I have now sailed my home made stitch and glue boat, a CLC Skerry Cricket for several years.

I sail Lake Ontario in the Toronto West end, Humber Bay. It is known to be choppy because waves get reflected from the break wall and shores and come from all directions, and I usually try to get out beyond the chop if I can. Since I am often quite far out I have gotten caught a number of times in conditions that were cosiderably (!!) more extreme than the Skerry is designed for. In fact it is often me and much bigger boats battling the wind.

High wind is not usually the problem since I have found that I can spill the wind out of the sails or set it so that the sail is not working very efficiently.

I sail with a larger than specified sprit sail made from polytarp. I don't love polytarp material but it allows for easy experimentation. My latest sail is orange. I like to have bright colours because it gives a certain level of safety. People watch the water from my club and from other boats and are more likely to notice if I'm in trouble.

My first sail was made from nylon and worked quite well for a while then got stretched out and not so good.

Another Perfect Day on the Water. Just me and my little boat.

When I first started sailing my Skerry Boat, I asked how much wind was safe for my boat. I realize now that this is not the question to ask. A better question is "how experienced is the sailor at the tiller of the Skerry?"

I have now been out in quite extreme conditions of high wind and big waves. The boat itself has always behaved well. It does not take in water except occasionally when a small amount of spray comes in. This is rare and I've only needed to sponge out small amounts of spray. I've never taken on water.

The boat is not tippy and there is not alot of heeling even in high wind. Because the boom is quite high even in my rig where I've lowered the boom from where John Harris placed it, it is not likely to catch a wave as it heels.

I've never tipped or really come close.

There are many Wayfarers at my club and I can go out anytime they go out. My little boat is as safe for me, but probably for different reasons.

Although she is safe and dry, and is not subject to heeling and is not likely to capsize she has some drawbacks.

Because the Skerry is very light it does not have a great deal of momentum while underway. This means she is very responsive to the tiller and accelerates quickly in the slightest breeze. It also means that in high winds it can be difficult to tack. There is not enough momentum to push her across. This is particularly true if the waves are pushing against the boat. Sometimes the only alternative, if the wind is very strong, is to jibe. Something this boat does quite safely, once you know how to control her sail. I guess the smaller sail area helps.

The Wayfareres with their 350 + pounds has not trouble at all carring on and tacking.

Because the Skerry is a very light boat she tends to float quite high and if the waves are confused and choppy it can be a rough ride. The wind spills out of the sails and she just wallows. If there is enough wind then she picks up speed and is better behaved. I've heard of others keeping sandbags in the boat to add some weight. She's a very different boat with a passenger.

Because she floats high, waves can pick her up and there is nothing quite as much fun as riding the waves. We had a crazy windy day with gusts of 28 knots and nice rolling waves. My little Skerry boat went on a plane and JUST STAYED on top of the wave for 2 minutes!

Even though she has planed a few times its highly unusual and not what the Skerry does best.

Another fault my little Skerry has, is that she tends to slap into the waves. Because part of her bottom is flat and because she is a light boat if I approach oncoming waves at a certain angle she slaps down with lots of noise. Not pleasant but not a problem. I can eliminate this by changing the angle of attack. No one can say the Skerry slices through waves. She insists on staying on top of them.

Several people have experimented with different rigs and report success. I find the sprit to be very well behaved and easy to handle. As all square sails, she is not that happy pointing into the wind but she is as fast as many much larger boats when the wind in coming from behind her.

I have added a jib to the Skerry's rig. It makes a significant improvement but adds complications.

The main argument against the sprit sail is the difficulty in reefing while underway. Its never been an issue for me. I once had a snotter break and release the sprit into the lake. This essentially halved the sail area immediately. This is called scandalizing the sail! There was a great deal of flapping and fussing but no harm done and she sailed acceptably once I had tied the peak down.

I run a line from the end of the boom to the top of the mast and I can pull the boom up against the mast. This folds the sail up. I've done this when I was not comfortable sailing her. I then rowed easily home. I'm more at ease in windy days now so I would sail her home. Its useful for rowing to be able to get the sail out of the way so I keep the line.