Words from Ian...
"We had about 80 onlookers, from our various social circles and some who were there anyway, and a friend who played the good old tunes on his Scottish small-pipes, including the Skye Boat Song ("Speed, bonnie boat") as she was launched. Launching involved a miniature of best Scotch. Then we had a brief "sea-trial" on the harbour, while some friends ran a sausage sizzle for the onlookers, which was appreciated on the rather grey day."
Proud parents Ian and Alison
The big wild world
In the traffic
At the boat harbour
Inspection
Backing down the ramp
Music from the balcony
Kissing the water
Almost afloat
Lew
"I name this ship 'Islesburgh'"
Pushing off
Aelred the Piper
"Speed Bonnie Boat"
At the pontoon. (Check out that waterline! - R)
Ian and Alison
Backing out
Going forward
Heading out
Coming back
Sea trial successful
Ian has two Quicktime movies of the first few seconds of the launch. Note the file sizes; you might have to wait a while for them to download after clicking the link. Both movies come with musical accompaniment!
Launching Islesburgh (14.3Mb)
This is a reasonably high resolution clip of the boat just entering the water
Floating off (4.7Mb)
This is a lower resolution version, but is longer in duration.