Never too late
TUESDAY the 15th of May 2018, 8am. A date and time all the participants of that year’s Down Under Rally will remember fondly as the official beginning of their eastward journey. A glorious winter morning, with fresh winds and sun rays reflecting on the Gold Coast skyscrapers and highlighting the white sails of the over thirty vessels heading out of the seaway, crew filled with high spirits and excitement in anticipation of what for most would be their first ocean crossing.
Yacht Katfish is one of them; but its story, as well as the dreams and challenges it encompasses and carries within, are a bit more special than most of the others.
THE DREAM
This complex, long and multilayered love story stars John, his wife Kerryanne, hereon known as ‘Kat’, plus their 42 foot Wharram Pahi catamaran.
It all started in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s when an excellent pilot with quite a lot of spare time decided to conquer the seas. He had obviously already explored the skies and, as per common knowledge, ‘airy-fairy’ people as Kat affectionately loves describing John, are not made for a grounded existence on land.
That is how John started writing this story made of dedication and determination and woven together by passion and craftmanship. With no previous sailing or building experience, he embarked in this journey choosing a traditional Polynesian boat design well suited for sailing the Pacific as well as the shallow coastal waters of Australia.
James Wharram’s slogan: ‘dream, build, sail’, perfectly summarises ’s conception; his description properly marks out the first chapter of this story. A philosophic attitude behind the Wharram designs is that
