Building the Eun Mara "Skerry"
Rigging and sailing
26 January 2016
Yes, it's been over four year since I launched Skerry, and this is the first time she has been fully rigged (albeit with a double reef, out of respect for the weather forecast).
Excuses are:
- Skerry makes a great launch (particularly with her electric motor) and always attracts a lot of admiring comments even without her rigging.
- I'm no sailor, and have not felt the impetus other builders have to get her sailing.
- I've been making most of my own fittings (blocks, leads, cleats etc), which has occupied a lot of time.
- I have taken her out under jib and mizzen a few times, but thought I'd wait until the mainsail was set before updating this blog.
However, with encouragement from my friend John (an old sea dog) we took her out on Australia Day (Jan 26) 2016. The weather forecast was for some strong gusty winds, so we set the main with the maximum reef. This turned out to be a wise precaution as we had a couple of exciting moments in the relatively confined waters of Lake Burley Griffin. It turned out to be a great shake-down cruise as there were some minor rigging deficiencies (and a couple of outright failures) that I will fix up before we try anything more adventurous.
It was a great day. I discovered that a fully rigged Eun Mara attracts even more admiring comments than the un-rigged "launch" version. People just love this design.
Here are a few more photos that speak for themselves.
