A (stuck ) Tiki in Thailand

All photos RB Boatworks

Creed O'hanlon recently emerged from his self imposed silence. Very unlike him, silence. I hadn't heard from him for some time, and his blog, 'A Tiki in Thailand' had shut down. I was concerned. Indeed as it turns out, Mr. O'Hanlon had some medical issues but report's he's on the mend. In the meantime I saw other sources on the web saying Creed was dismayed with the final issue of his Tiki and had refused delivery of the boat. Creed confirmed this, said he'd lawyered up, and that's about all. Except that he would like to issue a cautionary note to anyone contemplating a build in Southeast Asia, unless you can be onsite to watch the progress and quality of work. He is remaining mum due to pending litigation. The builder, Raoul Bianchetti of RB Boatworks, has recently published a suite of photos (see above) of the Tiki in question. She looks great, but apparently what cannot be seen are flaws deep enough to dissuade Creed from accepting the build.

You can read more about this 'situation' here. And take a look at Creed's new weblog "A Sea in Solitude". Creed, I wish you a speedy recovery and a happy outcome.

postscript: anyone who's had or is having a similiar experience with long distance builds, please let us know about it.

A Tiki in Thailand

The Ethnic Catamaran Company based in Pattaya, Thailand produces a nice site called a tiki in thailand. Mostly concerned with the building of a James Wharram cruising design, the blog also includes the occasional musings of the author. Creed O'Hanlon's company's mission statement includes not only building traditionally inspired pacific craft but also exploring the brave new world of seasteading and waterborne community. Ideas which I also find fascinating, but there really seems to be a dearth of information on the subject beyond what one can find about the Seasteading Institute, which seems a bit corporate. I suppose my vision, not refined or worked out at all, would be a bit more hippie, something like a floating New Alchemy Institute ala John Todd , et. al. Anyone out there who's interested in this, please post a comment! ps. the wonderful photo of a sqaull moving in off the North West coast of Borneo, above, I found at a Tiki., its origin is unknown. The dhow photo is also from the Tiki in Thailand site.

More on Ahmad Bin Majid, Creed O'Hanlon's Tiki 38

This from Warren Matthews, a New Zealander building a sister ship to Creed's Tiki, also with the same builder. Warren withdrew his boat in January, 09. Link to his website for more and context.

Tuesday
18Aug2009

Would my boat have met the same fate as Creed O'Hanlon's??

It would seem so. Whether it would be for the same reasons I can not be certain as I did not have an opportunity to examine where the failure occurred on Creed's boat and the builder did not send me the photos that he promised in a separate email to the one I published.
Let me explain why I think that my boat would have met a similar fate.
In an earlier posting entitled 'The bad' I explained how some of the beam troughs were out of square. Well things have got even worse...much worse.
I now find that the beam troughs are lacking totally in any of the supporting structure and apart from one piece of wood on the aft most beam trough which sits on top of the Nida core deck there is NO reinforcing timber at all...period. So there is nothing to tie the beams into the hulls to ensure structural integrity.
To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement. I wouldn't had thought that such an important thing would have been ignored but a little voice inside of me said 'check it out'.
I wrote to the builder yesterday expecting a reply today but none came so I thought that I may as well publish the email to him which explains my concerns. This is copied below.
I will now engage a marine surveyor to check out the rest of the hulls and take core samples to ensure that it is seaworthy.
Although this puts back my program by a couple of weeks it was better to find out now because if we had not picked it up I doubt that it would even have survived the sea trials. Also, there is no way I would have got a Cat 1 certificate which is required by all New Zealand boats leaving the country under their own propulsion. This survey is very tough because the NZ government got tired of foreign yachts visiting NZ after having sailed around the world in the tropics and then having to be rescued in NZ offshore waters because the vessels were not properly equipped for the rough conditions that are common around here.


Tuesday
18Aug2009

The builder responds to my letter...but I still have TOTAL faith in the Wharram designs!

As expected, by publishing the letter on the blog it solicited an immediate response from Raoul. Whether he would have responded eventually to my email I don’t know but that is irrelevant now.
The outcome was as expected...no cooperation but a threat. Nonetheless I thought that it was fair to ask him the relevant questions particularly about the modification of the beams. As he is not prepared to cooperate on helping with this but instead chooses to threaten me I guess that we will just have to assess the beams ourselves and decide whether to build new ones.
As I said in the heading, I have total confidence in the Wharram designs and I would rather go to sea in a well built Wharram than a modern cat of the same size PROVIDED the key structural areas are built as per the spec’s.
I have posted Raouls replies, unedited, and my response which will be the end of this matter as I am obviously wasting my time seeking any support from the builder. I will now just get on and fix it and post the progress on this blog.

First response from Raoul received at 10.31pm Tuesday Aug 19th New Zealand time.

Dear Warren ,
As I said once , Wharram cats are not designed and don’t comply to any international recognized standard , such as ISO or similar .
It is then impossible to properly perform a Survey of these vessels , as there are no reference points .
As I said once , the construction with beams , ropes and locating pins , is not foreseen by any internationally recognized Notified Body or standard .
No Class is applicable either .
These boats are floating and sailing around the world , based on empirical experience .
We tried to build as good as we could , without data , and based on experience .
A normal RB boat can be surveyed and surely will pass , as the structure is built accordingly to the ISO 12215 for small boats or other rules .
You decided to remove the Tiki 38 before the completion and to make void the boatbuilding agreement . Your choice , and about the losses that you had to suffer , unfortunately are a consequence of that choice .
I don’t believe the Tiki 38 is a right choice for you ; I don’t think can carry the weight you are planning to load aboard ; I don’t trust hinges in rope as they are absurd in the modern world where the bronze and stainless are commonly available , I don’t think a sailing plan without booms will be efficient on a cat , I don’t think the Tiki 38 rig made in aluminium pipes makes any sense in the modern world where aluminium masts are commonly available .
My suggestion is to complete the boat ( if your new Builder can hold the pressure ) and perform some tests , then modify , adding reinforces here and there , in order to have a working boat ; time will say if your boat is reliable ;
Step to step , sail around the gulf and don’t expect to cross an ocean on that boat the first day . Slowly slowly build up some experience and listen to somebody ( this is the hardest part ) more experienced and as I said , after few attempts eventually will work .
If you don’t like , find a more reliable design and build another vessel .

Regards

Raoul


Second response received at 10.38pm Tuesday Aug 19th New Zealand time.

Dear Warren

I think mr Allan answered to you already .
Your boat and the first Tiki 38 are built , in my opinion , properly , considering that these boats cannot be certified , as the design is not following any recognized rule , as far as I know .
You picked up the boat from RB yard , in condition of " where is as it is "
And you agreed and requested the delivery . You signed an agreement indicating that you would not have done any bad promotion , and you are doing or trying to do this right now , trying to black mail me in change of money .
If I read one more word in your blog containing defamations and an attempt of extortion , I will report to the Police and your next trip to Thailand will be an unforgettable one .

Regards,

Raoul


My emailed response to Raoul.

Raoul,
I have not heard from Allan
The reason I contacted you was to bring to your attention serious deficiencies due to not building critical components of my boat as per spec. These deficiencies would have made it unseaworthy. I asked you two very simple questions.
One was for the details of the changes you made to the beams from the specifications and two if you are prepared to meet the cost of rectifying the deficiencies.
Instead of providing the information which I requested and answering if you are prepared to meet the cost of bringing that part of the boat back to spec you respond with a serious threat. A request like this is hardly extortion. I did not make any threat to you or attempt to extort you. All I wanted was a yes or no. If you had answered yes, then well and good. If your answer was no, then it would be up to me if I wanted to consider legal action.
That is the way normal business people go about their business.
Never mind, you have said no, so that’s fine.
I do not appreciate your threat. You are welcome to do what you want to do. I feel quite comfortable as I have some significant influence in Bangkok at the highest levels.
I have done nothing but publish truthful things. I am well aware of Thai law and I have not breached it.
Just for the record Raoul, in New Zealand we don’t have a nice little calm gulf like you do. And, when it comes to open ocean time I have more than my share of experience having been a commercial fishing boat operator off the coast of New Zealand for many years. Also in other parts of the world.
Anyway, you have made it clear that you are not prepared to cooperate in this matter so I do not intend wasting my time communicating with you any further. I will get on with the completion of ‘Natural High’, I will sail it to Tahiti and enjoy many days exploring the islands.
I am not going to address your comments about certifications etc, etc. I think that Wharram cats have well proven their sea-worthiness over some decades. If you feel otherwise maybe you could do an article about this on your blog and compare the Wharrams with any successful ocean crossings that may have been completed by your RB35. (Real ocean crossings at higher latitudes)
If you read my other blog on health you will know that I never wish anyone ill will even if I feel they have wronged me. The same applies to you Raoul. I hope that the time will come for the benefit of both you and others that you will contemplate the way that you treat others and perhaps make some life changes.

Good luck,

Warren

More light on the "Ahmad Bin Majid"

loading Warren's hulls for New Zealand

all photos Warren Matthews

Warren Matthews is a New Zealander who was having a Tiki 38 built at the same boatyard responsible for Creed O'Hanlon's Ahmad Bin Majid. He was just behind Creed in building order, but recently decided to remove his project from the yard in Thailand to his home area in NZ to complete his build. He recently wrote about his reasons for doing so here. Add that to this and this. The whole picture begins to clear a little. Or does it? Take a look at this thread on the Boat Design Forums last August. Warren is planning another post in a day or so to relate his on site observations at the boatyard.
Also here and here. (New 2/15/09)

Sealand

Creed O'Hanlon of The Ethnic Catamaran Company has published a very interesting piece on nomadic lifestyles in general and seasteading on the micro level in particular. It was published in the Griffith Review recently and is currently making an appearance on his blog, A
Tiki in Thailand. Creed had sent me the full text, unpublished, shortly after I first posted about him. I've been mulling it over ever since, because I wanted to give it the right treatment and tie it in with something relevant. It's half rant half academic research and completely compelling. I am posting it with some photo's of the Moken, a semi nomadic group of Thai "seasteaders" as that's the one extant group that I'm aware of pursuing this lifestyle. The Moken or Mogen are not true seasteaders in that they are tied to land based communities about 6 months in the year, but they still embody this ideal more than any group I know of. James Wharram has suggested intentional communities of self builders living on the sea and organised around a mothership. This has yet to occur according to my information.The Moken achieved instant notoriety after the big tsunami in Thailand because, due to their culture and awareness of the sea, they knew the big wave was coming before it hit. National Geographic was all over them, among others. Their lifestyle is of course threatened by the pressure resulting from exposure to modernity and rising fuel prices. Most of their canoes have been converted from sail to fuel.

Creed's article is a must for anyone reading this blog. It tangentially delineates the debate on seasteading and it's possible tracks, corporate or "pirate" ie: small scale or individual approaches. Please read and respond. I'd like to initiate a dialogue on this subject, but I need your input. So I am challenging anyone who reads this blog to weigh in with their views on this subject. If you don't know anything about it, read Creed's work, do some google research, but give this some time and energy.

Historic Tall Ship Replicas

 liki tiki

- / 1964 

Polynesien double hull 

Bob Webb expedition to discover how the Polynesians populated the islands of the Pacific Ocean, from Hawaii to New Zealand, 2,000 years ago

ALFRED WALLACE 

ca. 1860 / 1996 

48´ 

Kei Islands Perahu 

Alfred Russel Wallace Spice Islands Voyage followed by Tim Severin 

 The Spice Islands Voyage: The Quest for Alfred Wallace, the Man Who Shared Darwin's Discovery of Evolution by Tim Severin

 HOBIKI BUNE 

Traditional japanese fishing boat replica 

Lake Kasumigaura, Japan

 ARGO II / ΑΡΓΩ II | 2 | 3 

1250 BCE / 2006 

93´ 13´ 7´ 

Mycenaean Pentecontor 

Jason and the Argonauts 

Volos, Greece

 Lädine St. JODOK 

15.-18.Jh. / 1999 

56´ 

Lädine/Lastensegelschiff 

Immenstaad, Bodensee 

Bootsbau Heiner Kemmer

BARTOLOMEU DIAS / DIAZ 

1487/88 / 1988 

77´ 22´ - 

Portugiesische Caravela Latina

Erstes Schiff an der Südspitze Afrikas 

Diaz Museum, Südafrika

ADVENTURE 

1670s / 1969 

65´ - - 

17th c. trade ship 

Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site, Charleston, USA

 ÖSTERSTJERNAN 

1815 / 200... 

71´ 20´ 6´ 

Loviisa, Finland

 CORENTIN | 2 

1840 Irma / 1991 

59´ 17´ 8´ 

Lougre de l´Odet

 VANADIS / ex. VALDIVIA VON ALTONA 

1868 Original 

66´ 17´ 9´ 

Neufundland-Schoner

SPIRIT OF FAIRBRIDGE 

ex. SPIRIT OF SCOTLAND (1991-1996) 

ex. SPIRIT OF MERSEYSIDE (1985-1991) 

- / 1985 

70´ 15´ 11´ Gaff Schooner 

Mersey bay pilot schooner, used in the days of sail to guide large merchant ships into the port of Liverpool. 

Fairbridge, Scotland

Hans-Peter Brugger has and is crafting a phenominal website at Historic Tall Ship Replicas. This site is encyclopedic and contains photos, books and other documentation on historic replicas worldwide. Not limited strictly to tall ships, the site includes many many types of boats, as you can see from my sampling above. take a look for yourself, but be forewarned, this site is massive, takes awhile to load. Close other programs before loading. And a word on the French Lugger Corentin. The lines were drawn for this and other replicas by French Naval Architect Francois Vivier, who has this to say about her: 

Quimper is the main historical city of western Brittany, located uptream of river Odet. It was an important harbour in the days of sail, but today the inhabitants have forgot this maritime past.

An association decided in 1990 to build a replica of a lug sail coastal trader of the mid-19th century.
Fortunetaly several plans of that period were available and, with pictures of Quimper harbour, I have drawn one of the most typical lugger of that time.
Like La Belle Angèle, Corentin is operated by Gouelia. 

Enjoy

Jester Challenge Preview

Some of the assembled fleet prior to the start of the 2008 Jester Azores Challenge

Copyright © Anne Hammick 2006 Copyright © Sandra Leek 2006

Trevor Leek, one of the organizers, will be sailing the reborn Jester

Kenyan Tim McCloy's China Blue is a modified junk rigged Folkboat fitted out in fashion which bears great similarities to Jester

photo courtesy tim McCloy

Roger Taylor's minimalist entry Mingming, a modified junk rigged Corribee MK1.
Roger is planning to start with the fleet but then take a divergent course, in a move reminiscent of Moitessier in the Golden Globe, and head for Baffin Island. I'll have more on Roger soon

The interior of Mingming packed up for the Azores in the '08 Azores Challlenge

The smallest entry in this years Challenge at 20', the self built Golant Gaffer Just Right, is Gus Davidson's entry. She is sailing in support of Macmillian Cancer Support.

photo courtesy We sail the North Atlantic Ocean

Bill Churchouse and Belgean will be looking to repeat his performance in the '08 Azores, where he was first in.


photo courtesy Bill Churchouse via Jake Kavanaugh

Here's Bill in the cabin of his Westerly 22


photo courtesy Bill Churchouse via Jake Kavanaugh

Rory McDougall built his Wharram Tiki 21 Cooking Fat and then sailed her around the world, being the smallest catamaran to do so.

photo courtesy Rory McDougall

Guy Waites will be sailing his Contessa 26 Red Dragon

courtesy Guy Waites

Thomas Jucker's 28' Lyle Hess Bristol Channel Cutter built by Samuel L Morse in 1990. Marta was bought in the US for the express purpose of entering the Jester Challenge. Feeling unsure of his single handed capabilities, Thomas tested himself over the summer of 2009 by sailing first to Bermuda, then the Azores, and England.

Here we see the starting gun being fired (2008) with it's plume of talcum powder to make it visible to all entrants. the shot is fired from Ewen Southby Tailyour's Black Velvet by the late Mike Richey. Ewen is one of the organizer's of the event, and also a participant.

all photos courtesy Jester challenge/Jake Kavanaugh unless otherwise noted

"Camaraderie, fun and a lack of formality are the guiding principles: in effect these Jester Challenges are organised by those competing in them"





"It is vain to do with more what can be done with less" William of Occam 1285-1349

This yaar mark the 50th anninversay og Blongie Hasler's ' Amazing Idea'

This year's Jester Challenge is set to commence to the starting blackpowder blast at 1300hrs on Sunday, May 23 from Plymouth England. First run in 2006, The Jester Challenge has been instituted to restore to open ocean racing the spirit ot of Blondie Hasler's 'Amazing Idea'. The race is from Plymouth, England to Newport, RI. This will be the second time the Challenge has been run from Plymouth to Newport, the first was in 3006, with an amended version to the Azores taking place in 2006. It is a single handed race for boats under 30' intended to revive Blondies' vision of Corinthian, unassisted sailing in small yachts based on self reliance and seaworthiness. It is in fact, a sort of laboratory for developing tools and techniques for singlehanded sailing of smaller boats. Though technically not a raid, because it's not done in open boats, and not about rowing, I would posit that in some sense it is the inheritor of the spirit which allowed the inventors of the raid, the vikings, to sail from Scandinavia to the New World! The mother of all raids.

On the original conception of the Jester Challenge:

JESTER CHALLENGE
Notes by Ewen Southby-Tailyour
Up-dated 23rd November 2005
One of the aims of The Jester Challenge is for the skippers to take full responsibility for their actions and their vessels without nannying sets of rules (nor a £1000 entry fee). Another aim is that it should be FUN with the results not taken too seriously: who wins is less important than arriving safely. Sponsorship of the event and of individual yachts is not overtly encouraged - although Blondie certainly had no objection and was always grateful, knowing that without it his race would not have achieved the status it enjoys. The rules are at a minimum on the understanding that Challengers - as Corinthian yachtsmen - will accept that it is up to them to ‘behave like gentlemen’ with regard to the use of engines, accuracy of timings, numbers on board(!), adherence to common-sense, safety equipment and so on. We want to keep The Jester Challenge simple and un-fussy while proving that events like this can take place without all the hullabaloo and hype - and yet still be worthwhile taking part.
In 1960 Blondie Hasler's 'amazing idea was first sailed by five yachts, four of whom were under 26 feet: navigation was 'traditional', self-steering was 'experimental' and all crossed the Atlantic in good order. The only time that this has occurred. However, by 1968, he was worried that the race's success contained the seeds of its own death, with excessive competitiveness one of the reasons cited. Fearing a demise he planned a Series Two that, if necessary, would begin in 1980 with…no sponsor nor organising club…ordinary yachtsmen going about their (legal) business…making an independent passage on (their) own responsibility…no rules…no entrance fees…treating (the skippers) as adults who can…take their own risks….

More here and updated here.

This years entry list is a testament to the chord this event has stuck in the hearts of adventurous yachtsmen. The entry list for the first Challenge included 13 brave souls. This year's entry list shows a whopping 82 entrants!

You'll be able to follow the boats as they move across the Atlantic with Ocean Race Track here.

Special thanks to Jake Kavanaugh and Roger Taylor for their assistance in writing this article.

You should be able to follow the 'race' on Ocean Race Track.

See also Bill Serjeants post: http://bills-log.blogspot.com/

James Wharram and Hanneke Boon

I've been reluctant to post James Wharram as most of my readers are already aware of him. You may not be aware, however, of this little beauty, a tacking proa with crab claw sail which he initially designed for the Melanesians with an eye to conservation of the trees the Melanesians typically use for creating dugouts: "The 'MELANESIA' is to be used in the traditional manner as a small inter island sea truck, for daily commuting to their gardens, for out to sea fishing or just paddling around to see friends, families or nearby islands." I'd love to hear from anyone who's built or sailed one of these and also a Hitia 17.

Mr. Wharram and Hanneke Boon, his partner in design and life, are recognized as two of the most influential designers to bring the Catamaran into our era, and one of the most effective proponents of the self build community. They have a large and loyal group of builders and are responsible, at least tangentially, for much of what actual seasteading is done today.

PS. Just recieved a link from Creed O'Hanlon @ A Tiki in Thailand on the latest update/letter/whereabouts/and goings on from Mr. Wharram and Ms. Boon here.

Deja Vuoogle

Whoa. Creed O'Hanlon of the Ethnic Catamaran Co. sent me a heads up on a possible new development in the evolution of seasteading and it's two (at least) divergent paths. Google has filed a patent application for databarges, to house the immense supercomputers needed to run its global search engines. Apparently there are huge energy costs associated with cooling these things, and the idea is to harness wave energy for electricity and use seawater for cooling. They would set up as far as 7 miles out to sea. Not mentioned by google is the fact that at sea they would be effectively "offshore" with all the implications of that status. Theoretically they could become a sovereign nation. What are the tax implications, and what about privacy law? Of course this is very difficult to achieve and has been tried in the past many times, almost always failing. Almost always. Then there is "Sealand" . Or is there ? Refer to Creed's recent four part discussion at his blog A Tiki in Thailand. I also recommend reading the comment left there by Michael Schacht of Proafile. My title links to the original Times article. And there's much more here... Any thoughts?

Tsunamichaser: Thomas Nielsen

Thomas Nielsen is active. In the last year he's finished his Wharram Tiki 26 Tsunamichaser, he's built an Ulua for himself and his wife to paddle, and one  for his daughter, both from a Gary Dierking design, is currently finishing a hollow strip built bamboo surfboard and is planning a traditional skin on frame kayak for his daughter. Whew, I am tired just writing it all. Keep in mind he's doing this in a small (1o'x20' or so) garage. Thomas also has ambitions beyond mere boatbuilding. There are many homebuilders of Wharram catamarans. James Wharram is a very popular designer, and rightly so. What makes Thomas stand out is that his boat has been specifically built to achieve a purpose, a scientific endeavour. to wit:

In 1985 Tom spent the summer in the Canadian Arctic doing geological research and village resupply aboard the CCGC Nahdik. Since then Tom has been following the ice maps and can attest to a significant decrease in polar ice every year. His intention is to retrace his original journey, photographing along the way to document the changes. He has lots of material from the '85 trip to verify the evidence and contrast with current conditions. This is a serious scientific undertaking and is being supported by ROBOsky.com . Seriousness aside Thomas plans to take his family along as crew. Wouldn't you like to have such a dad? The voyage will begin at Great Slave Lake, one of the five deepest lakes on our planet at 614m. and is the fifth largest lake in North America, tenth largest in the world. Tom plans to trailer the boat to the Hay River and take this up into Great Slave. Across the lake to Yellowknife, where he may leave the boat to overwinter. He hopes to start this coming July and spend about two months this year exploring Great Slave. Then he'll resume giong  from Yellowknife to the Mackenzie and out into the Beaufort Sea, then over to the Bering, through the Straits and then the Aleutians, down through the Inside Passage and home to Seattle. Ambitious. He plans to bring along Spot technology which can, among other things, track his progress at 20 minute intervals. We've talked about the possibility that we may be able to track his progress here on 70.8% and on his Tsunamichaser weblog. Should be a great deal of fun! 

Postscript: Thomas gave me a correction, he also! built an Ulua for his wife and himself to paddle. I stand corrected, and also, a little in awe.