The Polynesian-inspired Ontong Java at rest in Marigot Bay where writer and long distance sailor Øyvind Bjordal stumbled upon a fellow oceanic itinerant. With two hulls of different length and two distinct planforms tapering in towards the bow, Ontong Java takes a lot from original Polynesian designs, among whose less well-known features was similar ‘toe-in’ – for reasons less well understood today than they doubtless were at the time. Inset: this slender 43ft Polynesian cat also features contrasting asymmetric hulls which to the modern eye seem to constrict rather than encourage waterflow between the hulls. Of course, this may well have nothing to do with speed but everything to do with fishing techniques in use at the time – or something else entirely of which in 2020 we cannot even conceive (but great fun to speculate on). French admiral François-Edmond Pâris recorded these lines in 1837 during one of several round-the-world explorations
and experience. That’s how I arrived at this construction – it’s only a couple of years since I built it. ‘James has seen it, and he knows that
it’s a better boat than his own. There’s so much knowledge in these Polynesian constructions, and most of it is lost today. There is still some valuable information out there, but you won’t find it on the world wide web. Of course, I added quite a few of my own ideas too…’ Hans Klaar is clearly not a modest man,
but there seems to be substance to his confidence. ‘The long hulls provide a theoretical hull speed of 17kt,’ he says. ‘But we rarely go that fast: 180-200 miles a day is the norm, and that happens basi- cally without lifting a finger. The boat more or less sails itself. I read a lot, so much of the time on the sea I read books. When at anchor I surf a lot. I love surfing.’ This becomes clear when we climb
down below. Rows and rows of book- shelves and a whole rack of surfboards take up a lot of the space inside the boat.
saw in a museum in Tahiti. They depicted catamarans used by the Polynesians when they populated the Pacific Islands thou- sands of years ago. After building his strange vessel he first
sailed it from Gambia to the Azores. After a trip to mainland Portugal he crossed the Atlantic and ended up here, in the Caribbean Islands. The plan now is to continue to the Panama Canal and enter the Pacific Ocean. The catamaran is 70ft – or, more pre-
cisely, one hull is a bit less than 60, the other a bit more than 70. The only other propulsion is an outboard engine, and Klaar gladly sails it alone, even offshore. As we finish the conversation he invites me to come over and visit him on the boat the next day.
The plank island Twenty-four hours later I tie up my little dinghy on the stern of the longest hull and climb onboard. It’s like walking around on an island turned into a wooden, tropical terrace, with two small huts sticking up. Klaar walks towards me in another even more colourful shirt. While showing me around on his weird vessel he starts telling his peculiar story. ‘I have built loads of boats,’ he begins.
‘I’ve been working with design and sailing my whole life. James Wharram, the best- known designer of Polynesian-inspired catamarans, is a good friend of mine. ‘Actually, I had a Wharram cat, but I
wasn’t totally satisfied with it. So I built another, more original Polynesian cat and sailed it until I had some more knowledge
Conveyor belt and fishing lines The planks in the hulls are overlapped and bolted together using stainless bolts with washers and nuts, a bit like traditional clinker-built European wooden boats. The hulls are strongly V-shaped. Between the planks there are strips of rubber, taken off an abandoned African conveyor belt. There is also sealant in there, or more precisely a mix of melted car tyres and plant oils. And a lot of other strange things. The recipe is something Klaar picked up
from the African fishermen he met on the beach where he built the boat. It works like a charm, he explains, apart from a few through-bolts and hatches in the bow section, where a little water creeps through when sailing in high seas. Like any other boat, in other words. The hulls have decks in plywood, while
the bridge deck between the hulls is covered with wide planks, all lashed together with fishing line. The boat is surprisingly narrow for a
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