I have posted a couple of photos of Mallie's first sail in Preston dock. In defence of the poor sail set shown in the photos I had only just hoisted the sail. At least that is my excuse.
Next step is to go down the river ribble to the estuary where there is more room to play then in June out to sea for the maiden voyage.

Sally Peake wrote:Hooray - She's sailing!  Well done Peter - now you can spend a life-time tweeking things to get her going better and better.  The first time I went sailing with my father, we stepped the mast the wrong way round!!

Thank you Sally. I dare not start to tell you what I got wrong when rigging Mallie. Safe to say that that I seem to have corrected most of the mistakes, but I could be wrong!

Hooray - She's sailing!  Well done Peter - now you can spend a life-time tweeking things to get her going better and better.  The first time I went sailing with my father, we stepped the mast the wrong way round!!

Hi Peter

Good to know Malliemac is on the water and you are beginning the first sailing tests. Don't be discouraged if all don't work very well at the first time . Me, despite my experiences with PHA, I had problems to solve before to be ready to sail offshore.

Best regards

Bertrand

On Wednesday I took Mallie into Preston dock intending to have my fist sail. I only got as far as raising three panels before finding some lines crossed and the aft end of the boom dropping below the boom gallows. Not what I was expecting. In my defence this is the first time I have rigged a junk rigged boat. I did actually sail, well motor sail really as the engine was on and in gear. Undaunted but somewhat disappointed I returned to my berth to figure out what I had done wrong. An e.mail to the oracle that evening put me right. I had not fiully understood the interaction between the topping lifts and luff parrels when setting up the rig. Yesterday was much more productive and I now feel much more confident with the rig set up. A few more tweeks today and I should be ready for my second attempt at a sail. Thankfully there was virtually no wind yesterday.
Preston dock is a wonderful place to carry out trials. It is apparently the largest locked in dock in europe. It can get rough though, especially in an easterly blow. There are one or two hazards, a port hand mark in the centre of the dock along with a large mooring buoy.
The dock must be about half a mile long so plenty of room to play. I hope to spend much of the forthcoming bank holiday weekend sailing up and down the dock before venturing out into the river Ribble and then, in a few weeks the maiden voyage, probably to the Isle of Man or maybe Anglesey.
I have posted a few photos of Mallie with her sail set in the photogallery.