
John's polynesian catamaran links

Here is Sunshine, a GRP Tiki 21 with modified cabin tops, bought (not built!!!) to fill the need for a boat with some accommodation until the Tiki 30 gets built. Many thanks to Adrian for doing half the delivery; we ended up leaving a day early to complete the delivery to Edinburgh to avoid the snow (the M74 was closed for part of the following day).
![[raft-up of polycats 14kb]](raftup.jpg)
What I really like to be doing is sailing; it used to be in a tiny day-sailing catamaran called Aoraki, but now I have Sunshine, and sometime in the future I hope to build a much bigger one. I was a member of the Polynesian Catamaran Association, which was a bunch of enthusiasts for the marvellous designs of James Wharram, but which currently needs new people to get a proper association off the ground again. Sorry, I don't have the time! However Bill and Houston Barker have done a great job in putting all the old magazines online.
You'll find other Polycat information at www.themultihull.com where there is also a link to a good forum for information, and a helpful surveyor at www.multihullsurveys.com.
The building of Aoraki has been described in the PCA magazine (Sea People no. 35) and there are more pictures of this in colour here.
I have another current project which is a Wharram "Melanesia", which is a 16 foot (5m) outrigger sailing canoe. The hull and outrigger are now built, and we launched her for paddling on our Sweden 2002 holiday. There are photos of one at the PCA southwest meet in August 2000 (see below), and I've added pictures of the hull build, car-topping and launch. I still haven't made the crab claw sail, and it's now 2007!
Meanwhile I am enjoying sailing on Sunshine which is a lot of fun. On the Sunshine pages I will add tips I discover whilst learning about the boat. For example, I didn't find anywhere on the web with hints as to how to raise a Tiki 21 mast single-handed!
Sailing
In June 2006 I organised a PCA meet around Loch Melfort, Scotland. This was great fun and I managed to get Sunshine in the water for the first time. It was fantastic to sail alongside the beautiful Toroa.
There was a PCA North West meet in 2005 which I ended up organising at fairly short notice. The draft report of the meet and some photos are linked here. I have become even more enthusiastic about meets in spite of the small number there subsequently found a Tiki 21 - Sunshine - to allow me to attend meets and live on board instead of on a camp site.
I also managed to attend the PCA North West meet in 2003. There are a few photos with a brief report of the meet. A great pity that more trailerable Wharrams didn't turn up.
In an attempt to decide which "big Wharram" I should build, I managed to attend the PCA meet in Cornwall in August 2000. It was great fun, and I put a selection of photos online as a preliminary report. There are a few photos of Wharram cats under sail, as well as in harbour or rafted up for socialising.
The PCA held a summer meet in Scotland in 1998. Click here to see the draft report of the meet.