Great way to spend the day! Is your camera one of those Victure Action cameras? I recently acquired one and am fixing one of these days to try and record a Skerry outing.
@@okuboheavyindustries5758 Cheers! I just added a total of 20L ballast to my Askeladden 2135 (14") to see how it affects stability, your solution was an inspiration :]
Looks fantastic. I've been wondering if you need a boat licence for a dinghy or a small boat without an engine in Japan? I read that for boats with less than 2hp motor or/and 3 meters in lenght you don't need a licence but is this 3 meter limit also only for powerboats? I'd be interested sailing with any standard size 14-20ft two person dinghy as a tourist ( I don't live in Japan)
I don’t have a license or registration for Swallow. My understanding of the rules was that either it has an engine or is more than three meters you need one but when I tried to get it registered I was told it wasn’t necessary. Officially Swallow is classed as a canoe.
Thanks for sharing your videos. Skerry sailor, here (sprit rig). Looks like Lake Toya is beautiful. Sailing NC and TN lakes, on my end. What wood did you use for the build? Does not look like Okoume. Built from plans, I assume? Nice job. Love the scuppered inwales and what you did with the breasthooks.
Thanks Eric! I used plywood from my local construction supply place. The quality of Japanese plywood is fantastic, no voids! Toya is great, big enough to be exciting but not so big as to be too scary! I think the balanced lug gets a little better performance than the sprit but I’m a little jealous of the ease of switching from sailing to rowing with the sprit.
You put the reef nettle ties around the boom. They should ONLY be attached around the beam of the sail. The attachment points are only at each end of the sail (otherwise there is a risk of tearing the sail). Nice sailing!
Good work Darren. I know the waves always look smaller and everything calmer on video, so it must have been an exciting day! It looks like you have the reef nettle ties around the boom? I have been told to tie them around the bundle of the sail only, so the only attachment points are at each end of the sail. Reefing the Skerry sure makes a huge difference when that wind gets up. But still a good workout for your new mast! Thanks for sharing.
I love your resin pieces :) I'm wondering if you still have them and if they are still running when exposed to light. Or is the resing maybe too foggy by now?
Thanks! Yes, they all still work. Some pieces that have been left outside for a few years have degraded but the solar cells still seem to be getting enough light to keep going! The ones inside have fared much better.
Most excellent! Lego Diorama is a new one on me. I have been a model railroader, a model slot car builder and racer, and a builder and flyer of many model airplanes, but, I guess, having been born before Lego was a thing, I haven't kept up with that scene! I love what you've done! P.S. As I was writing this I remembered having spent a long evening, back around 1989/1990, building a massive, and quite detailed, Lego Pirate Ship for my then-five year old son. He loved it, and so did I!
Thanks Gary! It went about as well as a broken mast can! The sail didn’t even get wet! I was able to pull everything into the boat before it hit the water. The Skerry really is a great little boat.
A great start for the 2023 sailing season Darren. Swallow is looking great after the winter hibernation. Looking forward to more Swallow sailing videos!
Beautifull video....Surprise! ...I'm surprised to hear at 1:24 a music from my home (province of Brittany, in France)! It is called "Son Ar Chistr" (or "Ev' chistr 'ta, Laou") and dates from around 1929. Its best known performer is Alan Stivell.
Hi from Iwate. Do you ever sail Towada-ko? I sail my wee folding Seahopper on nearby Gandou-ko, and hope to get up to Towada-ko next season. Cheers and fairwinds!
Thanks Gary! I’ve sailed along this coastline a few times in a friends much bigger boat and one of the reasons for building Swallow was because there are so many great little coves and beaches to explore that are inaccessible by land and too shallow and rocky for a bigger boat. After my first couple of sails I was worried Swallow may be too small but my confidence in her abilities is growing each time I take her out so we will see. Just need to be careful not to be be too overconfident.
Bridges are always exciting, aren't they, even when you have checked the height. Lovely video, thankyou. Some good tacking practice on the way home by the look of the gps track. Great to see you and Swallow exploring.
At 1min 56sec I would be putting a clip through the eyelet’s at the end of the oar lock shafts so you don’t loose the lot over the side. Lovely scenery and a beautiful boat you have.
Thanks David, you’re absolutely right! I was using some wire to hold the oarlocks in place but I forgot to bring it with me that day. I really need to get ahold of some proper clips.
Heidi seems to be a happy sea dog. My dog lies down in that forward area where you have water ballast bottles and goes to sleep. Lake Toya looks fairly sheltered, and very picturesque. A nice bit of water to explore in a Skerry!
A spectacular place to be sailing a beautiful boat! Thankyou for sharing. A question: do you attach those water ballast containers to the boat somehow? What stops them sliding to one side if you tip a bit? I have thought about adding some water ballast, but up to now, I have relied in my dog who spends most of his time sleeping up in that area just behind the mast
thanks Gary! the water jugs are 20 liters each and seem to stay put with just friction. I had planned to tie them in place but so far they haven’t needed it. Maybe when the wind gets a little fresher. how do you get your dog to stay at the front? I’d like to bring my dog with me but she’s 55kg and I’m worried she’ll want to jump on me and put too much weight at the stern!
@@okuboheavyindustries5758Thankyou. I will give the water jug idea a try. That is a big dog! You would definitely want to be sure he/she didn’t jump in the wrong place at the wrong time. We started our dog just rowing, and he seems to have got the idea to stay where he is put, until we get close to shore. I have been sailing with him in various boats for years. He either finds it restful, or very boring, as he seems to spend most of his time on board asleep. Maybe try some short rowing trips in shallow water and see how your dog likes it.
Awesome stuff! Trying to do this on a UNO and with a similar screen, but struggling! Seen your project for the one with more SRAM, but even just doing the cube, getting funky screen glitches. Any pointers? Got the cube rotation working ok, but stepping up to the cobra has foxed me completely ;-)
