Seadwarf's Page

Hello Seadwarf, welcome on this Wharram website. I'm very happy you have an interest for the cats with junk rig.
Bertrand

Dear Tom

Concerning my own experience with our previous Tiki30 PHA  I was satisfied with her ability to close the wind as a cruising monohull with an angle of 90° on the ground between two tacks.

I can't tell you what is the difference between my wishbone wing sail  and a camber wing sail, because during the rallies  of the Junk Rig Association I was the only catamaran. When, aboard my Tiki46 Grand PHA, I'll have the opportunity to sail with the Tiki46 APATIKI ( Building and Sailing APATIKI ) it will possible to compare these sails on the same type of catamaran.

I think it will be too much to double the sail area. The standard sail area of the Tiki46 is 91m². The first version of my Swing Wing sail was 2 x 46m² and after my ocean crossing with PHA I request to add one panel more, increasing the sail area at 2x55m² (about 20% more). So the masts are 1.6m higher and I can't imagine the supplement of length and weight if I double the sail area!  When you need more sail area, it is at downwind points of sail and happily at these points of sail the biplane is very efficient, so I think 20% more is reasonable.

My biplane Tiki30 PHA was well balanced and her wind-vane Navik worked perfectly even at down wind. I broke its blade when crossing the Atlantic, not due to bad balance of the rig but due to too high speed for this old wind-vane designed initially for mono-hulls with a too much sensible trimmer.

Despite during the winter its more difficult to work easily on my building, I estimate reasonable to plan her launch at the beginning of next spring in April.

After a first sailing test to the Isle of Wight to finalise the electric engine system we'll improvise to join the North America according the weather forecast and after we'll begin a long sailing around  the Earth.

Be careful, a such boat requests a lot of time. In my case, I work mainly alone with occasionally the help of my wife and children or friends when necessary for big operations.

So don't dream too long if you want to sail with your children before they become adults. Pass to the action in building a big cat as ours with a lot of efficient helpers or build a more little one or buy a good second hand you'll customize according your own needs.

Amitiés

Bertrand