Goat Island Skiff Videos – Goat Island Skiff Sailing, Reefed and Manoeuvring

Video examples of why the Goat Island Skiff is well known for high average speeds compared to similar boats from the Goat Island Skiff Playlist on Youtube..

Here is the best overall video that covers just about everything. But much more below

But rather than looking through the long list, here are some notable videos from the Goat Island Skiff Channel arranged into different subjects.  Click on any of the links below.

So on to the Goat Island Skiff Sailing, Building and Manoeuvring Videos!

Might as well build the boat first.  This is Daniel Caselli from South America.  Thanks Daniel for the nice presentation!  The Goat comes out of a minimum number of pieces but you can easily see how fast this simple boat goes in all conditions.

For this presentation we are back in Australia.  This is a sailing day and Barbeque where about 20 of us got together for new boat launchings and just to try sailing.  This is courtesy of Peter Hyndman.  It is me steering.  One of the gents met his future wife at the BBQ and the other ended up buying the boat four years later when it became available!

Watch carefully and see how quickly the boat is moving through the water – it is passing the waves easily with no fuss.  Also a good example of how extra weight doesn’t slow it at all.  It is also so easily driven that it moves well when the sails are well reefed.

At lake Tarpon on Florida – a sailing day.  The goat moves well out in the lake then comes in and does a tight turn in light wind between two marina arms.  It has a sharp and clean response to steering in all conditions except the most extreme and at all angles of heel.

In Australia we normally hoist the sail on the beach or grass and then go sailing.  In the USA they often have to hoist the sail afloat.

Here Andrew hoists his sail then adjusts the downhaul and goes sailing.  He has moved the control for the halyard and the downhaul so it can be reached easily on the main seat rather than go forward to the mast.  Also he sits just behind the middle seat which is the best place for performance.

This next one is a little tutorial about sailing by the lee.  This is something that most sailors are told to avoid.  You can hear me explain how the sail trim can completely control the heeling of the boat.  There is a tutorial that gives more explanation on strong wind sailing technique for unstayed rigs here – it works on your Laser or Norwalk Island Sharpie too.

Here you can see Simon’s Goat in Florida sailing heavily reefed.  Note how the Goat Island Skiff makes good progress despite the small sail area. Any boat is more stable with crew on each side of the boat rather than crouching together in the middle.

Just so you can see the relative speed of the Goats – this is the 2012 Small Reach Regatta – to be fair, everyone is there for a nice time and not everyone is racing.  But it does show how smoothly the goats go through the water.  There is a yawl option, but the single sail is still the most popular.

And the Goat yawl version also has a reverse gear when the wind is in the right direction.  But the single sail is simpler and faster to set up.

More Information about the Goat Island Skiff