A Photo & Discussion Forum for Wharram Design Enthusiasts
Sailing with "PHA" Tiki 30 n°119
We built our Tiki 30 "PHA"n°119 in Martinique (West Indies) in 3 years and since her launch under Belgium flag the 16th December 2004 we have a lot of sailing time.
PHA is not rigged with the conventional Wharram Tiki rig. Since a lot of years I wanted a rig very easy to handle and we built PHA to test an advanced free junk rig implant in each hull without shrouds. Each sail is in fact a double sail with wishbones inside to generate an asymmetric curved shape.
Have a view on the lines to handle the rig. At first it seems complicated but in fact it's very easy to use. There are a lot of light ropes because for each wishbone there is a down haul but in fact you use only one down haul at a time when you decide to reduce the sail. The PHA's rig has 5 reef-able panels, so she has 5 down haul + the top down haul.
It's possible to reef or climb the sail at any point of sailing even on downwind as there are no shrouds.
On downwind is very efficiency as its possible to offer the maximum of sail area to the wind in opening the sails at 90°.
On beam reach I open the windward sail at the maximum to allow to the leeward sail to receive the wind. When the wind is strong haul down completely the leeward sail keeping only the windward sail well centered above the pod more or less reefed according the wind.
Our first good surprise was to see PHA don't refuse to tack. She only tacks slowly due to the shape of the hulls. The few times she refused was in light wind and short waves. In this situation PHA starts a reverse sailing, and I've only to invert the rudders until the wind changes of side allowing the boat to restart forward.
Here is the starboard control lines :
The port control lines have the same order than the starboard one, from front to back are the :
- halyard
- top down haul
- 5th reef down haul
- 4th reef down haul
- 3rd reef down haul
- 2nd reef down haul
- 1st reef down haul
- topping lift (lazy jack)
- kicking strap
The sheets are at the back of the cockpit. The sheet system keeps the control of all the wishbones so the sail keeps a good shape from bottom to top. When reefing you have only to readjust the sheet length.
Here is a view of the kitchen with an alcohol stove to don't have the problems of a gas stove.
December 2004 our first sailing, the captain seems to be happy with his new boat.
December 2004 here is a view from the port emergency hatch on the engine installation.
December 2004 Marie-Helene in the kitchen using the big sink.
January 2005 our swimming pool has a bar.
January 2005 This Pahi 26 has been built in Czechoslovakia. Her owner builder launched she in Mediterranean and after to have crossed the Atlantic alone to Martinique, he sold she a few month after. The new owner made the first pictures of Pha under sail.
January 2005 PHA is sailing around the Pahi 26 for pictures.
January 2005 Wharram meeting with Anna-Sophia of Guenter and Gundi.
They built their Tiki30 in Austria, launched she in Mediterranean and after sailed to the Portugal, Canaries, they reached the West Indies in Marie-Gallante in the south of the Guadeloupe.
They cruised a few years in the Caribbeans during each Winter before to sail back in Mediterranean in Greece. We were very happy to meet them. There boat is very well finished.
It has been a good opportunity to compare our rigs with the same boat type. PHA was faster and tacks easily facing the wind. Our cabin pod is not a handicap and provides a good shelter in bad weather when sailing or at anchor.
February 2005 Leaving Port Cohe, our marina in the mangrove near the airport for a first cruise to the north : Portsmouth in Dominica, Les Saintes and Marie-Gallante in the south of the Guadeloupe and return by the Atlantic to east Martinique coast and south coast. No problems, only to add protections along the wishbones to avoid to damage the mast paint.
February 2005 PHA at anchor in the archipelago Les Saintes.
March 2005 we had a cruise in the Grenadine directly to Bequia, Canouan, Tobago Cay, Mayero, Bequia and return directly to Martinique. During this cruise we test our second hand wind-vane Navik which worked very well at all points of sailing.
Here PHA is mooring at Tobago Cay.
PHA sailing easily under one reefed sail in the Grenadine.
Avril 2005 Mooring of PHA in the marina near the airport.
April 2005 pleasure to ride the bow when the wind-vane steers the boat.
April 2005 a weekend aboard Anna Sophia before their departure for Azores and Portugal on the windward Martinique coast near Le Robert. In fact 2 weeks later we were very surprised to see them sailing back after to have broken a front shroud at the top of the mast. Happily the mast don't fall down. They put their cat on the ground and they crossed the Atlantic the next year with no problems.
June 2005 At the end of May I heard of my request to get a new job in Brittany has been accepted and so we finished to prepare the boat in order to sail across the Atlantic to Morgat in Brittany France.
The Friday 3 June at 8PM in the night we left our mooring in the night toward the north. We crossed the Dominica channel in the dark with hard sea and I injured my right hand in reconnecting the wind vane.
During the first 3 days the sea was confused with crossed SE and NE waves. PHA progressed well against the wind at 40- 45°.
The best is to look at our route in red ( the black route is the shortest track to join the Brittany), I put a mark each 7 days :
06 June 2005
07 June 2005 To protect the map table from rain and spray I added a transparent protection on the side.
09 June 2005
13 June 2005 no wind between heavy clouds. As my holidays time is limited we motored at low speed.
13 June 2005 when the sea is flat, it's incredible how many floating objects you can sea, even a such big fuel tank which can be dangerous for a little boat.
13 June 2005
14 June 2005
14 June 2005 under heavy rain it's possible to adjust the wind-pilot from the cabin pod
15 June 2005 24 hours of good wind
19 June 2005 we have marvelous visitors.
20 June 2005 Marie-Helene like her soft nest pod.
22 June 2005
22 June 2005 Marie-Helene giving news to family and friends with our second hand MiniM sat.
22 June 2005 near Bertrand berth are the GPS, radio and foods
24 June 2005 Marie-Helene prepare the lunch.
25 June 2005 more 3 weeks after our departure we have always a lot of food on board.
26 June 2005 this tanker has been the closest boat we saw offshore. We saw a very few boats on the horizon.
24 June 2005 during all the crossing we had a few birds around our boat.
27 June 2005 operation of maintenance of our wind-vane. In fact a few days later the blade in the water broke when surfing at 17kts and I had to repair it among big waves without to loose pieces.
27 June 2005 the swimming pool is very different from the Martinique : cold water and very dark blue water (46°47'N-24°W)
28 June 2005
29 June 2005 PHA is lucky to have again a good wind after long calm days. She enjoy to surf on the waves.
29 June 2005 Reporting the position in the log book.
01 July 2005 when the over speed broke the wind wane we had only one full sail. To take care of our wind-vane I reduced more : one sail with 3 panels reefed on a total of 5, pushing PHA at 6-8kts.
01 July 2005 as the wind is decreasing I keep only 2 panels reefed.
02 July 2005 we are lucky to cross the marine railway Brittany-Spain during the day.
03 July 2005 during the night we saw the lights of the Sein island and at the dawn we are approaching the Cap de la Chèvre 4NMbefore Morgat harbour.
03 July 2005 arriving in Morgat harbour after 3600NM on the ground (average speed of 5.2kts)
03 July 2005 family and friends at our arrival.Friends of Martinique who assisted at our departure were present here.
07 July 2005 sailing with 2 of our sons the next weekend.
May 2006 as PHA was on a mooring in Morgat harbour, some time to time we had sailings aboard PHA, but it was not enough to keep a good offshore sailing level. So each year we had a cruise to the UK to join the Junk Rig Association rally. Here is a general map of our cruise.
31 May 2006 initially we wanted to sail directly to the Scilly islands, but due to NW wind we sailed until the Falmouth river and dropped our anchor near the Wharram house in the Devoran river.
James and Hanneke visited us. They were very satisfied with the quality of our building and very interested with our rig. The only trouble for them was they received a lot of requests about a such rig. In the evening we were very welcome in their house with Ruth so.
04 June 2006 we are in Plymouth during the JRA rally sailing behind Tystie a mono hull shooner rigged with 2 double sails with inside wishbones.
06 June 2006 after the rally with east winds, we sailed to the Scilly islands after a night stop in a little grove just behind Lizard point. Here PHA is anchored on Bryher, one of the Scilly islands.
July 2006 here is the map of our cruise to the Glenans archipelago in south Brittany to join a Wharram meeting.
12 July 2006 PHA is grounded on the Loch island in front of a lot of baby catamarans.
14July 2006 Wharram meeting with the Tiki28 "Leonardo" in the back ground. Unhappily one another Tiki 28 "Tigaki" damaged one rudder on a rock in north Brittany and canceled its cruise and so the Tiki38 "Kamiloa" had troubles with a mast near Belle Ile and canceled so it's coming to the meeting. We had a lot of pleasure with a warm sun.
17 July 2006 Pha sailing in the Glenans archipelago.
20 July 2006 another beautiful visitors on our return way.
We have so other visitors who likes to sleep in the nest pod.
December 2006 how PHA looks with 5 panels reefs. Since our return from UK, PHA is mooring in the river Aulne in a beautiful area on a buoy I installed 15 years ago.
May 2007 this year the JRA meeting was in the Hamble river near Southampton. We had stops near Roscoff, in the Ile Grande near Lanion, Sark near Guernesey, Dielette in Normandy, Alderney, we anchored under the cliffs near Needle point, Beaulieu river and Hamble river. At the end of the rally we had a north storm during the night and the tomorrow morning we entered the river Medina in the Wight island with the minimum of sail until Newport.
Since 2006 we have on board a magic system to visualize all the commercial traffic around us. Sometimes I think it's more relax to cross the Atlantic than to cross the Chanel.
On these screen copies you can see how crowded is the area in the railways. Each segment ahead of the position of the boats represent 30' of ground route if the heading and speed are kept.
2007-05-22-09h30
2007-05-22-09h55
2007-05-22-09h58
2007-05-22-12h53
2007-05-22-12h55
2007-05-22-13h00
2007-05-22-13h05
2007-05-22-13h30
2007-05-22-13h45
2007-05-22-13h52
2007-05-22-13h55
26 May 2007 sailing near Hamble
29 May 2007 on our return we had difficulties to cross the railways especially during the night.
2007-05-29-18h25
2007-05-29-22h55
2007-05-30-03h22
July 2007 we had a Wharram meeting in the Rade de Brest with the Tiki 28 "Tigaki".
and with the Tangaroa "Gomango". Their owners, after to have refit she, want to join the Australia.
During the winter 2007-2008 with the help of other members of the JRA I searched how to improve the profile of our Swing wing rig. During 2 months I rebuilt new wishbones according an airfoil type. At the last time I changed a little the design to get a stronger wishbone.
Next March we sailed to Morgat where we stay at anchor during 2 weeks to get the 2 first level of diving school (it was a present from my family and friends for my retirement and birthday).
The first sailing tests confirm the boat was more powerful and at the end of May we had a good average speed of more 6 kts from the Rade de Brest to the Scilly with a part of opposite current in the Chenal du four.
Here is the map of our cruise :
A view of my 2008 prototype wishbone. The wishbone by itself is more rounded and shorter and so prolongated by a longer swing straight batten. More the sail deviates the wind, bigger is the propulsive force.
View inside the sail. Their was only a little problem due to more friction with the back yellow beams with the mast and so with the halyard.
31 May 2008 JRA meeting in Plymouth.
This day, the Saturday 31 May, was so the departure of the single handle race Jester Trophey Plymouth - Azores.
A few months ago, after to have got this information from Ken Hook, I wished to participate but as I was very busy, the boat was not ready and I had to remember I have so a Tiki46 to finish to build, I canceled this project.
Ken said me he will participate with his Tiki26 and he will have a stop in Brittany during his return. The day before I searched him among the Jester flotilla but he was not here.
On the way to join the departure area, I was very happy to see him aboard his boat "Skinny Dipper". He was not completely ready and was finishing to adjust different things in joining the departure line.
At this time I didn't know he was ill. We had a short talk, he took some pictures of PHA and he joined the departure line.
In fact he didn't reached the Azores. Due to problems with its autopilot he had to sail back in UK and he died a few month later.
Ken with his wife Anita offered a lot of their time and energy for the Polynesian Catamaran Association and with these pictures I want to thank them and to offer a homage to the the memory of Ken :
2008 has been a very active sailing year. I have invited via the PCA to join a Wharram meeting in Brest festival of the sea. Unhappily PHA has been the alone Wharram cat present among the festival flotilla. In fact we were in the junk rig flotilla and we had a lot of good exchanges with the other boats.
Marie-Helene made a big work to present an exhibition about the Eric de Bisschop's life who inspired James Wharram with his catamaran Kamiloa (built in Honolulu in 1935 and sailed until France via the Indonesia and South Africa). I hope she'll take the time to present a digest of her work.
July 2008 Brest festival of the sea.
September 2008 we had one another cruise in South Brittany :
15 September 2008 grounded in the beautiful little harbour of Sauzon in Belle-Ile
During the winter 2008-2009 I study again how to continue to improve my sails. The advantage with such double sails is you can change the sail profile only in modifying the wishbones without to have to re-cut the sails.
I remembered I had a lot of letters from Marc Philippe, an old boat designer and sail maker who designed and made the sails for my old gaffer "La Teignouse) in the nineties. He said : to copy the wing aviation profiles for the sails is a wrong way, the best way to get the maximum of energy from the wind is to use deep curved sails in order to get a good power with no angle of attack.
To get a such profile without too much work, I re-use the first wishbones I made in Martinique and I replaced the straight battens by light wishbones. So as you can see I get a good curve. After tries this system is lighter than the 2008 one and although I have not the time and the instruments to make rigorous tests, it gave me satisfaction during our last UK cruise.
I plan to built the same for our Tiki46 with a deeper curve.
Here is my new wishbone design :
New light wishbones-battens done.
How the wishbones look before to fit them on the boat
Now the sail is more free around the mast with no friction with the halyard.
The windward side has a better smooth curved.
Downwind.
June 2009 Map of our cruise to Southampton to join the JRA rally (the line route is not very good because I've lost the track datas and I redraw approximately the route with the mouse).
We joined directly the UK coast at Portland point and sailed along the coast until Studland bay for the night.
22 June 2009 we had a very good rest of 2 days in Poole near Green Island where I test an experimental curved sail on our tender. In light wind the sail work well, but in strong wind it's impossible to have a good control of the sail.
24 June 2009 we had so a good rest on the Newton river (except when the soldiers use their guns).
26 June we had one night in Ashlett.
27June 2009 JRA rally
After the rally we sailed until Alderney we reached the 29 June in the evening. Next morning we were very surprised to see arriving a Tangaroa with a junk rig on each hull.
It was "AORAI" with their owner Susi and Tom, 2 German young guys sailing from Berlin to Quebec.
We had only contacts by email and we were very happy to meet us here without rendezvous.
The 01 July we sailed together toward Brest with a very weak east wind. All the day we keep us in visual contact. AORAI increased slightly her advance hour after hour.
One week later they visited us at our mooring on the river Aulne and after in our house. They are now in Morocco (in September 2009) and you can follow their cruise on their website : http://www.aorai.eu
It was our last cruise aboard PHA because with regret, we have now to sold she to continue our sailing experiences on board her big sister "PHA#" (Tiki46 n°2) we plan to launch next Summer.
We wish PHA will have a long sailing life in the hands of her new owners.
For more details to buy PHA, you can leave a message on "my page".
Bertrand
PHA is not rigged with the conventional Wharram Tiki rig. Since a lot of years I wanted a rig very easy to handle and we built PHA to test an advanced free junk rig implant in each hull without shrouds. Each sail is in fact a double sail with wishbones inside to generate an asymmetric curved shape.
Have a view on the lines to handle the rig. At first it seems complicated but in fact it's very easy to use. There are a lot of light ropes because for each wishbone there is a down haul but in fact you use only one down haul at a time when you decide to reduce the sail. The PHA's rig has 5 reef-able panels, so she has 5 down haul + the top down haul.
It's possible to reef or climb the sail at any point of sailing even on downwind as there are no shrouds.
On downwind is very efficiency as its possible to offer the maximum of sail area to the wind in opening the sails at 90°.
On beam reach I open the windward sail at the maximum to allow to the leeward sail to receive the wind. When the wind is strong haul down completely the leeward sail keeping only the windward sail well centered above the pod more or less reefed according the wind.
Our first good surprise was to see PHA don't refuse to tack. She only tacks slowly due to the shape of the hulls. The few times she refused was in light wind and short waves. In this situation PHA starts a reverse sailing, and I've only to invert the rudders until the wind changes of side allowing the boat to restart forward.
Here is the starboard control lines :
The port control lines have the same order than the starboard one, from front to back are the :
- halyard
- top down haul
- 5th reef down haul
- 4th reef down haul
- 3rd reef down haul
- 2nd reef down haul
- 1st reef down haul
- topping lift (lazy jack)
- kicking strap
The sheets are at the back of the cockpit. The sheet system keeps the control of all the wishbones so the sail keeps a good shape from bottom to top. When reefing you have only to readjust the sheet length.
Here is a view of the kitchen with an alcohol stove to don't have the problems of a gas stove.
December 2004 our first sailing, the captain seems to be happy with his new boat.
December 2004 here is a view from the port emergency hatch on the engine installation.
December 2004 Marie-Helene in the kitchen using the big sink.
January 2005 our swimming pool has a bar.
January 2005 This Pahi 26 has been built in Czechoslovakia. Her owner builder launched she in Mediterranean and after to have crossed the Atlantic alone to Martinique, he sold she a few month after. The new owner made the first pictures of Pha under sail.
January 2005 PHA is sailing around the Pahi 26 for pictures.
January 2005 Wharram meeting with Anna-Sophia of Guenter and Gundi.
They built their Tiki30 in Austria, launched she in Mediterranean and after sailed to the Portugal, Canaries, they reached the West Indies in Marie-Gallante in the south of the Guadeloupe.
They cruised a few years in the Caribbeans during each Winter before to sail back in Mediterranean in Greece. We were very happy to meet them. There boat is very well finished.
It has been a good opportunity to compare our rigs with the same boat type. PHA was faster and tacks easily facing the wind. Our cabin pod is not a handicap and provides a good shelter in bad weather when sailing or at anchor.
February 2005 Leaving Port Cohe, our marina in the mangrove near the airport for a first cruise to the north : Portsmouth in Dominica, Les Saintes and Marie-Gallante in the south of the Guadeloupe and return by the Atlantic to east Martinique coast and south coast. No problems, only to add protections along the wishbones to avoid to damage the mast paint.
February 2005 PHA at anchor in the archipelago Les Saintes.
March 2005 we had a cruise in the Grenadine directly to Bequia, Canouan, Tobago Cay, Mayero, Bequia and return directly to Martinique. During this cruise we test our second hand wind-vane Navik which worked very well at all points of sailing.
Here PHA is mooring at Tobago Cay.
PHA sailing easily under one reefed sail in the Grenadine.
Avril 2005 Mooring of PHA in the marina near the airport.
April 2005 pleasure to ride the bow when the wind-vane steers the boat.
April 2005 a weekend aboard Anna Sophia before their departure for Azores and Portugal on the windward Martinique coast near Le Robert. In fact 2 weeks later we were very surprised to see them sailing back after to have broken a front shroud at the top of the mast. Happily the mast don't fall down. They put their cat on the ground and they crossed the Atlantic the next year with no problems.
June 2005 At the end of May I heard of my request to get a new job in Brittany has been accepted and so we finished to prepare the boat in order to sail across the Atlantic to Morgat in Brittany France.
The Friday 3 June at 8PM in the night we left our mooring in the night toward the north. We crossed the Dominica channel in the dark with hard sea and I injured my right hand in reconnecting the wind vane.
During the first 3 days the sea was confused with crossed SE and NE waves. PHA progressed well against the wind at 40- 45°.
The best is to look at our route in red ( the black route is the shortest track to join the Brittany), I put a mark each 7 days :
06 June 2005
07 June 2005 To protect the map table from rain and spray I added a transparent protection on the side.
09 June 2005
13 June 2005 no wind between heavy clouds. As my holidays time is limited we motored at low speed.
13 June 2005 when the sea is flat, it's incredible how many floating objects you can sea, even a such big fuel tank which can be dangerous for a little boat.
13 June 2005
14 June 2005
14 June 2005 under heavy rain it's possible to adjust the wind-pilot from the cabin pod
15 June 2005 24 hours of good wind
19 June 2005 we have marvelous visitors.
20 June 2005 Marie-Helene like her soft nest pod.
22 June 2005
22 June 2005 Marie-Helene giving news to family and friends with our second hand MiniM sat.
22 June 2005 near Bertrand berth are the GPS, radio and foods
24 June 2005 Marie-Helene prepare the lunch.
25 June 2005 more 3 weeks after our departure we have always a lot of food on board.
26 June 2005 this tanker has been the closest boat we saw offshore. We saw a very few boats on the horizon.
24 June 2005 during all the crossing we had a few birds around our boat.
27 June 2005 operation of maintenance of our wind-vane. In fact a few days later the blade in the water broke when surfing at 17kts and I had to repair it among big waves without to loose pieces.
27 June 2005 the swimming pool is very different from the Martinique : cold water and very dark blue water (46°47'N-24°W)
28 June 2005
29 June 2005 PHA is lucky to have again a good wind after long calm days. She enjoy to surf on the waves.
29 June 2005 Reporting the position in the log book.
01 July 2005 when the over speed broke the wind wane we had only one full sail. To take care of our wind-vane I reduced more : one sail with 3 panels reefed on a total of 5, pushing PHA at 6-8kts.
01 July 2005 as the wind is decreasing I keep only 2 panels reefed.
02 July 2005 we are lucky to cross the marine railway Brittany-Spain during the day.
03 July 2005 during the night we saw the lights of the Sein island and at the dawn we are approaching the Cap de la Chèvre 4NMbefore Morgat harbour.
03 July 2005 arriving in Morgat harbour after 3600NM on the ground (average speed of 5.2kts)
03 July 2005 family and friends at our arrival.Friends of Martinique who assisted at our departure were present here.
07 July 2005 sailing with 2 of our sons the next weekend.
May 2006 as PHA was on a mooring in Morgat harbour, some time to time we had sailings aboard PHA, but it was not enough to keep a good offshore sailing level. So each year we had a cruise to the UK to join the Junk Rig Association rally. Here is a general map of our cruise.
31 May 2006 initially we wanted to sail directly to the Scilly islands, but due to NW wind we sailed until the Falmouth river and dropped our anchor near the Wharram house in the Devoran river.
James and Hanneke visited us. They were very satisfied with the quality of our building and very interested with our rig. The only trouble for them was they received a lot of requests about a such rig. In the evening we were very welcome in their house with Ruth so.
04 June 2006 we are in Plymouth during the JRA rally sailing behind Tystie a mono hull shooner rigged with 2 double sails with inside wishbones.
06 June 2006 after the rally with east winds, we sailed to the Scilly islands after a night stop in a little grove just behind Lizard point. Here PHA is anchored on Bryher, one of the Scilly islands.
July 2006 here is the map of our cruise to the Glenans archipelago in south Brittany to join a Wharram meeting.
12 July 2006 PHA is grounded on the Loch island in front of a lot of baby catamarans.
14July 2006 Wharram meeting with the Tiki28 "Leonardo" in the back ground. Unhappily one another Tiki 28 "Tigaki" damaged one rudder on a rock in north Brittany and canceled its cruise and so the Tiki38 "Kamiloa" had troubles with a mast near Belle Ile and canceled so it's coming to the meeting. We had a lot of pleasure with a warm sun.
17 July 2006 Pha sailing in the Glenans archipelago.
20 July 2006 another beautiful visitors on our return way.
We have so other visitors who likes to sleep in the nest pod.
December 2006 how PHA looks with 5 panels reefs. Since our return from UK, PHA is mooring in the river Aulne in a beautiful area on a buoy I installed 15 years ago.
May 2007 this year the JRA meeting was in the Hamble river near Southampton. We had stops near Roscoff, in the Ile Grande near Lanion, Sark near Guernesey, Dielette in Normandy, Alderney, we anchored under the cliffs near Needle point, Beaulieu river and Hamble river. At the end of the rally we had a north storm during the night and the tomorrow morning we entered the river Medina in the Wight island with the minimum of sail until Newport.
Since 2006 we have on board a magic system to visualize all the commercial traffic around us. Sometimes I think it's more relax to cross the Atlantic than to cross the Chanel.
On these screen copies you can see how crowded is the area in the railways. Each segment ahead of the position of the boats represent 30' of ground route if the heading and speed are kept.
2007-05-22-09h30
2007-05-22-09h55
2007-05-22-09h58
2007-05-22-12h53
2007-05-22-12h55
2007-05-22-13h00
2007-05-22-13h05
2007-05-22-13h30
2007-05-22-13h45
2007-05-22-13h52
2007-05-22-13h55
26 May 2007 sailing near Hamble
29 May 2007 on our return we had difficulties to cross the railways especially during the night.
2007-05-29-18h25
2007-05-29-22h55
2007-05-30-03h22
July 2007 we had a Wharram meeting in the Rade de Brest with the Tiki 28 "Tigaki".
and with the Tangaroa "Gomango". Their owners, after to have refit she, want to join the Australia.
During the winter 2007-2008 with the help of other members of the JRA I searched how to improve the profile of our Swing wing rig. During 2 months I rebuilt new wishbones according an airfoil type. At the last time I changed a little the design to get a stronger wishbone.
Next March we sailed to Morgat where we stay at anchor during 2 weeks to get the 2 first level of diving school (it was a present from my family and friends for my retirement and birthday).
The first sailing tests confirm the boat was more powerful and at the end of May we had a good average speed of more 6 kts from the Rade de Brest to the Scilly with a part of opposite current in the Chenal du four.
Here is the map of our cruise :
A view of my 2008 prototype wishbone. The wishbone by itself is more rounded and shorter and so prolongated by a longer swing straight batten. More the sail deviates the wind, bigger is the propulsive force.
View inside the sail. Their was only a little problem due to more friction with the back yellow beams with the mast and so with the halyard.
31 May 2008 JRA meeting in Plymouth.
This day, the Saturday 31 May, was so the departure of the single handle race Jester Trophey Plymouth - Azores.
A few months ago, after to have got this information from Ken Hook, I wished to participate but as I was very busy, the boat was not ready and I had to remember I have so a Tiki46 to finish to build, I canceled this project.
Ken said me he will participate with his Tiki26 and he will have a stop in Brittany during his return. The day before I searched him among the Jester flotilla but he was not here.
On the way to join the departure area, I was very happy to see him aboard his boat "Skinny Dipper". He was not completely ready and was finishing to adjust different things in joining the departure line.
At this time I didn't know he was ill. We had a short talk, he took some pictures of PHA and he joined the departure line.
In fact he didn't reached the Azores. Due to problems with its autopilot he had to sail back in UK and he died a few month later.
Ken with his wife Anita offered a lot of their time and energy for the Polynesian Catamaran Association and with these pictures I want to thank them and to offer a homage to the the memory of Ken :
2008 has been a very active sailing year. I have invited via the PCA to join a Wharram meeting in Brest festival of the sea. Unhappily PHA has been the alone Wharram cat present among the festival flotilla. In fact we were in the junk rig flotilla and we had a lot of good exchanges with the other boats.
Marie-Helene made a big work to present an exhibition about the Eric de Bisschop's life who inspired James Wharram with his catamaran Kamiloa (built in Honolulu in 1935 and sailed until France via the Indonesia and South Africa). I hope she'll take the time to present a digest of her work.
July 2008 Brest festival of the sea.
September 2008 we had one another cruise in South Brittany :
15 September 2008 grounded in the beautiful little harbour of Sauzon in Belle-Ile
During the winter 2008-2009 I study again how to continue to improve my sails. The advantage with such double sails is you can change the sail profile only in modifying the wishbones without to have to re-cut the sails.
I remembered I had a lot of letters from Marc Philippe, an old boat designer and sail maker who designed and made the sails for my old gaffer "La Teignouse) in the nineties. He said : to copy the wing aviation profiles for the sails is a wrong way, the best way to get the maximum of energy from the wind is to use deep curved sails in order to get a good power with no angle of attack.
To get a such profile without too much work, I re-use the first wishbones I made in Martinique and I replaced the straight battens by light wishbones. So as you can see I get a good curve. After tries this system is lighter than the 2008 one and although I have not the time and the instruments to make rigorous tests, it gave me satisfaction during our last UK cruise.
I plan to built the same for our Tiki46 with a deeper curve.
Here is my new wishbone design :
New light wishbones-battens done.
How the wishbones look before to fit them on the boat
Now the sail is more free around the mast with no friction with the halyard.
The windward side has a better smooth curved.
Downwind.
June 2009 Map of our cruise to Southampton to join the JRA rally (the line route is not very good because I've lost the track datas and I redraw approximately the route with the mouse).
We joined directly the UK coast at Portland point and sailed along the coast until Studland bay for the night.
22 June 2009 we had a very good rest of 2 days in Poole near Green Island where I test an experimental curved sail on our tender. In light wind the sail work well, but in strong wind it's impossible to have a good control of the sail.
24 June 2009 we had so a good rest on the Newton river (except when the soldiers use their guns).
26 June we had one night in Ashlett.
27June 2009 JRA rally
After the rally we sailed until Alderney we reached the 29 June in the evening. Next morning we were very surprised to see arriving a Tangaroa with a junk rig on each hull.
It was "AORAI" with their owner Susi and Tom, 2 German young guys sailing from Berlin to Quebec.
We had only contacts by email and we were very happy to meet us here without rendezvous.
The 01 July we sailed together toward Brest with a very weak east wind. All the day we keep us in visual contact. AORAI increased slightly her advance hour after hour.
One week later they visited us at our mooring on the river Aulne and after in our house. They are now in Morocco (in September 2009) and you can follow their cruise on their website : http://www.aorai.eu
It was our last cruise aboard PHA because with regret, we have now to sold she to continue our sailing experiences on board her big sister "PHA#" (Tiki46 n°2) we plan to launch next Summer.
We wish PHA will have a long sailing life in the hands of her new owners.
For more details to buy PHA, you can leave a message on "my page".
Bertrand
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Comment by Hector de Ezcurra on February 20, 2010 at 6:37pm
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Bertrand:
Great album and great pictures!
I found very interesting those hatches you have in the hullside, under the cockpit ("Our pool has a bar" and "Marie-Hélene using the big sink").
Did you have any problems with them? (leaks) Did you make them just because you wanted, or is there a regulation that makes them compulsory in case of capsizing?
In case they are leak-proof: how did you build them?
Thank you.
Héctor
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Comment by Bertrand FERCOT on February 22, 2010 at 4:04pm
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Héctor
The first reason was to be OK with the French rules in case of capsizing. They are well leak-proof, but before to cross the Atlantic as the water line was very near of the bottom hatches (due to over loading) I put a thin string of silicone inside the hulls around the hatches.
To keep the exact hull curve, before to cut the hull, I doubled by the inside the hull as a sandwich in keeping 20mm free all around for the rubber joint.
After to have cut panels in the hull which became the hatches, I glued all around the hole inside the hulls a 6mm layer of plywood to give a space for the rubber joint.
After I glued over the first layer 2 other layers of 6mm of plywood with larger size in order they generate a slightly narrower hole to get a surface of 20mm wide for the rubber joint around the hole.
For my Tiki46 I'll made them soon with almost the same manner. On a big cat it's very useful for ventilation when at anchor even under heavy rain and to put directly things in the hulls from the tender.....
Bertrand
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Comment by Andrew Harris on October 8, 2012 at 8:30am
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Bertrand:
First, I'm sorry that this comment is late to your blog. Second, I'm a newby to this site and have read (and re-read) your comments and images for your Tiki 30 build and find it brilliant. I too am looking to build a Tiki 30, but I have some questions. The adjustments you made to the height and shape of the cabins on each hull and the pod - were they to your design? I think they make an improvement to the access and space and I would like to do a similar alteration to mine when I begin.
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Andrew It's not easy to reply on this blog with a low speed web connection.
To raise the central hull side it is very simple : without to ad extra plywood, when I presented the part of the plywood sheet at the good place (without to have cut diagonally as on the plan), I draw a horizontal line at the top to cut it at the good angle.
The pod is my own design. It is put on the beams with a little cockpit integrated behind. It will be better to make the lockers narrower to get more space for the legs.
Sorry, but I have not too much time to give you more details and I don't keep my own plans.
Bertrand
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