wouldn’t recommend ratchets in lieu of lashings for venturing offshore, however.

The Tiki 21 was designed with cruising accommodations for two, but there is room for more on deck. The catamaran has a carrying capacity of a half ton.

So how does the Tiki 21 sail? I’m a former racing catamaran sailor whose friends all sail go-fast boats, and I think it sails like a dream! The rig is a Wharram “Wing” sail that keeps the center of gravity low and the power high. The sail is modeled after a high-aspect Dutch gaff rig, using a short gaff at the peak and an elongated luff pocket that envelops the mast and minimizes turbulent airflow. This unique arrangement offers performance similar to modern rotating masts and square-top mainsails without all of the moving parts.

The mainsail is sewn with a luff sleeve for a smother flow of air around the mast. The jib and main halyards run along the mast inside the sleeve. This Tiki 21 was built by Rick Hueschen of North Carolina.

Unlike older Wharram designs, the Tiki 21 has a power-to-weight ratio that can get one in trouble if the wind pipes up. In light air, however, it is slightly undercanvased, and a drifter works wonders. The deep-V hulls have hardly any noticeable leeway if sails are trimmed correctly, and can tack in light and heavy air even sailing just the main.

The rudders are lashed to the sternposts and skegs and do not extend below beneath them, so the Tiki can’t turn on a dime in tight quarters. However, when sailing, it tracks like it is on rails. I sail upwind all the time in up to 20 knots with just a bungee crossed over the tiller. The Tiki is superbly well balanced and will sail along happily with proper trim. To windward we have seen 7 knots with the wind at 50 degrees true, falling down to around 5 knots at 40 degrees true. Off the wind, BETO has clocked 15 knots while power-reaching with no noticeable lifting of the windward hull (check my video ). For normal cruising, we reef the main and jib in 15 knots to keep dry on deck and fully in control while still making 8 to 10 knots on a reach. For sails, we carry a main with three reefs, a jib with one reef, a nylon drifter, an asymmetric spinnaker, and a storm jib. I have an outboard, but I learned to sail on a 22’ engineless racing sloop, so I have plenty of patience when the wind dies, preferring not to deal with a nasty outboard and volatile gasoline. Using a stand-up paddle, I can move the Tiki all day at 3 knots in flat water, and with a second paddler it’s even faster.

While each hull provides room for a narrow berth, the deck provides more spacious accommodations when equipped with a canopy or a free-standing tent.

For coastal cruising on a small catamaran, one can really not find a better-suited vessel than the Tiki 21. The accommodations inside each hull provide a 12′-long bunk that is 2′ wide; the hulls span 3-1/2′ at the sheer. Our sleeping accommodations are often a two-person tent set on deck, or my girlfriend and I can get cuddly and sleep in one hull if needed. All of the bunks are above the waterline, and under them are the bilges, which provide loads of storage. The load capacity is listed as 1,000 lbs. The bows and sterns all have watertight flotation chambers. The anchor locker doubles as another flotation chamber. The Tiki 21 has six bulkheads in each small hull, making it a strong little boat. Resting between the akas is a plywood deck measuring 6′ x 7′ that never moves far from level when under sail. For my own preference I built a slatted cedar deck instead of a solid plywood one, and it has since been approved by the Wharram Design team.

Rory McDougall sailed his modified Tiki 21, COOKING FAT, around the world in the early 1990s, and until just recently he held the record for sailing the smallest catamaran in a circumnavigation. He experienced gales pushing waves up to 30′, and his boat suffered little damage. In 2010, McDougall sailed in the Jester Challenge, a single-handed transatlantic race for boats between 20′ and 30′, and came in second after 34 days under way, just a few hours after a larger monohull. When in storms, McDougall goes on his sea anchor and reports that the Tiki rides very happily and calmly. In his first gale on sea anchor, he even felt so relaxed that he tied a jibsheet around himself and jumped overboard to swim the swells!

Brad Ingram lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and enjoys sailing, running ultramarathons, and climbing. He spent eight years in 20th Special Forces Group on a small Intelligence team, and he’s now going to nursing school as a civilian. He plans to travel while working as a nurse, making it easy to spend a significant amount of the year traveling in the mountains or at sea. Among all of his recreational pursuits, sailing occupies the lion’s share of his enthusiasm and interest. He mostly enjoys small boat cruises and small, raid-type multihulls. He has a passion for simple, traditional vessels and enjoys sailing sport boats as well. 

Tiki 21 Particulars

Waterline length/18′6″

Weight/790 lbs

Load Capacity/1000 lbs

sail area/208 sq ft

Study plans (£19.00) and full sets of plans (£505.00) are available from James Wharram Designs .

Is there a boat you’d like to know more about? Have you built one that you think other Small Boats Monthly readers would enjoy? Please email us!

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Comments (9)

For anyone interested in seeing more Wharrams up close, there will be a Hui Wharram Sail-In in Fort Meyers on May 18 through 20th. I think SV BETO will be there as well. Details here .

Is the Hui sail-in still held in Ft Meyers? I live close to there and would love to see some homebuilt catamarans!

The book is also available as a Kindle edition . Editor

Merci pour toute ces informations sur Tiki 21.

(Thanks for all this information about the Tiki 21.)

Thank you for the article. Isn’t there a second pair of shrouds in the design? Why do you bother with an engine and all the paraphernalia attached to it, starting with the pod? Do you feel a stand-up paddle is faster than sculling a sweep? I am planning to use a sweep on my Tiki 26. I used to move my 35′ engineless steel cutter up to ¾ to 1 knot with a self-made 16′ oar. I never had an engine on my Shark 24. Do you think a ply platform might be structural and reduces the torsion leading to a slacker stay? I am planning to test the Tiki 26 without a platform, only netting, à la Cookie.

Sorry to just get back to you. The white boat is not mine. BETO is the green one with no motor. The platform is in no way structural, and I just like the SUP paddle as it goes right into action and I do a lot of paddling with the same motion for exercise.

I really like your engine mount. I’m almost finished building my Tiki 21 and don’t like the idea of stinking old engine sitting up in the middle of the deck and sleeping/lounging area. So I think I’ll copy you. Anything I need to be aware of? Could you send other photos that explain your system more clearly. Many thanks, Tom

How wide are the hulls ???

Does anyone know of a Tiki 21 in the NW US? Washington, Idaho, Oregon? I have built kayaks, sailed small boats, and really like what I see in the Tiki 21 but would like to sail one, or at least see one in person, before committing to a year of building. Thank you!

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Five Wharram catamarans you can build yourself

• December 21, 2022
• No Comments

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Last week we recounted. James Wharram’s story and adventures. , father of the modern catamaran and designer of more than 10,000 Polynesian double-hulled sailboats.

Five Wharram catamarans for self-building

If you love adventure, have a fair amount of manual dexterity in DIY work and some time on your hands, below we have selected five models designed by James Wharram pencil that you could build yourself.

Let’s start with the smallest , cheapest , and easiest to build of Wharram’s catamarans. Hatia 14 is an easy-to-build (requiring only 175 hours of work), stable and fast daysailer , perfect for weekend adventures. Designed for 2/4 people, you can sail there in calm waters , lakes, lagoons or along the coast. It can be launched from the beach and easily carried on the roof of a car . The estimated cost of construction is 3,500.

Conceived in 1981 as a Coastal Trek catamaran that was easy to build, using the new techniques of stitching and epoxy/glass glue, the Tiki 21 is one of the most successful designs designed by Wharram, with more than 1,000 plans sold. In 1982, the American magazine Cruising World awarded it as the best “Trailable Gunkholer”-a trailerable boat for shallow-water sailing -but the Tiki 21 has proven to be a boat suitable for all types of sailing. Between 1991 and 1997 Rory McDougall circumnavigated the world aboard his self-built ‘Cooking Fat’. The estimated cost of construction is 9,000 and the labor hours required are 400.

Wharram  Catamarans: Tiki 30

With a capacity to sleep 6 and a large deck, the Tiki 30 is the ideal low-cost catamaran for chartering . It costs about 21,000 euros in materials and takes 900 hours to build. Despite its generous size of 9.15 meters , it weighs only 1 ton, which means it can still be towed by a vehicle . A stylish, versatile “double canoe” boat that offers basic comfort for living at sea.

Wharram Catamarans: Tangaroa Mk IV

The latest evolution of James’ first project , for which he drew the self-construction plans back in 1965. A 10.82-meter catamaran built of plywood, epoxy and laminate. Its construction requires about 1,800 man-hours and the estimated cost is 50,000 euros. Unlike the first version, with which many still sail, the Tangaroa Mk IV has more graceful hull lines, a wider hull beam, more freeboard above the berths, and a longer cabin in which one can stand.

Pahi 63 (Spirit of Gaia)

It is the flagship of the fleet , created for long expeditions around the world and for large groups . Pahi 63 is based on traditional Polynesian double canoe principles and is better suited for sailing in warmer climates. The deck/accommodation layout resembles that of a village, with a central cockpit surrounded by private cabins with separate entrances . Its construction requires about 4,000 hours of labor and more than 110,000 euros worth of materials.

Edited by Giacomo Barbaro

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About James Wharram Designs

Who Are We?

James Wharram Designs are designers of unique double-canoe style sailing catamarans inspired by the canoe craft of the Pacific. They have their headquarters on the shore of Restronguet creek in Devoran, Cornwall.

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.

Wharram designs are based on years of practical, hands-on experience of building and sailing ocean-going catamarans.

Wharram designs are renowned for their seaworthiness , stability and safe simplicity . Ask any ocean sailor and they will have seen Wharram catamarans in far off ports of call.

Designs from 14’ – 63’ are available for self-building in ply/epoxy with very detailed, easy to follow Plans often described as 'a course in boatbuilding'.

Several franchised yards offer professionally built Wharrams .

To find more about what Wharram Designs has to offer, explore our website. If you want to build your own catamaran and experience the freedom of sailing, your dream begins here.

Hanneke Boon

Hanneke Boon is head of James Wharram Designs , a role she has carried out for more than ten years, whilst supporting James Wharram in his advancing years.

Born in the Netherlands, Hanneke grew up in a sailing family. She was building and sailing Polynesian Catamarans at the age of fourteen and joined the James Wharram team at the age of 20. Being a very gifted artist / graphic designer / craftworker, she became James Wharram's co-designer.

Hanneke's all-round art abilities and practical boatbuilding experience have produced some of the clearest boat building instruction plans ever produced. She has drawn the majority of the Wharram Boatbuilding Plans since the 1970s.

Hanneke made two Atlantic catamaran crossings on Tehini when she first joined the team. Since then she has sailed thousands of ocean miles, including sailing round the world on Spirit of Gaia (1994-98), a voyage to Iceland (1999) and the 4000Nm Lapita Voyage (2008-09), when she skippered 'Lapita Anuta'. In 2022 she again crossed the Atlantic as crew on Pahi 65 'Largyalo' and is now the captain of 'Spirit of Gaia', sailing her in the Mediterranean.

She has built, or taken part in building more than sixteen Wharram designs, including developing many prototypes and the 63ft Spirit of Gaia. She is an expert in working with epoxy and has made instructional videos of her boatbuilding. From 2012 – 2016 she fully restored the 20 year old Spirit of Gaia with the help of volunteers.

She now sails when she can escape the drawing board or the computer. Hanneke loves experimenting with sail-rigs and shared James' deep interest in Marine Archaeology and the origins of Canoeform watercraft.

The following video is of Hanneke giving a 'Pecha Kucha' style presentation in Amsterdam on the subject of 'Integrating Philosophy with Boat design'. This very short presentation sums up Hanneke's history from a sailing childhood to becoming a boat builder, designer and ocean sailor. Throughout the theme is 'simplicity' as the philosophy behind the designs of James and Hanneke.

At the end of James' life she helped him finish his autobiography ' People of the Sea ' (published in 2020), which tells the full story of their lives.

BBC Radio Cornwall Interview - July 2023

More about hanneke:.

Hanneke's realised vision to build 2 Tikopian double canoes and give them to the islands of Tikopia and Anuta, so they can continue to be self-sufficient and take pride in their ancient sailing heritage. The two canoes would then be sailed the 3000 miles to Tikopia along the ancient Polynesian migration route for handing over to the islanders.

An illustrated 6 minute poem of Hanneke, from a young girl sailing with her father, ending up as a boatbuilder, ocean sailor and designer.

Hanneke headed a varying team of helpers that have made an annual visit to Greece since 2012 to carry out maintenance work. She has written detailed blogs that cover this work in detail and we hope they may be useful to you in carrying out your own project.

The fully story of Hanneke's life of sailing and designing with James.

James Wharram

James Wharram (1928-2021) designed his first offshore cruising double-canoe/catamaran, the 23' 6" TANGAROA in 1953, before the word catamaran was yet in common use and began sailing with her off the coast of Britain with two German girls, Ruth Merseburger (Wharram) and Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof. He was inspired to do this by Frenchman Eric de Bisschop , who sailed a double canoe from Hawaii to France in 1939. James believed in the innate seagoing qualities of the double canoe and set out to prove them with two pioneering Trans Atlantic voyages on TANGAROA (1956) and 40ft RONGO (1959). He wrote an account of these first pioneering years in Two Girls Two Catamarans .

Since then, James Wharram, has been designing, building and sailing offshore catamarans longer than any other multihull designer . Already in 1987 the 'Multihulls Buyers Guide' showed that James Wharram Designs had sold three times more plans than any other multihull designer in the world. Design sales have since topped 10,000.

One reason for this success is that James Wharram was a 'hands-on' designer having, over his lifetime, built personally many of the prototype designs. These prototypes were built in the open, in barns, workshops and all the range of building sites available to self-builders, in a variety of climate types from northern European to the Tropics.

Because James and his co-designer Hanneke Boon preferred sailing to building, they have always endeavoured to refine their Construction methods to their simplest form, following the famous Bauhaus motto "Less is More". The advent of epoxy in boatbuilding in 1980, combined with a Wharram and Boon evolved 'Stitch & Glue' building method, opened up new ways of achieving this aim.

Together with Hanneke he developed many new Appropriate Technology building methods. Of special note here are the lashed crossbeam connections and the Wharram Wingsail Rig .

Throughout his life, James has been interested in the history of Watercraft, particularly the origins of the Canoeform craft of the Pacific. He has written papers on this subject and lectured at Marine Archaeological conferences. He was made a 'Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society' for his pioneering work in this field.

In 2008, his career came full circle, when at the age of eighty, 50 years after his pioneering voyages, he sailed the arduous Lapita Voyage , the ancient migration route into the Pacific, on the Tama Moana design 'Lapita Anuta' skippered by Hanneke Boon.

In his final years he focussed his energies with Hanneke's help on finishing his autobiography ' People of the Sea '.

The charismatic James was often referred to as a 'Living Legend' or as written in 'Yachting Monthly' in January 2006: "James Wharram is considered by many to be the father of modern multihull cruising."

James Wharram passed away on 14th December 2021. However, this is not the end. Hanneke and all the Wharram World will keep his work alive.

More about James:

People of the Sea is the life story of iconic catamaran designer James Wharram, from a Wartime childhood in Manchester, to mountaineer, to pioneer catamaran sailor in the 1950s, to designer of modern Polynesian catamarans.

Written by James Wharram. A tale of adventure in the fifties, when James Wharram and two German girls, Ruth and Jutta, sailed from Falmouth and across the Atlantic in their homemade catamaran Tangaroa. The story of their stormy crossing of the Bay of Biscay, their winter in northern Spain living off the proceeds of magazine articles, and the dangers encountered in their unusually rough trade wind passage to Trinidad.

Philosophical writings by James, papers delivered at major marine archeology conferences, and biographies.

On the 14th December James Wharram left this earthly world, joining Ruth, Jutta and his many close friends that departed before him. At 93 years old his spirit has set out on the voyage to sail the oceans of heaven.

This eulogy was delivered by Matt Knight at James Wharram's funeral service, which took place at 3:00pm on Thursday 30th December at Truro Crematorium.

In the summer of 2022, we held a special Hui in celebration of James’ life. A fleet of Wharram catamarans and other boats joined us.

Ruth Wharram

German born Ruth Merseburger (1921-2013) was James' other lifelong partner and shared James Wharram's early pioneering voyages. Ruth was one of the first people to believe James in the early 1950's when he said that the ancient double-canoe of the Polynesians would be the yacht of the future. With her practical determination she has been the driving force behind James in his many projects .

A first class navigator (in the days before GPS) she made seven Atlantic crossings, endured a severe gale crossing the Tasman Sea, sailed half way round the world on 63ft 'Spirit of Gaia' and made innumerable coastal voyages on Wharram catamarans. She was always in demand to be crew/navigator on all types of sailing yachts.

Her sailing adventures started in the early 1950s and continued throughout her life. Alongside this she drafted some of the plans of the early Classic Designs and managed the Wharram sales office for over 40 years, communicating with the hundreds of builders. In her late 80s she retired as office manager but kept in communication with her many sailing friends by email and followed James and Hanneke's sailing adventures on the internet.

Ruth has been a writer, photographer and film maker. She shot all the footage for the Building and Sailing of Tehini film on a hand-wound 16mm Bolex. She had many articles of her sailing experiences published and in 2008 assembled her writings in a Special Collection .

Ruth passed away on September 4th 2013 leaving a big gap in the James Wharram Designs team.

More about Ruth:

Two vintage movies filmed by Ruth Wharram in the early days of Wharram Catamaran designs. Tehini was one of the largest catamarans of her time and was built in less than 2 years with mainly hand tools. Her first voyages were to North Spain and Holland, during which time she met many other Wharram Catamarans.

A wonderful collection of articles, stories and diaries by Ruth Wharram.

Ruth Wharram (nee Merseburger) has departed this life in the early morning of 4th September, at the age of 92, at home in Devoran.

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Wharrams to weather: How bad is it?

Discussion in ' Multihulls ' started by mental_boy , Feb 23, 2016 .

mental_boy Junior Member

Anyone here have any experience sailing on a Wharram? They have a poor reputation for windward ability, but how bad is it really? I'm curious about time to get from downwind point A to upwind point B, not how close to the wind one can sail or how difficult it is to tack. For example, would a Tangaroa 35 get shellacked by a Catalina 27? Or a cal 20? This is just an academic question, so please refrain from mentioning the cramped cabins, the apalling resale value, the inefficient use of timber or the propensity to rot. I've known three people who have undertaken 40+ ft catamaran construction. Two "yacht" type designs and one Pahi 42. The Pahi builder finished his boat in two years and spent ~10 years on and off cruising mexico and central America. One of the last posts on his blog says something about the mast step rotting, and then he doesn't mention the boat anymore. The other two guys spent 10+ years building, neither finished and both are now deceased.  

rapscallion Senior Member

I appreciate what you are saying. Wharram designs have many positive aspects, but I suspect that is you have to ask the question, then a wharram cat may not be the design you are looking for. Richard Woods has simple 40' cat designs which could be built in a time frame similar to a wharram, but would have superior upwind performance. Although a Wharram rig would most likely be cheaper to build.  

HASYB Senior Member

No experience on sailing Wharrams but perhaps, if you consider buying or even building and eventually sailing one, your question, academically, justifies an addition of how windward ability can (simply) be improved and tuned?  

gonzo Senior Member

It depends on what you mean by "shellacked". In storm conditions a Wharram will happily make some headway, while the Catalina of Cal may not even survive. However, if you mean a race around the buoys in fair weather, it won't perform as a racer. I have sailed my old Tangaroa in really rough conditions and it handled well. The worst was a wave breaking over and completely covering the boat. I climbed the mizzen mast when the wave was coming and saw the boat disappear. That was about 25 years ago when I could shimmy up a mast.  

Jamie Kennedy Senior Member

This one has a centerboard and starts doing the 'wild thing' in a gust. The admiral imposes some caution on the part of the skipper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhNPGJQDuNk  

gonzo said: ↑ It depends on what you mean by "shellacked". In storm conditions a Wharram will happily make some headway, while the Catalina of Cal may not even survive. However, if you mean a race around the buoys in fair weather, it won't perform as a racer. I have sailed my old Tangaroa in really rough conditions and it handled well. The worst was a wave breaking over and completely covering the boat. I climbed the mizzen mast when the wave was coming and saw the boat disappear. That was about 25 years ago when I could shimmy up a mast. Click to expand...

Jamie Kennedy said: ↑ This one has a centerboard and starts doing the 'wild thing' in a gust. The admiral imposes some caution on the part of the skipper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhNPGJQDuNk Click to expand...

rapscallion said: ↑ I appreciate what you are saying. Wharram designs have many positive aspects, but I suspect that is you have to ask the question, then a wharram cat may not be the design you are looking for. Richard Woods has simple 40' cat designs which could be built in a time frame similar to a wharram, but would have superior upwind performance. Although a Wharram rig would most likely be cheaper to build. Click to expand...

I didn't race the Tangaroa around a triangle course, so pointing high was never a crucial issue. Long distance cruising is different. However, the overall VMG(velocity made good) was better than the average monohull.  

david@boatsmith Senior Member

Our Ariki 48 has daggerboards and a modern big roach full batten main. We have limited (as in almost none) boat on boat comparisons. It seems to go well to weather. We were inside the other day and were tacking up the lake with the boards up and were passing through the anchorage area. We were slipping at a brisk rate. We dropped a board partially and bam, we were slipping about 90% less. Maybe 20 degrees better made good. This was in light air with a slight negative tide. My Tiki 30 had the stock Wharram gaff wingsail rig. Very conservative low aspect main sail. In light air going to weather in waves it flat sucked. In flat water or with more wind it wasn't so bad. crack off and the boat was very fast. A boat with bunks, sub $100k, 2' draft topped out in high teens. https://youtu.be/m5-iNnEPFVk  

Gary Baigent Senior Member

Peter Nannested had a Wharram 22 foot Hina which he sailed many miles called Superb, Strong and Tough; he raced it to and in a Bay of Islands race period way back in the early 1980s and on a fresh day, SS&T cleaned up the smaller size division which included some high performing Quarter Tonners from Farr, Mull and co. The reaching legs allowed the Wharram to gain but SS&T hung in there very well to windward too - and won by 3 or 4 minutes.  

patzefran patzefran

Hobie cat 14 and 16 has no boards and hulls similar to Wharrams, using strong aft mast rake, they got enough weatherhelm to use rudders as very effective leeway preventer. Balancing the rudders helps to recover low helm loads.  

jamez Senior Member

I had a Hinemoa for a few years. Had a lot of fun in her. It had a bigger than standard rig - about 22 sq meters -. In a breeze over say 15 knots it would foot it to windward against similar size light disp keel boats. However in light breezes <10 knots, it was frustrating, particularly trying to sail against a current, without foils you go sideways a lot. I would have liked to try it with a dagger board but never got round to building one for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2YYOzfAfNA In the end I built a tri which solved the light weather/windward sailing issues.  

tdem Senior Member

I've attached a gps track from onboard a Tiki 26 with a conventional bermudan main/jib. This was tacking up quite a narrow channel in Whangarei Harbour in about 10 knots. We would basically sail right out to the edges, even hitting the sandy bottom a little at times. Try that on a keelboat! This harbour is the ideal setting for a boat like this, the day before we were blasting along in shallow water, almost flying a hull at times. Very reassuring to have a shallow draft strong boat.  

Attached Files:

Part track.png.

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Manie B Senior Member

tdem that's good thanks  

Proa Shunting in Heavy Weather

Weather helm on starboard, port OK

Pod cat square rigger cold weather cruiser project

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Electric boats

Electric yachts.

• Solar Electric Boats
• Sunreef Yachts

Sunreef Yachts unveils new luxe solar electric Explorer catamaran with over 1,000 kWh in batteries

Sustainable boatbuilder Sunreef Yachts is adding a sleeker, lighter solar electric catamaran to its portfolio. The new Explorer Eco 40m is the company’s smallest electric yacht to date, but debuts with some of the most advanced technology, including Sunreef’s proprietary “solar skin”

Sunreef Yachts  was established in 2002 in Gdansk, Poland where its shipyard and office still operate alongside a newer footprint established at port in the United Arab Emirates. From its very first year, Sunreef has been pushing the boundaries of sustainable marine travel, launching the world’s first 74-foot luxury oceangoing catamaran with a flybridge.

Today, hundreds of Sunreef Yachts are sailing waters across the globe, showcasing the company’s lineup of sustainable luxury catamarans, all-electric propulsion, and advanced solar panels. That current portfolio consists of eco-friendly sailboats and massive solar electric catamarans ranging from 60 to 100 meters in length.

Today, Sunreef shared it has gone smaller, introducing a new 40m electric yacht called the Eco Explorer.

Sunreef Yacht’s latest electric catamaran is another beauty

The company’s new Eco version of the 40m Explorer offers customers a sleeker and more sustainable design in a lighter marine footprint, all without sacrificing the luxury and comfort Sunreef is known for.

Sunreef shared that it favors catamarans over traditional yacht hull designs because require less energy to propel at sea – an important factor in marine electrification. The new Eco Explorer 40m features an ultralight composite build and a state-of-the-art electric powertrain consisting of two 540kW motors and two 550 kWh battery packs – giving the electric yacht the ability to cross oceans.

To support the all-electric powertrain, the Eco Explorer 40m is also covered in Sunreef’s proprietary solar skin, which utilizes every available inch of the hull and structure’s external surface to generate free, clean energy – more than enough to power the electric yacht’s onboard systems, HVAC, AV equipment and even its jacuzzi. Per Sunreef Yachts founder and CEO Francis Lapp:

Sunreef has been at the cutting edge of sustainable yachting since its launch. We are the only superyacht builder to have successfully developed the idea of embedding solar cells into large-scale fibreglass structures. But we’re not content to let technology alone do the work. Many elements of our wonderful, custom interiors can also be sourced from recycled and renewable materials. From hemp composite to recycled fabrics -it’s all up to the owner.

Sunreef says its new Eco Explorer 40m can accommodate 10 guests aboard, who can be taken care of by a crew of seven. Its motors deliver a cruising speed of 10 knots and a top speed of 14 knots. Build times are currently three years, and the electric yachts will be built at one of Sunreef’s ports in Poland or the UAE.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Scooter Doll is a writer, designer and tech enthusiast born in Chicago and based on the West Coast. When he’s not offering the latest tech how tos or insights, he’s probably watching Chicago sports. Please send any tips or suggestions, or dog photos to him at [email protected]

Tom Cruise, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ Among Critics Choice Super Awards Winners

By Clayton Davis

Clayton Davis

Senior Awards Editor

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Superstars Tom Cruise and Pedro Pascal , recent Oscar winner Emma Stone and the legendary “Godzilla Minus One” are among the winners of the 4th annual Critics Choice Super Awards .

The awards, which honor fan-favorite genres in film and television, saw a diverse array of movies and TV shows garnering accolades from international critics and journalists. Leading the cinematic charge, “Godzilla: Minus One” (Toho), “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” (Paramount), “Poor Things” (Searchlight), and “Talk to Me” (A24) each secured two wins, the most of any movies.

On the television front, HBO’s “The Last of Us” dominated, clinching seven trophies in its debut season. This sweep included awards in both the superhero and horror film categories. Stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey won two awards each for their portrayal of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world, while co-star Melanie Lynskey was named best villain.

The full list of winners are below.

Film Winners

Best Action Movie: “John Wick: Chapter 4”

Actor in an Action Movie: Tom Cruise – “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”

Actress in an Action Movie: Rebecca Ferguson – “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”

Superhero Movie: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

Actor in an Action Movie: Michael Fassbender – “The Killer”

Actress in a Superhero Movie: Iman Vellani – “The Marvels”

Horror Movie: “Talk to Me”

Actor in an Action Movie: Nicolas Cage – “Dream Scenario”

Actress in an Action Movie: Sophie Wilde – “Talk to Me”

Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie: “Godzilla Minus One”

Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie: Mark Ruffalo – “Poor Things”

Actress in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie: Emma Stone – “Poor Things”

Villiain in a Movie: Godzilla – “Godzilla Minus One”

Actor in an Action Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie: Idris Elba — “Hijack” (Apple TV+)

Actress in an Action Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie: Zoe Saldaña – “Special Ops: Lioness”

Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: “The Last of Us”

Actor in a Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: Pedro Pascal – “The Last of Us”

Actress in a Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: Bella Ramsey – “The Last of Us”

Horror Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: “The Last of Us”

Actor in a Horror Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: Pedro Pascal — “The Last of Us”

Actress in a Horror Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: Bella Ramsey — “The Last of Us”

Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: “Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful”

Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: Jharrel Jerome — “I’m a Virgo” and Kurt Russell — “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”

Actress in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: Annie Murphy — “Black Mirror: Joan is Awful”

Villain in a Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie: Melanie Lynskey – “The Last of Us”

Superhero categories also include Comic Book and Video Game Inspired movies and series.

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