It is fine in the winter to look back on some of the videos of sailing trips and fun from past seasons. Here we see the builders of the Sixareen ‘Vaila Mae’, Jack Duncan and Robbie Tait, along with crew and skippers hauling the sixareen up the beach for the winter in Hay’s Dock, Lerwick. I have made a short compilation of end of season sailing footage in the sixareen, first with full sail out by the Bressay Lighthouse and Ness of Sound.
Then for her last sail of the season it was gusting over gale force, so the skipper stayed in the north harbour with three reefs in. I included a tack at the Holm of Cruister, as quite a few folk wanted to see her tacking. The sixareen was the type of fishing boat used during the 18th and 19th century for sailing and rowing to the deep sea grounds around Shetland. As a contrast you can see the modern Shetland pelagic fishing fleet as a backdrop in Lerwick harbour, dwarfing the sixareen.
I realised I hadn’t posted any footage on the YouTube channel with the sixareen sailing with three reefs, so I have included some additional clips that my Dad took back in 2018. It was gusting about a force 7 and this was the first time we had tried three reefs in the sixareen’s sail. The boat performed very well to windward, even with the small sail, something we were keen to try out after a sail the previous week where we could have done with that third reef, as you will see in the next clip.
As a finale, here’s a memorable short trip at Shetland Peerie Boat Week event in 2018. It was too windy for taking passengers off, so the skipper and crew thought they would try the boat with two reefs and see how she handled in the strong winds.
There were some very strong flans (gusts) coming off the land and funnelling between the shipping in the harbour. We had not long left the dock and my phone’s gps said we were doing 9.7 knots, one of the crew understatedly said “She’s very responsive!” I soon had to stow the phone in my pocket and hold on. In hindsight we should have gone with three reefs, but at that time we hadn’t tried the sixareen with three reefs, and unsure how she would perform to windward. Skipper, Robert Wishart however handled the strong gusts being blasted at us, a very experienced skipper in sailing Shetland traditional boats in hard weather. He said he couldn’t really get any sheet on her with the strength of wind. The Lerwick Met office were recording gusts up to 50 knots that afternoon.
The music is a Swedish melody called Eklunda Polska No. 3 by Viksta Lasse and performed here live in the Foula by myself on fiddle and Ewen Thomson on Guitar.
The last set to accompany the gale force two reefs footage is from the same performance in Foula and the tunes are both traditional Shetland melodies. ‘Da Papa Stour Sword Dance’ and ‘ Da Yaakie Drogan’ an appropriately wild reel.
Fiddle - Maurice Henderson
Guitar - Ewen Thomson
Footage: Maurice Henderson and Gordon Henderson
