Pilgrimage to Vandemere

Launching Skorpa, sailing her for the first time out the breachway and into the ocean, were important milestones but taking Skorpa to Vandemere the home of her designer was particularly memorable. Our trip was a bittersweet mixture of fulfillment and disappointment.  Graham Byrnes the designer of the EC 22 hosts an annual gathering at his shop on the water there. Sally and I went a few days early and got some wonderful sailing in and stayed our first three nights on the boat.

 On Thursday Graham decide to postpone the gathering until the following week as Hurricane Sandy was prowling up the coast. I had been looking forward to seeing some friends that we had met at previous gatherings and sharing my boat with others, but there was no way that Sally and I could stay an additional week. On Friday evening Graham and Alan, an experienced sailor who works for Graham came out with me for a sail. It was cloudy but we had some nice wind. Usually I am the most experienced sailor on board and when the wind picks up I feel a little tense, nervous, concerned for the safety of the boat and anyone with me. With Alan and Graham aboard that was all lifted from me and we just soared along.

Since I started work on this boat Graham has become a friend and mentor so it was very special to go for a sail with him and see how pleased he is with the boat. You can see the clouds associated with the approach of Hurricane Sandy. The winds were beginning to pick up but they were still a very manageable 10-15 knots

Graham had tweaked the EC 22 design somewhat after his extensive experience with Southern Skimmer. Skorpa is the first boat built to this updated design. The design changes included some minor increases in the scantlings. Graham built Southern Simmer to be as light as possible. He has not experienced any structural failures even though he pushes his boat very hard, still he felt a few places should be beefed up a bit before the design was turned loose to the general public. Skimmer did exhibit some lee helm. It was necessary to use the rudder to prevent the boat from turning down wind. Graham addressed this issue by moving the mizzen mast aft a little and the centerboard forward slightly. This brought the boat into balance so little or no rudder effort is necessary to keep the boat going on course. You can see in the above photo that Alan is not applying much force on the tiller and the rudder is nearly centered.

Graham is not as expressive as Alan but they both had high praise for  Skorpa. Both of these guys have a huge amount of experience pushing boats to their limits.

Graham liked the way I had extended the cabin 6 inches further forward and the way I finished the cabin interior adding a small navigation table/galley.

Graham suggested that I apply some non skid paint to the cockpit. That was already on my to do list as the seats get slippery. He also had some ideas for making reefing easier. Alan had some ideas on how to better route the halyards. I would have loved to stay longer and to sail some more with Alan and Graham but Sandy was knocking at the door and Sally and I thought it was best for us to head inland.

Saturday afternoon Sally and I packed up and headed home to Ferrum.