The Viking Tiki 30′

14 June 2008 No Comment

Imagine getting to meet a boat designer of international repute in person! It’s like sugar to a bee…

James Wharram – one of the most famous catamaran designers known in sailing circles, was recently in India, and we were lucky to get an exclusive tete-a-tete with the man himself.

He was in India to showcase one of his internationally-acclaimed catamaran designs that is built in India by Viking Boats.

Known as the Tiki 30′, and based on the Tiki 21′ that has been circumnavigated single-handedly around the world – we were honored to get to know about it from the man behind it himself.

JAMES WHARRAM

James Wharram designed his first offshore cruising 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 a two girl crew.

Since then, James Wharram, together with his designer- partner Hanneke Boon, has been designing, building and sailing offshore catamarans longer than any other multihull designer. In 1987 the “Multihulls Buyers Guide” showed that James Wharram had sold approximately three times more plans than any other multihull designer in the world.

One reason for this success is that James Wharram is a “hands-on” designer having, over a period of 38 years, built personally many of the prototype designs. These prototypes were built in the open, in barns, garages and all the range of building sites available to self-builders in a variety of climate types from northern European winters to tropical islands.

Because Wharram prefers sailing to building, over the years, his design for construction (which is separate from design for sailing) has – particularly with the use of epoxy – become even more simple.

TIKI 30 – OUR 30′ POLYNESIAN CATAMARAN

James Wharram has been designing polynesian catamarans for the last 55years. His designs have been evolving through the years and the Tiki 30 is one of his most popular designs. Its shallow draft makes beaching convenient. It is designed to make ocean crossings or just coastal trekking. A Tiki 21 (21 ft. Tiki) has circumnavigated single handled, proving the sea worthiness of this design. Its shallow draft makes it convenient for beaching and no permanent deck cabins allows the hulls to be transported separately, large open deck area makes it a fun boat for cruising with family or friends.

The Boat can :-

1) Can sleep eight people
2) It has a small galley and a toilet
3) Its a sail boat with a 10-hp engine and made of wood, epoxy(water-resistant plastic) and glass
4) Eveything is Indian except for the sail fittings and the sails from Jeckells of Wroxham

GO GET YOUR OWN TIKI…