Hello Weta Sailors,

The second Lake Santa Fe Swarm was a big success. The weather was warm, wind mostly 5 knots with occasional 10 knot gusts, mostly from the East. Both Friday and Saturday evening we had 12 gusting to 15 knot winds which started around 5PM. I was still out sailing Saturday evening late enough to enjoy those winds. We had 4 Wetas participating in the Swarm. Howard Jelks sailed his yellow hulled Weta that he bought used from Devin Van Zandt, around 6 months ago. Gina Hopen and Terry Wheeler who I raced with at the Mug Race May 2025. Those 3 Weta owners live near, and normally sail on Lake Santa Fe. I towed my Weta from Tallahassee. There was a special event in Melrose, Florida (the town nearest the South East shore of the Lake). The event included at least two live bands playing out doors, and some art galleries open late, where you could walk around and see work made by local artists. Both Howard and I launched at "Hatties" 572 SE 16th Street property owned by Ken Fickett who provided a launch site and place to camp at no charge. We were able to leave our Wetas rigged Friday and Saturday nights. Terry and Gina chose other launch sites on the lake to launch from. Devin was supposed to Swarm with us but could not make it. Lake Santa Fe is spring fed & rain fed. The water is very clean. It has lots of Cyprus Trees with lots of Spanish Moss hanging from the branches. The lake level was lower than normal due to lack of rain. Most of the State of Florida is in a drought and under a "Burn Ban" so no camp fires. We need rain. We have not set a date for the 3rd Lake Santa Fe Swarm, but it will probably be in September, after the Juana Good Time Regatta which is the first weekend of September. The highlight of the weekend for me was passing a Farrier F24 Trimaran to windward while we both were sailing on a beam reach. The F24 had two crew, a Mainsail and Large Genoa, I had the gennaker, jib and main. We were going about the same speed until we got a gust which didn't seem to help them much, but I started to plane and surged way ahead of them. -- Rick

-- Rick Upson