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That one fairly gets the crowd going😄🙌🏻🎻

With a bit of practice the crew get quite slick with the tacking😄

Here’s some tacking aboard the Sixareen Vaila Mae. th-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/w-d-xo.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, 🍻

Thanks for the nice comment 🎻@patrikcalloch7953

Thanks for your comment @tombristowe846 here’s a demonstration of some tacking aboard the sixareen. th-cam.com/video/A32Oerky8v4/w-d-xo.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.

Thanks for the lovely comment, glad you enjoyed the footage and you got to visit the Voe, it was great to meet you. Stenness in that weather really is amazing to experience.

Thanks @jeleth I enjoy trying a few tunes on the single row box in the house but Fullsceilidh allows a rare stage appearance😄

Thanks @tizziejames9040 , a spectacular sight.

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for your comment 👍🏻

Because it’s not really a square sail.

It is a dipping lug, in Shetland we speak about it also as a square sail. The reason being that in the older form of the sixern sail it was less peaked and more of a square sail. This one has a squaring reef in the sail that allows you to take the peak out and put the yard more square across, you also move the tack further aft. This gives a very good downwind rig, that performs well improving how the boat handles. You can see us putting in the squaring reef for the downwind leg in this clip. th-cam.com/video/Mr9exxXZJco/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-MhURaqoCBhsELtB

Jim certainly loved a good session. @richardwemyss4336

Thanks for your comment Marc, much appreciated. That is nice to hear about Tom Anderson sending you the book. He did so much to keep the Shetland tunes and fiddle tradition going, and it is still going strong today thanks to his foresight to start teaching the fiddle to the youngsters. That book is a good source of Shetland tunes. You have maybe seen this book by the late Dr Peter Cooke on the Shetland fiddle tradition. An interesting read. All the best, Maurice www.drpetercooke.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Shetland-fiddle.pdf

He will be a great miss Davie. I was looking at some of the old Foula Fest films the other night, some great weekends. Hope to see you in Foula in the summer. 🎻

@@MauriceHendersonShetland i hope so

Thanks for your kind comments, glad you enjoyed the music and video. All the best for 2024🎻

Cheers @TonyKeyes we just have to make the most of the winter, get out in the weather. It won’t be long before we’ll be hauling the boats down again in the spring for some sailing.

Thanks so much for your nice comment, much appreciated.

Glad you enjoyed watching the footage, thanks for your comment and feedback.

Thanks so much for your kind comment and glad you enjoyed the winter footage. The fiddle was tuned AEAE and ADAE in the tunes played at the Voe, giving added resonance in the fiddle and with some ringing strings perhaps adds to that raw quality you mentioned, thanks.

Ah, that’s interesting. Thanks. Look forward to the next instalment.

Thanks @richardashbee1477, a coorse night out there just now, Force 10 and still picking up.

Thanks so much for your comment, and appreciation, glad you enjoyed the footage. @TonyKeyes

Thanks for you kind comment, glad you enjoyed the stories. Greenland is a fantastic place to visit. I haven’t been to Newfoundland yet but some great music over there.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the footage. Yes, Lerwick Harbour is often at its best in those predawn hours. We were lucky at the Tall Ships to have such lovely nights.

Thanks for you comment, glad you enjoyed it.🎻 In the video description there is also a link to an interactive dance tutorial we made with Maria Leask. Demonstration of the steps and dance.

Hi Karen, the tune is ‘Swan LK243’ composed by Catriona McKay on the harp. Fiddlers’ Bid recorded it on the album ‘Da Farder Ben da Welcomer’. It is also on Catriona McKay’s album ‘Starfish’. I can also recommend Catriona’s albums ‘Harponium’ and ‘Love in Secret’ if you want some stunning music.😊

@MauriceHendersonShetland that's great, thank you! I'll have a listen to those recommendations. It's such a wonderful sound from the harp, as with the fiddle too, of course! ☺️

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video😊

Thanks Richard, I’m looking forward to explore some more around the Voe through the winter.

Thanks for your comment, glad you liked the video.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. The sixareen ‘Vaila Mae’, is certainly a fine boat, we usually have a weekly sail during the summer months, plenty of good yarns aboard with the crew. Looking forward to next season.

Thanks so much for your comment Kenneth, it is good to hear that about the Faroese chain dance and singing. The boat is hauled up now for the winter, but time for some good music sessions with the nights drawing in.

Thank you for your nice comment, I’m glad you enjoyed the video.

Thanks for your comment, glad you enjoyed the stories and tunes.

A good time of year for it, also the best time for views of the Milky Way. I hope you get some good displays of aurora.

​@@MauriceHendersonShetlandI go Shetland twice a year for 6 weeks June/July for simmer dim and 6 weeks September/October for the Aurora

Sounds like a nice boat. The sixareen is 30Ft LOA. The sail area is 240 square feet (22.4m2). We have ballast aboard, approximately 880Ib (400kg) of lead.

@MauriceHendersonShetland I have 1.2 ton keellongkeelsteel.its a doppeleander 6.3 ton she is werry heavy. I'm sailing the estcost of Thailand.