Sixareen Sailing with Squaring Reef

A fresh October breeze yesterday and we beat south through Lerwick harbour with two reefs in. This gave a great opportunity to take the helm in some bigger waves in Breiwick, and get the feel of the boat. It also makes tacking and working the square sail rig more challenging and provides good experience for the crew in rougher waters.
We had headed south along the Bressay shore and lowered the sail to tie in a “squaring reef” for the return downwind leg, and slipped out the lower two reefs. The tack was tied to the waring and moved further aft, about mid-ships. The “squaring reef” takes out the peak of the sail leaving a more square sail, this was used in the days of the Haaf fishing for downwind sailing in rough seas and strong winds, helping make the boat and sail more controllable. This was the first time we had tried the “squaring reef” on the ‘Vaila Mae’, and skipper, Brian Wishart thought it was perhaps the first time in over 100 years that a squaring reef had been tried in a sixareen sail.
With these sailing trips we are learning about and rediscovering how this traditional rig performs on the sixareen. Brian Wishart explained that they modelled the sail of the ‘Vaila Mae’ on that of the sixareen ‘Industry’, dating from 1891 on the westside of Shetland. The sixareen square sail on the westide had evolved with this higher peak to improve sailing to windward, but retained the top “squaring reef” point so they could lower the peak of the sail to the older form of square sail. The square sail used on sixareens in other parts of Shetland had the peak in the sail but not quite as extreme. It would have been a very familiar rig in its day, and the fisherman new the benefits of retaining this option of squaring off the sail, for a more balanced downwind rig. You hear of accounts in heavy seas and gales where the “squaring reef” was put in and the three “normal” reefs taken in. The towsman on the halyard lowering and raising the sail to control power as they negotiate the waves.
Thanks to Gordon Henderson for filming from the shore, and I managed to get a few clips in the boat. Jordan Clark also filmed a few clips of me trying the helm, with Robert Wishart coaching!
Nice to have Sam Holmes aboard for a sail, check out his KZbin channel, Sam Holmes Sailing. / samholmessailing
The tunes are:
The Greenland Man’s Tune - Trad Shetland
Willafjord- Trad Shetland
Da Yaakie Drogan - Trad Shetland
Maurice Henderson - Fiddle
Ewen Thomson - Fiddle