Katie, Sails At Last.

I've finally got round to sailing Katie.
A weekend meeting at Barton Turf was the impetus to get cracking and build the rig.
Encouraged by Rob Blackburn's success with the roller reefing system borrowed from Matt Leyden's Paradox, I cobbled together one of my own from bits I had accumulated
in the garage and some fancy new PolyTarp, which I think looks rather fetching.

Photo John Lockwood

Photo John Lockwood

By the time I got there I had the system working maybe three times out of four which isn't really a high enough success rate, but a group discussion and a bit of fettling ironed out the wrinkles.

I rather tentatively took her out on Saturday and had a very gentle sail round Barton Broad. She behaved herself impeccably, seemed to tack well and could get to windward.  She got some queer looks at times but also some admiring comments.
Builder and Designer were both very pleased.
There is some video footage which might emerge soon, in the meantime here's a short clip of the beautiful countryside and a couple of the other boats.