60th Anniversary of Wharram Tangaroa

60 years ago, on the 27th September 1955, James Wharram set sail from Falmouth aboard a self-built 23’ 6” flat-bottomed double canoe (now called catamaran) called TANGAROA with two German girls as crew. His quest was to sail the Atlantic to prove the double canoe was a seaworthy vessel.

As a ‘Marine Archaeologist’ and disciple of the Frenchman Eric de Bisschop, who had sailed a 38ft double canoe from Hawaii across 3 oceans to France in 1939, he wanted to prove the theory that the Polynesians could have sailed from South East Asia in canoe craft and thereby show that Thor Heyerdahl was wrong in his theory that they had sailed from South America in sailing rafts.

This video shows the celebration in Devoran of this event. Guest of honour was Rory McDougall who sailed a Tiki 21 round the world in the 1990s, the smallest catamaran to do so. Centre stage is the Mana 24, the latest Wharram catamaran design to be built from a CNC cut plywood kit. The same length as TANGAROA, she has made James Wharram's career as a designer of self-build catamarans come full circle.

See Tangaroa in Falmouth in 1955 by Pathé news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t72lK...
Further info on Wharram catamarans: http://wharram.com/site/