T h e s ea p eo p te 7---m ) - Polynesian Catamaran Association

J im 's
C olum n
W elg Ladies and Gentlem en, I have
som e bad new s. It is not that the
Classic W harram s are going to capsize
or that your new epoxy W harram
Coastal W ekkers w il disintegrate. The
new s is that the bureaucrats, the Big
Brother, is m oving into controlling
British yachting. This is not new s to
the Germ ans, French, Italians, Spanish,
for they already have the bureaucratic
control that Is approaching British
sailors.
M ost of you know the W harram
story, w hen in 1953- 55, i.e. 35 years
ago, a dream ing young m an, inspired
by Eric de Bisshop and Thor Heyerdahl,
built a 23'6/' Polynesian ship of Iegend
and set sail across the Atlantic. Out of
those beginnings cam e the acceptance
and a major strand of modern cruising
catam aran developm ent.
Within two or three years, regulations
w il be brought Into being in
Britain w hich w il effectively prevent
any future James W harram cominq
into existence (some might say, this
m ay be a good thing! ), for the new
regulations are going to affect the
paper com petence of the skipper, the
structural factors of the ship
(scantlings) and, according to the size
and equipm ent of the ship, how far it
can sail off Iand.
W hen the young Jam es W harram of
1954 began sailing, his paper
qualifications were nil. The structural
strength (scantlings) of his 23'6' (7m)
catam aran, TA NGA ROA, had no reference
to any code of practice that
qxisted at the time, because the
accepted opinion of the tim e w as that
the double canoe w as an alien
concept, and no inform ation was available.
ln 1he proposed new regulations
being introduced, the 23'6' TANGA-
ROA would have had its sailing rahge
Iimited to about 20 miles offshore.
lnterestingly, this new rule w ould
affect not only the Jam es W harram
types but also the m ore respectable
ones Iike Blondie Hasler w ith his 25'
(75m) junk rigged JESTER from going
into the first single-handed race across
the Atlantic.
W hy, why is Britain abandoning its
freedom of the sea for yachtsm en?
W hat have yachtsm en done w rong? Is
it tjat a large amount of badly built
boats are com ing onto the m arket? A re
the gntrained skippers killing not just
them selves but o'ther innocent people ,
as happens on m otorw ays or in aeroplane
crashes? Has sudden eviderlce
em erged thal boats under 33f1. are
extrem ely dangerous m ore than 2O0
m iles offshore? No, none of these
things.
It is the Com mon M arket, 1992,
European Hom ologation and alI that.
The Sea People/sailorm an No. 11 July 1989
The Germ ans have very strict paper
regulations for a Iicence costing
approxim ately f 100 to sail yachts. The
French have categories on yacht
Iength, i.e.
Category Ionger than 10m for m ono-
1 hu ls for m ultihulls now
11m no Iim itations
Category No size Iim it, depending
2 only on the equipm ent
*200 m iles
Category No size Iim it, depending
3 only on the equipm ent
*60 m iles
Category No size Iim it, depending
4 only on the equipm ent
*2O m iles
Category No size Iim it, depending
5 only on the equipm ent
* 5 m iles
Category No size Iim it, depending
6 only on the equipm ent
* 2 m iles
* From nearest 'safe' harbour.
TANGAROA M K.IV & PA H I 42 are
approved for Category 1
PAHI 31 are approved for Category 2
PAHI 26 are approved for Category 3
TIKI 21 & HINEM OA are approved for
Category 4
Scantling rules, i.e. hull thickness
etc' # 'they' tried to bring in such
Com m on M arket rules about 8 years
ago. W ho 'they' are I really don't know.
The French w ere told it w as the British
pushing for a scantlings rule. The
British w ere told it w as the French.
At the tim e, 8 years ago, m et a
French yacht designer w ho, on behalf
of the French boatbuilders, w as show -
ing the stupidity of proposed 'Britith'
scantlings. Unknow n to anyone, he
w as a W harram m an, having go1 his
interest to becom e a yacht désigner by
w orking initialy w ith us! So w e had a
A German yachting editor recently
told m e 'that the scantling rule w il
benefit a group of Naval Architect
bureaucrats in the various governm ent
departments, and, qerhaps assist Iarge
yacht com panies In preventing new
construction ideas com ing forward.
Strict regulations on sail training
and charter boat Iicences to operate
sailing boats and regulate w here to sail
could financially benefit the big sail
training schools/charter businesses
and governm ent appointed bodies to
supervise such sail training schools as
it does in Germany. (Remember, the
definition of charterlng is if you accept
money f rom your crew ! ! )
Checking Iength for how far you can
sail offshore, w il provide another
source of em ploym ent for bureaucrats.
A Frenchman recently told me how,
w hen dism asted 9 m les offshore on
hit day catam aran, he paddled 7 m iles
tow ards the Iand to be in the officia ly
a low ed 2 m ile zone before he risked
trying to get assistance.
PCA builders, Iike m any sm all boat
sailors are aw kward : stand alone types
(and why not?). Bulding and sailing a
boat was one of the Iast areas in the
m odern w orld w here you could put
tw o fingers up to any authority and risk
your ow n life by your ow n stupidity.
This is being taken aw ay from us, not
because so m any of us have died so
that w e need protection from our ow n
'idiocy' bu1 because, as individuals w e
can be exploited to provide em ploym
ent for bureaucratic officials.
British sailors objecting to this
should write to yacht magazines and
new spapers, asklng for a public discussion
on w hy Traditional British
Freedom s are being arbilrarily taken
away from them .