The skill of that last crew, driving the boat almost to the quay under sail, and at last dropping the sail and bringing her in under her own momentum. Wow.
Gives me uncomfortable memories of an incident where I was beating into a tricky little harbour under sail (no engine) when some fool in a plastic yacht decided to go astern off the quay right into my path without so much as a glance. The results could have been a lot worse than they were. Sail has priority over engine? You've got to be joking - almost as laughable as starboard has priority over port!
Thanks for your comment @tombristowe846 here’s a demonstration of some tacking aboard the sixareen. ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.htmlsi=hPaQdP9_nP9fsEeS
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Thanks very much for taking the trouble to get back to me with that. It was interesting to watch. Not for single handers ! I also watched the video of a Sixareen square reefed and running; what a sight ! Historically, have they ever been decked over?
@tombristowe846 the Sixareens were historically always fished and sailed as open boats. The Haaf fishing declined and the use of open boats, such as sixareens, for deep sea fishing towards the end of the 19th Century. The Gloup disaster of 1881 where 56 men were lost, the move to larger decked in vessels, as well as the herring boom of the early 1900s saw the Haaf fishing come to an end. Sailing drifters soon gave way to steam drifters and then the diesel engines and outboards pretty much the end of commercial and inshore sail fishing. Some Shetland boat builders continued to build craft based on the sixareen, more commonly with smaller dimensions and designed to accommodate an engine, forward shelter or wheel house and engine aboard. Also the smaller ‘Shetland model’ class boat saw the traditional craft used in sailing for leisure as well as inshore fishing, landing fish for the table. There are still some small clinker build boats working creels and some traditional boat builders in Shetland making fourareens, yoals and other traditional craft. The sixareen however, as you can see, really performs when under sail. I can recommend this book, Shetland’s Boats if you want to read more. There exist the lines of a few more of the old sixareens and hopefully someday soon we might see replicas of these built for sailing and out on the water again. shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/shetlands-boats-origin-evolution-and-use?_pos=4&_sid=350a6715a&_ss=r
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Again, thank you very much for getting back to me. I was surprised, when looking up Sixareen on Wiki, to see that they were apparently originally imported from Norway in kit form, until the middle of the 19th Century. I hadn't imagined such commercial subtleties existed in those days. A diversion online into the history of trade had to be abandoned as it was threatening to turn into an all-nighter ! All the best and I hope you have a good summer's sailing.
Awesome boats! That kind of sail seems to be a combination of a mainsail and a jib, doing the work of both! Very cool and elegant! The boat's as steady as a Rolls - it moves *beautifully!*. Beautiful curves - she really clips along at a good speed!
I love the boats but even more I love how the helmsman keeps his hand on the mainsheet all the time ready to let her go if needed. I saved this to my favorites!!
Here’s the Sixareen ‘Vaila Mae’ doing a couple of tacks on a crew training trip. We were fighting against a strong tide as we beat to windward through the north harbour. 🙂 ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.html
When I moved to Shetland in 1980 I bought a bedraggled boat, I think it was 17’ long. No sail. Unfortunately my skills with the repairs were basic but with the old short shaft seagull, my rod and labrador I had the time of my life in the solitude of Moussa and Leebitton. Very happy days. If you want a photograph is there any way to forward it? Great images.
Glad you enjoyed the footage. Yes, that is a “Seagull” outboard, Brian Chapman has a large collection of old seagull outboards and was starting them up and giving folk a listen over the boat week. I have fond memories of my first outboard, it was an old seagull 1.5hp short shaft.
@@craigkaschan4822 Yup but drop them overboard, leave them for a couple of tides and even I could get’em running again! Im sure I had a new one in the early nineties.
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Thanks for that, wow what a performance, way more involved than I thought ! I was actually expecting a windward jibe. I learnt something today 👍
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Maurice I crew on a Trimaran in the Swan River Perth Western Australia. I don’t think our sailing experience could be more different ! Cheers, 🍻
Here’s a clip showing the ‘Vaila Mae’ tacking. You have to lower the yard fairly quick as the boat comes through the wind while tacking, you don’t want the sail pressing hard against the mast. The Far Haaf sixareen seen sailing with the red sail has a downhaul fitted to assist getting the yard down in the event of it being pressed hard against the mast if you don’t get the sail lowered in time as you come through the wind.ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.html
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Thank you so much. I understand now. It must take considerable skill, dexterity and strength to do it well. I love the way her beautiful long hull cut so smoothly through the flat water.
Hi, I don’t know of anywhere you can buy a set of actual plans. There are a number of boat builders in Shetland all building to their own style these kind of boats but they don’t really produce plans. Here’s a link to a site that shows lines of a number of Shetland boats shetlandboat.wordpress.com you could perhaps contact Marc Chivers who has done a PhD on the Shetland boats and drawn many lines of them, his site is www.moderdy.org There are some books with lines of boats as well. shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/the-shetland-boat-south-mainland-and-fair-isle?_pos=21&_sid=d1ac68706&_ss=r&variant=3933100802059 This book is mostly about the Ness Yoal, but there is a design by Iain Oughtred based on this hull that might be worth looking as that will have plans. Another book on the sixareen. shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/the-sixareen-and-her-racing-descendants?_pos=13&_sid=d1ac68706&_ss=r
Thanks for you comment, I shall put in a full tack next time. Here’s a couple of tacks from aboard the ‘Vaila Mae’. ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.html
We don’t often sail on a dead run but this is a clip with the squaring reef and some downwind sailing on the run back in to harbour. ua-cam.com/video/Mr9exxXZJco/v-deo.html There is a tack in the latest video on the page as a few folk wanted to see that.
The skill of that last crew, driving the boat almost to the quay under sail, and at last dropping the sail and bringing her in under her own momentum. Wow.
Good when you got a lot of crew who know what is happening and a stiff breeze up your choof.
Gives me uncomfortable memories of an incident where I was beating into a tricky little harbour under sail (no engine) when some fool in a plastic yacht decided to go astern off the quay right into my path without so much as a glance. The results could have been a lot worse than they were. Sail has priority over engine? You've got to be joking - almost as laughable as starboard has priority over port!
proud to have owned one in the 60’s ,beautiful boats
Did you have a sixareen? It would be interesting to know the story of the boat.
Brings back memories of Out Skerries must be fifty years ago now. I can see many changes.
I was screaming at the screen for one of them to tack ! So I could see how they do it. Lovely boats.
Thanks for your comment @tombristowe846 here’s a demonstration of some tacking aboard the sixareen. ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.htmlsi=hPaQdP9_nP9fsEeS
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Thanks very much for taking the trouble to get back to me with that. It was interesting to watch. Not for single handers ! I also watched the video of a Sixareen square reefed and running; what a sight ! Historically, have they ever been decked over?
@tombristowe846 the Sixareens were historically always fished and sailed as open boats. The Haaf fishing declined and the use of open boats, such as sixareens, for deep sea fishing towards the end of the 19th Century. The Gloup disaster of 1881 where 56 men were lost, the move to larger decked in vessels, as well as the herring boom of the early 1900s saw the Haaf fishing come to an end. Sailing drifters soon gave way to steam drifters and then the diesel engines and outboards pretty much the end of commercial and inshore sail fishing. Some Shetland boat builders continued to build craft based on the sixareen, more commonly with smaller dimensions and designed to accommodate an engine, forward shelter or wheel house and engine aboard. Also the smaller ‘Shetland model’ class boat saw the traditional craft used in sailing for leisure as well as inshore fishing, landing fish for the table. There are still some small clinker build boats working creels and some traditional boat builders in Shetland making fourareens, yoals and other traditional craft. The sixareen however, as you can see, really performs when under sail. I can recommend this book, Shetland’s Boats if you want to read more. There exist the lines of a few more of the old sixareens and hopefully someday soon we might see replicas of these built for sailing and out on the water again. shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/shetlands-boats-origin-evolution-and-use?_pos=4&_sid=350a6715a&_ss=r
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Again, thank you very much for getting back to me. I was surprised, when looking up Sixareen on Wiki, to see that they were apparently originally imported from Norway in kit form, until the middle of the 19th Century. I hadn't imagined such commercial subtleties existed in those days. A diversion online into the history of trade had to be abandoned as it was threatening to turn into an all-nighter ! All the best and I hope you have a good summer's sailing.
very nice wind. It floats wonderfully above the sea.
Just found your channel. The Shetlands look stunning. Thank you.
Beautiful. So much power even when reefed. I thought I was over wooden boats but I was wrong.
excellent stuff ,,, i would love to rig one of those sails on my catamaran !!
Sounds a bit wharramish to me
Awesome boats!
That kind of sail seems to be a combination of a mainsail and a jib, doing the work of both! Very cool and elegant!
The boat's as steady as a Rolls - it moves *beautifully!*. Beautiful curves - she really clips along at a good speed!
I love the boats but even more I love how the helmsman keeps his hand on the mainsheet all the time ready to let her go if needed. I saved this to my favorites!!
Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!
Lovely to see Sixerns and Fourerns sailing but would like to have seen how they tack those lug’sls. 🙂
Here’s the Sixareen ‘Vaila Mae’ doing a couple of tacks on a crew training trip. We were fighting against a strong tide as we beat to windward through the north harbour. 🙂 ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.html
Thank you, the method of tacking the lug is great to see.
Good bit of footage, hat tip to skip and crew.
a sight for sore eye's, and better still if I was there.
If I had a boat like the one with the red sail I’d sail it from Australia to UK no worries.
When I moved to Shetland in 1980 I bought a bedraggled boat, I think it was 17’ long. No sail. Unfortunately my skills with the repairs were basic but with the old short shaft seagull, my rod and labrador I had the time of my life in the solitude of Moussa and Leebitton. Very happy days. If you want a photograph is there any way to forward it? Great images.
0.35 My dad used to make these !
I loved this. Tell me also that was a “Seagull” outboard in the bin!
Glad you enjoyed the footage. Yes, that is a “Seagull” outboard, Brian Chapman has a large collection of old seagull outboards and was starting them up and giving folk a listen over the boat week. I have fond memories of my first outboard, it was an old seagull 1.5hp short shaft.
I remember my dad having a couple of Seagulls when I was a kid over 50 years ago. They were old back then.
@@craigkaschan4822 Yup but drop them overboard, leave them for a couple of tides and even I could get’em running again! Im sure I had a new one in the early nineties.
The bin's the best place for a seagull. A great outboard for learning to manoeuvre under sail.
Excellent!
I want some of that action.
Lovely
Do you have any video of them going through a tack?
Here’s a video showing a tack. ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.html
Where’s the tack ?
Here’s some tacking aboard the Sixareen Vaila Mae. ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.htmlsi=Ys6Rt_H9-q_p-5nA
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Thanks for that, wow what a performance, way more involved than I thought ! I was actually expecting a windward jibe.
I learnt something today 👍
@@MauriceHendersonShetland
Maurice I crew on a Trimaran in the Swan River Perth Western Australia. I don’t think our sailing experience could be more different ! Cheers, 🍻
Those boats look pretty fast
The Scottish Birlinn was a more maneuverable craft than a Viking longship I’ve read
Aye , how close can they get?
The video only shows the sail flown proud of the mast but should the boat need to tack, would the sail press hard on the mast?
Here’s a clip showing the ‘Vaila Mae’ tacking. You have to lower the yard fairly quick as the boat comes through the wind while tacking, you don’t want the sail pressing hard against the mast. The Far Haaf sixareen seen sailing with the red sail has a downhaul fitted to assist getting the yard down in the event of it being pressed hard against the mast if you don’t get the sail lowered in time as you come through the wind.ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.html
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Thank you so much. I understand now. It must take considerable skill, dexterity and strength to do it well. I love the way her beautiful long hull cut so smoothly through the flat water.
beautiful boats and music too,.Can one buy the plans for these boats somewhere?
Hi, I don’t know of anywhere you can buy a set of actual plans. There are a number of boat builders in Shetland all building to their own style these kind of boats but they don’t really produce plans. Here’s a link to a site that shows lines of a number of Shetland boats shetlandboat.wordpress.com you could perhaps contact Marc Chivers who has done a PhD on the Shetland boats and drawn many lines of them, his site is www.moderdy.org There are some books with lines of boats as well. shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/the-shetland-boat-south-mainland-and-fair-isle?_pos=21&_sid=d1ac68706&_ss=r&variant=3933100802059
This book is mostly about the Ness Yoal, but there is a design by Iain Oughtred based on this hull that might be worth looking as that will have plans. Another book on the sixareen. shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/the-sixareen-and-her-racing-descendants?_pos=13&_sid=d1ac68706&_ss=r
@@MauriceHendersonShetland Thank you so much for this information Maurice, I will look into it. Very kind of you to have replied in detail.
Это элитарный клуб 12 лет 200 подписчиков жаль языками не владеют
All that video and not one complete tack or gyre. No shots of a dead run downwind.
Thanks for you comment, I shall put in a full tack next time. Here’s a couple of tacks from aboard the ‘Vaila Mae’. ua-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/v-deo.html
We don’t often sail on a dead run but this is a clip with the squaring reef and some downwind sailing on the run back in to harbour. ua-cam.com/video/Mr9exxXZJco/v-deo.html There is a tack in the latest video on the page as a few folk wanted to see that.