Thank You

Sorkpa is in the water. There has been a lot of work on my part, but this could never have been accomplished without the help and support of many people.

My wife Sally who was always available to mix epoxy, move lumber, clamp squirming laminates and dozens of other tasks where I needed or wanted an extra hand.

Friends and neighbors who helped turn the boat, loan tools or just give encouragement.

Graham Byrnes who believed I could do this from the beginning, created such a beautiful and functional design, and whose enthusiasm for the joy of boating is so contagious and generously shared.

Skorpa's launch was a two stage affair. First stage was trailering Skorpa to the boat ramp and prelaunching her.

Second stage was pulling the boat up on the beach and inviting friends, family and neighbors over for an official launch.

Here Skorpa is off leaving the safety of the driveway for our first adventure.

At the ramp the boat needs to be rigged. First the masts need to be raised.

This involves reaching low to fasten the bolt at the base of the tabernacle.

And reaching high to attach the main snotter.

Then off into the water we go. Hurrah! The weight of the boat on the trailer is carried primarily on the keel rollers. This allows the boat to be launched and retieved without submerging the trailer as is usually done.
You can see the trailer tires are just at the waters edge.

Now lets see this line goes here and that line goes there or is it.

The wind were 10 knots with gusts to 15 knots from the southeast. I did not feel comfortable raising the mainsail before launch because there was a dock and a low bridge down wind of us and I didn't have a good way to hold the boat as I raised the main. In the photo the boat is being held by an anchor. I did not want to deal with raising the anchor and stowing it while trying to get under way. Sally suggested that we leave under mizzen alone. This turned out to be a good solution and we got underway without incident.

My neighbor and friend up here at Great Island John Ciolfi offered to help with the launch and sail with me about a mile back to the house. Since we could not fit under the bridge we went the back way through the shallows of East Pond. We had an exciting sail back to our anchorage. The skys and the forecast were threatening thunderstorms. Everything on the boat was untested. But here we were. I was happy that we were on familiar water and home was not far away.

When the winds gusted I could feel the boat surge forward and heal over. In a very short time we were sailing in front of the house. We sailed about for awhile and then decided to tie up at my preset anchor. The sky was heavy with low clouds and the wind was gusty.

A couple hours after we landed a line of severe thunderstorms came through with torrential rains and 40 mph wind gusts.