Daysail at Lake Tarpon

Spent this past Saturday sailing on Lake Tarpon with friends from the WCTSS.  We had perfect weather with winds up to about 15kn.  I was single-handing so I had the first reef in the Goat and it was a bit hairy upwind, at times.  Off the wind I got a few short planing runs.  Full sail would have been awesome but I need crew on the rail to fly full sail in that much wind.

Flat water and a decent breeze.  Photo by Carol Marshall sailing with Dennis on "Duckling" a Michalak Skat

Me in Goat.  Photo by Carol Marshall

Photo by Carol Marshall

That's close to rail under.  The big rudder has awesome grip so I can usually get away with being on the edge in a puff.  Photo by Carol Marshall

We stopped for lunch at the Tarpon Turtle.

Foreground is Welsford Houdini, then Michalak Skat, then Storer Goat then No Mans Land Boat.  Not bad, not bad at all.

Eric and Jane Devoe's Brand new Houdini "Belafonte"

Dennis and Carol Marshall's Michalak Skat "Duckling"

Our "Goat"

Rex and Kathy Payne's No Man's Land Boat "eyeCod"

Dale Niemann's Core Sound 17 "Lively"

Skat, SeaPearl, Siren and a Bay Hen

Had a lot of fun chasing Dale's CS 17 and Tim's SeaPearl.  Dale and crew just walked away from the Goat when the breeze was up and I had to reef but then when the wind died down and I put full sail up they were toast.  Tim's very well sailed SeaPearl was impossible to catch.  I could at best stay with him but a lot of the time he was a bit faster.