al maram yacht

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YACHT AL MARAM | NETA XENOS III (2006)

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YACHT AL MARAM DESCRIPTION

Sailing Yacht AL MARAM is a XENOS III model built in 2006 by turkish ship builder NETA MARINE. AL MARAM (Type : SCHOONER) has a Hull and Superstructure built with Mahogany Laminate. She has a length of 105,1 feet, (32 meters) for a beam of 24,5 feet, (2006 meters) and a draft of 9,7 feet, (3 meters). She can welcome up to two guests and employed up to tree crew. S/Y AL MARAM is powered by two IVECO engines developing up to 1440 horse power can reach a max speed of 13 knots.

ABOUT S/Y AL MARAM INSURANCE

Some underwriters might consider hull of the AL MARAM Yacht built with wood to be a potential risk. We will offer you an insurance package to suit your specific needs.

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• AIS Name AL MARAM
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• MMSI 232050642
• Callsign MOHX8
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• Length 27 m
• Draught — / — / — Avg/Min/Max
• Speed 5.3 kn / 3.1 kn Avg/Max
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          LENGTH             30m (98ft)

          SHIPYARD         Chantier Naval Marseille

          BUILT                  1989

          LOCATION         Castellón, Spain

          PRICE                 €1,195,000

Presenting the magnificent 30-meter tri-deck motor yacht, MARAM, an exquisite blend of elegance and performance. Crafted with precision in steel and aluminum by the renowned Chantier Naval de Marseille, this vessel is not just a boat; it’s a statement of luxurious living on the water.

Originally delivered in 1989, the yacht has undergone a continuous series of upgrades and a comprehensive refit since 2016, ensuring that she stands at the pinnacle of modern sophistication. The interior is a haven for up to 8-10 guests across 4-5 cabins, including a master suite, VIP suite, a double cabin, and two twins—all boasting en suite bathroom facilities. The yacht also features quarters for a captain and a dedicated crew of four.

Step into unexpectedly spacious cabins and public areas, where the main saloon invites relaxation with large settees, a formal dining area, and ample seating for guests and crew. The well-appointed galley is a chef’s dream, featuring a large freestanding table and chairs for casual breakfasts and daytime snacks.

The aft deck is designed for al fresco entertaining and dining, offering a perfect setting for unforgettable moments at sea. Meanwhile, the sun deck caters to sun worshippers with an array of sun pads and loungers, creating an ideal space for soaking up the sun in style. The aft bridge deck serves a dual purpose, seamlessly integrating tender stowage with functionality.

Powered by twin 750hp Detroit Diesel engines, this yacht delivers a cruising speed of 10 knots and an impressive range of 1,500 nautical miles—an embodiment of both power and efficiency.

This is not just a yacht for sale; it’s an invitation to experience the epitome of refined luxury. Seize the opportunity to own a vessel that combines timeless elegance with modern amenities, ensuring every journey is a celebration of opulence on the open seas. Embark on a new era of yachting sophistication—your new lifestyle awaits.

Enquiry for more information.

• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

James Wharram: life and legacy of the iconic designer

• January 29, 2024

Julien Girardot meets Hanneke Boon in Cornwall to discover the legend and legacy of pioneering catamaran designer James Wharram

Falmouth, Cornwall, 1955: a legend is born along Customs House Quay. A smartly dressed young man with wild, curly hair has launched a 23ft catamaran, built in just a few months for the modest sum of £200 (the equivalent of around £6,500 today).

Rigged as a ketch with battened junk sails, the aptly named Tangaroa (meaning ‘God of the Sea’ in Polynesian) marked the beginning of the epic Wharram story.

At the time, catamarans were considered dangerous and eccentric, while yachting was a pastime largely reserved for high society. But sailing already has other visionaries. On the deck of Tangaroa, beside James, are two young women: Jutta Schulze-Rhonhof and Ruth Merseburger. In puritanical post-war England, setting off to cross the Atlantic with two young women – and German ones at that – was downright shocking! But these three young people care not a jot about conventional thinking. They dream of adventure and their enterprise is an act of defiance.

For years James Wharram has nurtured a passion for the history of sailing pioneers and the ethnic origins of the multihull. Devouring every book on the subject he could lay his hands on, he discovered the story of Joshua Slocum, the first solo circumnavigator (1895-1898), and the voyage of Kaimiloa by the Frenchman Eric de Bisschop. The tale, published in English in 1940, of de Bisschop’s attempt to prove the seaworthiness of double canoes by making a voyage from Hawaii to France on a catamaran he had built on the beach, became Wharram’s primary source of inspiration.

Riding out the storm: James Wharram at the helm of Tangaroa in Biscay in 1955. Photo: Julien Girardot

Wharram disagreed with many assumptions of the time, and his first Atlantic crossing was an opportunity to refute Thor Heyerdahl’s theory on the settlement of the Pacific islands. Wharram contested the assertion of the Danish anthropologist who, after his voyage aboard the Kon-Tiki in 1947, affirmed that the boats used were simple rafts. Wharram was convinced that the boats were more akin to double canoes with sails, capable of going upwind and holding a course. These early multihulls, consisting of two hollowed-out tree trunks, were connected by crossbeams bound together with plant fibre. The sails were probably made from what is known as ‘tapa’ in Polynesia, hammered tree bark, which was also used to make clothes.

The three young adventurers left Falmouth on 27 September 1955 on a boat loaded with books, basic foods, and very little else. Despite a fraught passage, encountering storms in the Bay of Biscay and being suspected of being spies by Franco’s Guardia Civil, the trio successfully crossed the Atlantic and reached the island of Trinidad on 2 February 1957.

Without a penny to their name, they adopted a simple island life, and Jutta gave birth to her and James’ first child, Hannes. The unconventional polyamorous family lived aboard a raft inspired by the floating dwellings of the Pacific, nicknamed ‘the paradise island of the South Seas’. Tangaroa, now tired, was abandoned, as Wharram decided to build a new catamaran. By chance, two solo sailors came to anchor in the bay where the Wharram tribe lived afloat, and the legendary Bernard Moitessier and Henry Wakelam helped Wharram build his new design, Rongo.

Wharram, Merseburger and Schulze-Rhonhof aboard Tangaroa in Falmouth, 1955, before their Atlantic crossing. Photo: Julien Girardot

Thanks to the experience of his first transatlantic voyage, as well as knowledge gathered from Wharram’s endless reading, Rongo was much more accomplished. While Tangaroa was flat-bottomed, Rongo has V-hulls. To prove the design’s seaworthy qualities, Wharram decided to tackle the North Atlantic, sailing from west to east with his two companions. This route was known to strike fear into the hearts of multihull sailors of the time, as the two previous attempts had tragically ended in two deaths.

The crew left La Martinique for New York on 16 April 1959, one year after Rongo’s construction began. The return voyage to Conwy in Wales took 50 days, but the gamble paid off, and Wharram’s new design was the first to achieve what many thought impossible. The curly-haired eccentric became something of a celebrity, and following his great Atlantic adventure, James published his first book, Two girls, Two Catamarans. The years that followed were Wharram’s golden age, with plans released to suit every budget and every dream. Soon there were Wharram designs all over the world, connected by a powerful community spirit.

Drawing a Wharram

My own journey to this remote corner of Cornwall began decades before. After 15 years of travelling the world, inventing and reinventing my life, including many years living in the Pacific islands, I felt the need to capture these experiences by creating the boat of my dreams.

Illustrations inspired by a visit to the Wharram design office in Cornwall. Image: Benjamin Flao

While living in Tuamotu, I was involved in several incredible projects to build traditional sailing canoes under the directive of talented local Tahitian boatbuilder, Alexandre Genton (now chief of operations at Blue Composite shipyard in Tahiti). At first we launched small single-seat sailing canoes with two outrigger floats. These are the simplest way to sail: a sheet in one hand, a paddle in the other, which you plunge over the side of the canoe into the water, and it makes a perfect rudder. Then we built a larger version, Va’a Motu, for a hotel in Bora Bora, of splendid stripped kauri planking. Finally, we worked with the local population to build an ambitious 30ft Va’a Motu with a single ama, on the atoll of Fakarava in the Tuamotu archipelago.

Curiously, after many experimental trials at building and sailing canoes, my imagined ideal yacht turned out to be something very close to a Wharram design, which I learned as soon as I shared my first cautious sketches with friends. I realised I had to meet James Wharram.

In October 2021, I dialled the number of JW Designs. A woman answered; James’ long-term life and business partner Hanneke Boon. I tell her my ideas to build from one of their plans: the Islander 39. We began an email exchange and when I asked her what James thought of this model, in November 2021, less than a month before he died, she replied: “James is enthusiastic about your project. He’s now 93 years old and nearing the end of his life.

The Pahi 63 Spirit of Gaia which Wharram and Boon sailed around the world. Image: Benjamin Flao

“He has been looking at the Islander 39 design for several years and often says, ‘I wish I had one myself.’ It’s the only Wharram design that has never been built, so your project is a wish come true for him.”

On 14 December 2021, James Wharram passed away. Out of respect for the bereavement, and due to Covid-related travel restrictions, we decided to postpone our meeting. Some months later on a beautiful spring afternoon, I landed in Plymouth with my friend and artist Benjamin Flao, himself the owner of a Wharram-designed Tiki 28, and headed for Devoran near Truro in Cornwall, the stronghold of the Wharram family.

Hanneke welcomes us into her office. It is a beautiful wooden cabin, warm and bright, overlooking the changing lights of Cornwall. The place looks like a museum telling the story of a life of travel and passion through yacht models, photographs and unusual objects. James is there, you can feel it. A glance at the shelves of the library shows an impressive array of rare and precious books, mostly dealing with navigation and shipbuilding in Oceania, and demonstrates the seriousness with which Wharram and Boon studied the history and technicality of ‘double canoes’.

“I’d like our boats to be called double canoes and not catamarans, which I think is a mistake,” Hanneke explains. The word catamaran, originally pronounced ‘catamaron’, comes from the Tamil dialect of katta ‘to bind’ and maram ‘wood’, as they were actually one-man rafts used to work on the outer hull of ships. The English pirate and adventurer William Dampier, in the 1690s, was the first to describe a two-hulled vessel as a catamaran, but although catamarans might be the commonly accepted word nowadays, it’s actually a mistake.

oon unfolds the plans of the Islander 39, the only Wharram design that has never been built. Many plans were hand-drawn by Boon. Photo: Julien Girardot

Hanneke unfolds the Islander 39 plan on her drawing board. Like all Wharram plans for half a century, it has been marked with her signature. Despite this unique pencil stroke, she has remained in the shadow of Wharram’s mythology for 50 years. Since 1970, Boon has drawn the majority of the construction plans by hand. They’re works of art and the best way to imagine yourself aboard a Wharram. Without her, JW Designs would not be what it is.

Originally from the Netherlands, Boon grew up in a family of sailing enthusiasts. By the age of 14 she was already building small canoes and at the age of 20 she joined the Wharram team and quickly became his co-designer. They criss-crossed the Atlantic twice in quick succession aboard Tehini, the crab claw-rigged double canoe on which James and several women lived for 10 years. Since then, Hanneke has escaped from her office whenever she can to sail thousands of miles on all the seas of the world, always using a double canoe.

Those radical vessels included the Spirit of Gaia, also built on site, through a sliding door next to Hanneke’s office. It was aboard this 63ft Pahi, Wharram’s flagship, that the Wharrams sailed around the world from 1994 to 1998. James described Spirit of Gaia as “a beautifully shaped woman he was in love with”.

Boon’s design office is adjacent to the Wharram HQ in Devoran and looks out over one of the River Fal’s many creeks. Photo: Julien Girardot

In Wharram’s wake

James and Hanneke’s home is a former veterinary surgery. The furnishings are basic, with only the essentials, but the doors close by themselves, thanks to an ingenious system of weights, ropes and pulleys. Benjamin and I offer to shop and cook, and in the living room, we put the dishes down and eat on the floor, like on the deck of a Wharram.

Jamie, James and Hanneke’s son, joins us for the meal with his partner Liz. “James has remained the icon of the business, but it’s really Hanneke who has been doing the job for the last 10 years. She is JW Designs,” confides Liz.

Jamie is at first more subdued, but talking to him you soon discover a true character. Given the world he grew up in, it’s surprising to learn that sailing is not really his thing: “I get bored quickly at sea and I’m sick most of the time! I prefer to be underwater. Above the line is not my thing.

Evocative illustration of the Wharram workshop in Devoran, Cornwall. Image: Benjamin Flao

“I do like the calmness of the ocean though, that parenthesis effect, detached from our hectic lives on land. In fact, I think the best thing about sailing is remembering long voyages, not making them,” Jamie jokes.

But he is keen to preserve Wharram’s legacy and the couple are thinking ahead to when Hanneke can no longer hold the fort. “As long as Hanneke is alive, the business will be run in her own way. But it’s certain that something will be put in place to enable people to continue to acquire the building plans, at the very least, this service will remain guaranteed.”

Back in the office next door, Nicki John answers clients and sends plans around the world. She’s only been with JWD for a couple of years, but that’s long enough for her to fall in love with the company’s story.

“One of the things I loved about James was that he came in every day. He’d knock on the door and jokingly ask, ‘Do you have time for some gossip?’ And then he’d tell me all sorts of stories. His travels, the women he had shared his life with, it was fascinating. When he was 18, he hitchhiked to Europe, smuggling coffee on the black market to finance his adventures. James’ story is just phenomenal.

Mana 24 is available as a CNC-cut self-build kit boat. Photo: Julien Girardot

“One day James came in, took out a plan, unfolded it as he sat down, and said, ‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ James was deeply convinced of Hanneke’s talent. He never stopped admiring her,” Nicki says fondly.

The community Wharram fosters is unique. Nicki shows us a photo that defines the ‘Wharram spirit’, of the hull of a Wharram being lifted out of the second floor window of a home in England. With no shed to build their Wharram design, they decided to use their living room as a boatyard. “This picture shows that if you really want to build a Wharram, you can do it anywhere,” says Nicki, “During Covid, we sold a lot more plans. Confined, people dreamed of freedom and took time to figure out how they wanted to live their lives.”

Now it’s Hanneke’s turn to shine as the head of JWD. In contrast to the technologically-led path that sailing often follows, James and Hanneke’s ‘low tech’ approach drives those who follow it to reconnect with past knowledge, practices, and philosophical approaches to our relationship with the world and the way we live in it.

Their love of minimalism is also at odds with many trends in modern yachting, but it brings its own luxury. The joy of not having too much of anything allows you to make room for the essentials, and for the beauty that surrounds you.

My dream of building Wharram’s unfulfilled plan, the Islander 39, remains. I’m in no hurry. Like the libertarian vision of James Wharram, it endures.

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47m  /  154'2 | custom | 2016.

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The 47m/154'2" motor/sailer yacht 'Al Maqam' was built by Custom .

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Her low draft of makes her primed for accessing shallow areas and cruising close to the shorelines.

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Motor/Sailer yacht Al Maqam is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

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Al-Mansur: The unexpected fate of Saddam Hussein’s largest yacht

Saddam Hussein's 82-metre superyacht Basrah Breeze is still on the water today but his larger yacht, 121-metre al-Mansur suffered a different fate. Now lying in the shallow waters of a major Iraqi city, Katia Damborsky discovers how it has become an unusual floating base for locals fishing on the river. 

In March 2003, tensions between the US and Iraq were coming to a head. In the face of imminent invasion, the then-president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, ordered his yacht, 121-metre al-Mansur , to leave her berth in the port city of Umm Qasr and move 36 nautical miles upriver to be stationed in Basrah. Basrah was a stronghold of Iraq, producing much of the country’s oil and strategically located at the convergence of two rivers.

It would make sense to have a military ship manning the city’s harbour — and while al-Mansur was no military vessel, she did have reinforced steel decks, bulletproof windows almost five centimetres thick and high-grade on-board hospital facilities complete with an operating theatre.

But, she still wasn’t equipped to hold down the fort at Basrah. It has been reported — though not confirmed — that US and UK military forces intercepted a radio transmission that revealed the yacht’s movement. On her way up the river, she came under attack by fighter jets, which deployed specialised explosives that detonated just before impact, effectively blowing away much of the yacht’s upper decks. Eight bombs are thought to have hit her and although she didn’t sink, she was engulfed by a raging inferno that rendered her inoperable.

It would have been a remarkable sight for the people of Basrah, watching the dictator’s yacht ablaze and drifting unmanned down the Shatt al-Arab river. It was almost ironic — here was a yacht with the name meaning “God-assisted victor” or “conqueror” printed proudly on its bow, being reduced to a charred, bomb-blasted hull.

Like most yachts owned by dictators, al-Mansur was a symbol of Hussein’s power and prominence. She was delivered in 1983 (the same year that Hussein met with then-US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld) by now-defunct Finnish shipyard Wärtsilä and as a gift from the Saudi Royal Family. The ongoing war in Iraq complicated the physical delivery of the vessel (she was technically completed in 1982) and she was stored at the shipyard in Finland before she could be eventually handed over the next year in Morocco.

But after the bombing, al-Mansur was a far cry from the pleasure palace that she started life as. It is understood that the yacht’s content was cleared by the local port authority and officials acting on behalf of Hussein. Even in her sorry, scorched state, she had a lot of valuable materials on board — expensive silverware, solid marble surfaces, exotic wood accents and thick velvet upholstery. The design theme of the yacht was “plush Arab hotel”, according to reporting by the BBC. She was even thought to have solid gold furnishings on board.

She was looted too, according to a source speaking to BOAT International , a local taxi driver who goes by Mohamad. Once she was plundered, opportunists began chopping away at the hull and selling it for scrap. No one put a stop to the practice — it was a war zone, after all. 

Hussein's yacht remained upright for a few years after the bombing but was eventually scuttled close to Basrah’s dry docks. She’s in good company, with several other wrecked vessels rusting in the shallow water there. For the locals, it’s a constant reminder of the war — although, “you never forget the war,” says Mohamad.

The biggest problem that al-Mansur presents isn’t so much logistics, it’s the threat it poses to the water quality, says Mohamad.  “We use this water for everything in our life,” says Mohamad and for that reason, “people would like to remove all the sunken ships.”

The wreck is owned by the government, but “no one knows” whether there are plans to remove it anytime soon. It’s the biggest vessel that’s sunk in the river, and it would be costly and complicated to dismantle and remove it, speculates Mohamad. For now, the wreck is used by local fishermen, who perch on the protruding decks and cast their lines into the water. Mohamad’s cousin is one such fisherman, using al-Mansur as a base for carp fishing.

Al-Mansur is not the victorious power symbol that her owner had in mind, but she does represent a small victory for the Iraqi people. After years of conflict, Iraq is repairing itself and souvenirs of its troubled past are slowly fading away — much like al-Mansur ’s decaying hull.

The rest of Hussein's fleet

Just a few hundred metres from the remains of al-Mansur sits Basrah Breeze, the first yacht that Hussein owned. In contrast to her big sister, Basrah Breeze is on the water and remains in good condition. She is partially open to the public, serving as a floating museum dedicated to Basrah. The yacht is in largely the same state as when she was first launched over forty years ago, with busily-patterned walls, thick curtains and an opulent four-poster canopy bed in the master suite. 

In 2007, she left Iraq and resurfaced in Nice, listed for sale with a £17 million price tag. She didn't find a buyer, possibly in part because of her dubious past and questions surrounding her ownership. She served a brief stint as a research vessel back in Iraq until her running costs were finally deemed too expensive.

Hussein also owned a 60-metre pleasure craft designed for cruising the rivers. It was more practical than al-Mansur and Basrah Breeze , but still shared the same luxurious finishes and military-grade protection. Its fate is not known.

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