The News, Culture and Practice of Sailing woodenboats
in Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific.

FILM Mark Chew FILM Mark Chew

SAVAGE WATERS

Regular readers may have noticed that here at SWS our interest in Wharram Catamarans has morphed into a minor obsession over the last year or so. Well how could we not sit up and notice this surfing adventure film released today in the UK.

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ADVENTURE Mark Chew ADVENTURE Mark Chew

The Lapita Voyage

When I first became interested, I thought that this taciturn Englishman was working in a space where eccentricity meets the counterculture…. Well-meaning hippies, who were fun to follow, but not to be taken too seriously. But the more I learned the more appreciative I became.

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FILM Mark Chew FILM Mark Chew

Wharram Women - then and Now

Sure, the videos still have a slightly annoying millennial sensibility, but by combining some authentic James Wharram footage she makes me think that she would have fitted in well aboard TANGAROA in 1955.

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FLOTSAM Mark Chew FLOTSAM Mark Chew

Eight Bells: James Wharram

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.

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BOOK REVIEWS, ADVENTURE, DESIGNERS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS, ADVENTURE, DESIGNERS Mark Chew

“People of The Sea” James Wharram’s Autobiography

The Wharram Catamaran has always held a fascination not because its a thing of beauty but because they reek of the promise of adventure. And not a modern day adventure clutching a GPS and Sat Phone, but a 1960’s hippy adventure with free love, tropical islands bare tanned skin, and the rejection of boundaries imposed by a disapproving society.

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