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Sailing

I am now in the third season sailing my Skerry Cricket

She sails well and is a light responsive boat. So far she has been very steady and has not yet taken in any water. In fact she behaves just as promised by the designer, John Harris from Chesapeake Light Craft website Skerry Page. She benefits from a bit of extra weight particularly when she is going into waves. It reduces slapping too.

I sail Lake Ontario in the West end, Humber Bay. It is known to be choppy because waves get reflected from the break wall and shores and come from all directions, and I usually try to get out beyond the chop if I can. Since I am often quite far out I have gotten caught a number of times in conditions that were a bit (!!) more extreme than the Skerry is designed for. In fact it is often me and much bigger boats.

High wind is not usually the problem since I have found that I can spill the wind out of the sails or set it so that the sail is not working very efficiently. I don't much like the big breaking waves that develop when the wind comes from the South.

I am still sailing with the orange polytarp Sprit. I have lowered it so that the rig is a bit closer to the boat, and I have re-laced it so that it sets as well as it can. I found that by not lacing the foot, but rather tightening the 2 ends, the sail is much better behaved. I also lowered the sprit and this sets the top much better. One small thing made a big difference. I added little telltales, essentially some yarn taped to the sail, and this has helped me hugely in judging the set of the sail.

As my skill and my experience has grown and I am rarely as terrified as I had been before when the weather changed for the worse suddenly. I trust my little boat and if I do my part she will keep me safe with a bit of luck.

I am beginning to understand the shortcomings of my latest sail. It needs a bit more shaping to perform better I think. I will try to add some darts and see if this makes any difference. I have a new sail kit from Sailrite for a balanced lug. Much larger than I really need (76 sq ft) and I plan to use it mostly reefed. There is quite alot of shape built in the seams and I think it will make a big difference.

So far I've tried 3 different sails. I think I've got it (for now)

Some thoughts on the rig, (white polytarp) at the start of Season 2

 photo of skerry
Heading out! Just off the dock.
With my beloved nylon sail Cricket went really well with the wind behind her. The sail just bulged out like a spinnaker. It really did not perform terribly well after a while because it had stretched out.
sailing the skerry

Another Perfect Day on the Water.

There is not much wind but the day was perfect anyway! Cricket is quite fast with the wind coming from the back and will match speed with longer boats with larger sails.
Cricket the Skerry on Toronto Island
Toronto Island Beach
Cricket the Skerry sails off
Sailing out of harbour, lots of wind.		 Had a fabulous sail to the Toronto Island and had my lunch on the beach. Rowed most of the way back. Easy and smooth!


How does she sail?
Cricket has gone out about 30 times this season, in all kinds of weather. Some days were quite extreme as in the day I got caught in a squall. Other days were almost dead calm. So here the short version for me at least. Cricket can handle really strong wind. (I've been in at least 25 knots that I know of and much bigger gusts) and the main issue is just hanging on and keeping the boat straight. In light weather it moves as well as anything at my club and better than most.
Waves have a much bigger effect on my little Cricket. If its choppy with waves going this way and that, Cricket hates it, particularly in light wind. She just wallows there when there is not enough wind to fight the chop. As soon as there is a bit more wind she can move but still doesn't like chop at all. The wind tends to just spill from the sail because of the bouncing around. If the waves are big but regular and not breaking, Cricket is not terribly worried. I have had her is nice big 4 feet waves and she just loved it. With her nose in a wave she crashes a bit because of the flat bottom though. She seems to prefer being at a slight angle. I don't much like the crashing but she seems to tolerate it. I try to not go sideway in the waves too much but so far I have not had any trouble. She is very forgiving. The small size of the sail helps me as a beginner. I have never gotten any water in the boat yet, but I think I will try to push my luck a bit next season.
It seems to be able to point resonably in the wind with my not so good nylon sail and not as well with my new smaller polytarp sail. (could just be needing tweaking). I sail from the floor just behind the middle seat. It still lifts the front a bit too much. I will be getting some sandbags I think to experiment with adding a bit of weight to the front. It behaves very well with 2 people. It is much less jumpy in chop and rides a bit smoother. Slower to accelerate though.
Cricket is not tippy and is quite fast because she is so light, responsive and forgiving. She rows very nicely and its easy to just keep going.
I'm finally quite comfortable in her and feel safe knowing that if anything sudden happens (like my snotter coming apart and the sprit just falling out, essentially scandalizing it in 18 kt wind) the boat doesn't bat an eye. (Just makes a big fuss with flapping sail!)

Season 2
Cricket the Skerry

Cricket spent her first winter in my tiny front yard. Her second winter was spent at the boat club. As long as the boat is reversed then water and ice doesn't accumulate and damage her. Cricket the Skerry asleep for the winter.
Christine DeMerchant's Skerry overwintering

Car toppable, YES SIR!

Only a short drive to the lake, but I die anyway. I'm always worried that something will happen. No problemo though, George had pretty much knitted the boat to his car. It didn't shift a mil.
Christine DeMerchant's Boat Club TSCC

Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club

Photo taken in March during a warm spell. The Toronto Sailing and Canoe club is one of the oldest in the country. No posers here! Lots of action, canoes and kayaks, some Dragons, a couple of huge outriggers, Dinghies (Wayfarers and Lazers mostly) a good collection of keelboats including a fabulous Dragon. Our harbour is not so deep so we don't have really large boats. There are no motor boats except for the club support boats. I think there are races twice a week plus on week ends. I'm not much of a racer but its loads of fun.

There is a very active sailing school and this year we have a record number of adult classes scheduled. We also run classes for small kids in Optimists, and teenager classes too. Lots of action and fabulous energy. Since most of my sailing is done during the day I run into the kids more than the grown ups.

Have you ever wondered how big boats get in the water, here is a link to the launch at my boat club Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club.

Read about construction

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emails: Christine

This web site reflects my personal ideas and doesn't represent anyone else's point of view.