Sixareen Vaila Mae

The sixareen is a traditional sailing and rowing boat from the Shetland Islands that was used at the haaf fishing (meaning deep sea) in the 18th and 19th century. The Vaila Mae is a replica built for the Shetland Museum and archives by Robbie Tait and Jack Duncan in the Museum s boat shed. The Vaila Mae was sailed at the Walls Regatta and Shetland Boat Week festival earlier this summer and gave the opportunity for folk to experience sailing in a sixareen and an idea of how these boats performed on the water. Shetland Boat Week has organised training of volunteer crew, to learn the ropes of handling a sixareen, this short film was taken during such a training session. This project plays a valuable role in preserving a very important part of Shetland s maritime cultural heritage and is allowing a new generation, as well as experienced sailors a chance to learn how these traditional Shetland vessels handled and performed under sail. The Shetland haaf fisherman were some of the be