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Idyllic picture of the Skerry ready to set sail with the light morning breeze... |
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I mess up the picture by coming aboard... very light wind to take off from the beach. |
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Seating at the bottom of the boat just aft of the middle seat, my back in the perfect curve of the three side planks, my feet resting on the opposite planks, my arm resting on the wale... Perfect! The long steering stick combined with the short perpendicular tiller is a bit suprising at first but finally very practical, except when it escapes and jumps in the water. I'll build a second rudder some day, with a long traditional tiller to compare. |
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Click on the photos to see larger versions. |
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| There is enough breeze now for the small spritsail to balance my 95 kg. I am finally very happy with the shape of the sail provided with the kit, about which I had doubts initially. The sprit rig requires to be perfectly trimmed to give its best efficiency. |
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The telelens makes this picture more spectacular than it really is: the children looking admiredly at the beautiful boat (I know it can't be me!) are not so close. It heels just enough to show off its graceful lines. |
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There we go again! I am busy adjusting the daggerboard or the sheet, for which I have no cleat, an oversight to correct asap. I'll add a clamcleat on the lower sheetblock. The rudder blade is still up but the Skerry is so well balanced that it makes almost no difference. |
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This photo is taken just at the beginning of a turn. You have to put the rudder over rather sharply so that the hull turns around the daggerboard in its own length. I tried to make it miss turns and managed it only when the board was up, because there is pivot point.
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There are 10 to 15 knots of wind, ideal for the small area of the sprit sail (5.20 m2.) Seating at the bottom of the Skerry, the nose just above the water, you are "in the heart of what's happening", and you feel everything much more sharply thatn in a larger, heavier boat. |
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Coming back downwind with the board up. The daggerboard is held fast in any setting by the bungee cord holding it to the mast. The rudder blade doesn't need any means to hold it: friction alone holds is fast enough that it stays in any given position, and kicks up by itself on beach landings. |
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| Even better: two adults on board! The Skerry remains nimble and fast. I should slide slightly aft to unload the stem a bit, and tighten the "snotter" as well to erase the crese in the lower part of the sail. |
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A last picture in the quiet of the morning before taking the Skerry out of the water... |
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It's over, the Skerry is back on the trailer under the two prams, and the Chester Yawl is on the roof rack, along with the pram's mast, which I did not get to try under sail: next time! Right now, it's back to Longueil-Annel. |
