|
And we are off again……. It was a great night to sail, it blew a steady 4.6 k at the RC barge, but the participants tonight reported some very large gusts and some very slow spots on the race course. Though the wind blew and made for a great race, the temperatures were still running high and kept it a warm but windy evening.
A big thanks to race committee of Tommy Sawchuck, Tony Stanley, Heather Tempske, Anne Howard, Josephine Stanley, Rachael Green, Zoe Dangur and Dana Stewart. Will Brown and Jo Ann Estes served a scrumptious grilled chicken Caesar salad for dinner this evening. Our next meal will be Wednesday, July 13, Race 2-3. We had some great races out there this evening. Premature Acceleration in the Melges 24 showed the old guys how to do it fast and Valkyrie (new red C&C 99) sailed to victory in the Mid PHRF fleet. Congratulations to the crews of these two boats, there is nothing like getting the horn on the race course. There is one more race before we have an off week on July 6 and then we will reconvene the racing on July 13 for the next 8 weeks. I hope everyone got the photographs of your boat as well as the 8 x 10 canvas photo that were given out this evening, once again thanks to Linda Hoopes for all her hard work. Those trophies that were not picked up are laying on the table on the left side of the clubhouse. See on the race course, Dana _______________________________________________________ Thank you for the dedication of the race committee crew this week, She-Devil crew, Anne Howard and Neil Harris along with Jeff Freeman and Billy Street from Renengade. The forecast was a little iffy, but once we reached “A” mark the wind kept veering from “C” to “D” and it was a crapshoot as to where it would settle at race time but it sure exceeded my expectation for velocity.
I must reiterate how important it is to have a chase boat on the race course. One of the competitors ran aground in the vicinity of X island and fortunately Jeff in the chase boat managed to give them a helping hand. A Message from our Culinary Specialist: “Ahoy sailors! I’m sorry I forgot to update you guys about the food last Wednesday (race 9), but we still served over 80 people which an outstanding turnout! Wednesday, June 15 is the awards ceremony (party) for the first series. Please come out and represent your team and wear all of your colors. Jonathan Stewart and I will be doing a low country boil. Gather at 6pm, dinner at 7pm, and awards at 7:30. I will forward to seeing you all there! Also, please keep the Reggae Regatta in mind for this weekend. Will Brown” hope I see everyone at the Reggae Regatta this weekend. See you on the race course, Dana __________________________________________________________________ This race was anticlimactic, we had some fleets that had some very close contests for the trophy spots and boy were they disappointed that we did not run a race. Of course, nobody complained about the postponement and eventual abandonment of this race because there was absolutely no breath of air.
Thank you race committee of Mike Macleod, Brad Hamrlick, Sean O’Connor and the rest of the crew. We had a great summer feast this night prepared by Linda Cellamare, Marie Umberger and the many cooks that slaved over the grill burning (joke) our burgers and dogs. A special thanks to those who do such a fabulous job of cleaning up. Below is an extremely funny video that Pat Finnick found on “What is a sailboat race!” Watch this wild video. https://youtu.be/ZjbcnIrb9Sw See you on the race course, Dana ____________________________________________________________ Last Friday, May 27th, was the first of the Friday night races! We didn't have a turnout for the first one but I think all would agree it was a beautiful night with plenty of wind and we had a great time. Thanks to the Jim Chambers and the crew of Windspinner for the fun, long course. If you didn't make it out there is still time. Upcoming races are on June 17th, July 15th, 22nd, and 29th.
Thanks, Jim Rapp _______________________________________________________________________  It was an unusual night and race committee did an excellent job of getting the job done and over before any potential severe weather. Thanks to Robin Terrell, Cathy Freeman, Scott Ward, Slawek Horodyski, Ralph Herrera, Morgan Peacock, Jim Failmezger and Tricia Terrell. I appreciate RC for making the announcements, the drizzle made things a little difficult sometimes.
Next week can look forward to the last Wednesday night dinner of this first series. Everybody make sure you put the awards party for series 1 on your calendar, June 15 with Series 2 starting the next Wednesday. Other events coming up; PHRF Championship race on Sat. June 4. Cathy Freeman has big plans for the upcoming Reggae Regatta on June 11-12. Dinners and gorgeous T-shirts need to be ordered by May 27. Thanks Chris Flynn for this shot of one of the starts. See you on the race course, Dana ______________________________________________________________________ Is a “Women’s Race” a spectator sport? We will see on Sunday, May 22 with the annual Joan Holcomb Women’s Race. You never know, there might be something to watch, if we have any wind.
Come join our celebration of a woman who was a leader of both Barefoot Sailing Club and Lake Lanier Sailing Club. The thing I love about this sport is the ability for a woman to compete against man in an equal contest and do I have fun! Come join us on the LLSC point, use the temporary gate code #0522, and cheer for your favorite boat. We have a new normal for this month of May. It seems like it is warm and windy during the day and then as soon as the sun goes down, the wind shuts off. I think Ben Harbin put a spell on the weather! Thanks to race committee of Tony Cellamare, Ben Harbin, Kyle Wheatley, Ken Russell, John Gomez and Tillie Harbin for doing an excellent job with a very difficult SE wind. It is difficult to find a good place for the starting line when blows from that direction. A special thanks to Linda Cellamare, who gave Will Brown a break and provided our dinner this evening. The unsung heroes are always the “behind the scene” workers and especially those that take the time to keep our kitchen clean for the next event. Thank you so much. I hope everyone that had a birthday in May was able to enjoy the celebration with us. We have a new event coming up on Fri. May 27. This race series is included in the Wed. night NOR/SI that was sent to you when you registered and is also located on our website, LLSCKeelboat.com, RC info. Reserve these upcoming dates on your calendar of Sat, June 4 (PHRF Championship race ) and the weekend of June 11-12 (Reggae Regatta). The PHRF Championship is a one day race, with trophies and the end of racing day (included in Wed. night registration). With the coming of summer we all anticipate the Reggae Regatta. Cathy Freeman is putting on an event that is going to have you dancing your way to the dock with strains of steel drums. Music will be in the air as you put on your most Reggae-ish shirt, sandals, and your “dreds” for one music filled party. For more information and to register, go to LLSC.com. You need to register by May 27 for shirts and food. See you on the race course, Dana __________________________________________________________________ It was a beautiful late spring evening with a gorgeous full moon and just enough wind to make a pleasant ride to H to watch the fireworks from Margaritaville to the west, while someone was shooting fireworks to the east. What a backdrop for the first race of the Moonlight series. The only real competition was between Pat Finnick in his E33 and Francois Rivard in Take Five. The 2 shots are them sailing past us with that beautiful moon as a backdrop.
Thanks to Jonathan Stewart for setting up this Pursuit course and everyone that joined us in this awesome full moon evening. Thanks to Kim Sciandra for the great shot of the fireworks. The next full moon will be on Reggae Regatta weekend, 2022 Reggae Regatta : Lake Lanier Sailing Club (regattanetwork.com). Moonlight race #2 will be on Sat. July 9 and the last Moonlight race will be on Sat. Aug 13. See you on the race course, Dana ___________________________________________________________________  Once again, congratulations to race committee for getting one more race completed in this series. The wind has been quite a challenge and this race committee did a great job. This was a different race for every fleet. We had some incredible wind shifts. Everybody started with a weather leg to D and the spinnakers went downwind to F. For most of us, that was when the race course shifted on its axis. As we rounded F and prepared to go upwind, suddenly it was a beam reach and if you were the fastest getting your spinnaker up (again!), then you had the jump on your fleet.
Thanks to RC members; Linda Hoopes, JLillian Gray, Dona Cardenas, John, Sean, Mike Kenna, Jill Spisak and a new LLSC member Erick Worster for doing such an excellent job on RC this evening. We were all very appreciative that the course for fleets 1-4 was shortened. It is impressive that Generation Z in the form of Davis Macleod, Parker Thran, Kyle Meyhoefer and Ga Tech sailors are starting to dominate the Wednesday night races. Davis and his team grabbed the top spot in the Melges 24 fleet this week, while Parker and his team took a 2nd place in the Mid PHRF fleet, Kyle has won 4 of the last 6 races in the High PHRF fleet and the Cole Woerner/Roberto Martelli and the Ga Tech team have been stomping all over the J-24 fleet with 2 wins in the newly refurbished Balance Point. Darryl Lanier won the Low Cruiser fleet this week after three 2nd place finishes, while Bill Overend sailed to 2nd place in the High Cruiser fleet. Jeff Freeman and Mike Macleod duked it out with Jeff barely finishing 4 corrected seconds in front of Mike. She-Devil sailed to first place in the very competitive J-24 fleet, while we had a new “22”, a Lindenberg, take the top spot in the High PHRF fleet, great job Tedd Meinersmann. One other comment I will make about the race, we now have 58 boats registered for Wednesday night races. We usually have an average of 45 boats sail each week, so it is likely that there will be times you will meet or overtake boats from another fleet. Please be aware of the boats in your fleet. When you meet a boat on the race course from another fleet, think about whether it is necessary to cause them to lose a place in their fleet because of your actions. Also, RC is doing a good job of making announcements on the radio as a courtesy, so please make sure you take this extra bit of caution by making sure your radio is on at all times. Announcements on the radio are nice, but the flags are the only signals that count. Hopefully I will see you and your favorite honey on Saturday, for the first of 3 Moonlight races. Who do you think is going to win this race, David or Goliath? Have fun, Dana _________________________________________________________ I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating the 4th of May, Wednesday night style. If you follow facebook, our culinary specialist, Will Brown usually posts the menu for our odd week race dinner. This week’s taco night was a huge success. Will and his team of Mary Lyons, Marie Umberger, Linda Cellamare and J Lillian served over 80 people and left everything spic and span. A big thanks to all who make Wednesday night dinners so special. I imagine Waffle House has seen a huge decline in business.
We are now halfway to the finish line and we have some interesting developments in the fleets. In the High PHRF fleet it continues to be a battle of the 22’s. There are 2 points separating the 2nd to 4th place; Mein Sube, Pyg and Marmotta are in a battle for the 2nd spot in the fleet. The J-24 fleet are being led by the GT boat #5353 while there is a tie for 3rd place and 5th place. The Mid-PHRF fleet has a very tight race for the top spot between Meraki and Sotally Tober. One small mistake (or one poor start) can make the difference between winning and losing in this very tight and competitive fleet . The top spot in the Low PHRF fleet has 1.3 points separating 1st to 3rd place, consistency seems to be the solution to winning in this fleet, the 2nd place and 3rd place boats have both won 2 races. The Melges 24 are being led by Hermes but are being hunted by the Lamorak and Premature Acceleration with only .7 points separating 2nd and 3rd place. Wind Spinner with her four 2nd place finishes is putting the moves on Beau Gust in the High Cruiser fleet. Instigator II and Revelry are in contention for the 2nd spot in the Low Cruiser fleet. A big thank you to all the Mothers that are participating in our Wednesday night adventures, Happy Mother’s Day. I know how competitive we all are , but I hope all of our women sailors are practicing for JH Women’s race. Whether you are at the helm going to and from the race course or going out on the weekend, I look forward to seeing you on May 22 at LLSC with registration at BarefootSailingClub.org. The first Moonlight race will be on Sat, May 14. LARC NOR/SI will be attached and a pre-registration email will be sent next week. The first Friday night race will be on Fri, May 27. The Friday night NOR/SI are included in the LLSC Keelboat NOR/SI. Thanks to Linda Hoopes for the spectacular photos from Race 5. See you on the race course, Dana _________________________________________________________________ Another excellent job by race committee. It was like this RC had psychic powers. Tommy Sawchuk, John Guy, Pete Winham, Tony Stanley, Rachel Green, and Marten Kendrich obviously rubbed their crystal ball just right so they could see the gentle wind that was going to appear just in time for us to sail a 3 mile course before sunset. While we are all out on Wed enjoying ourselves, some of us are starting to battle with their fleet mates for the top spot in our fleet. Somebody is going to need to put a hole in Greg Cash’s boat to push him off the top spot of Low Cruiser while Jim Chambers is making some serious moves on Kurt in Beau Gust in High Cruiser. The shining star in Melges 24 is Barkley/Krantz but Tony Stanley is only one race away from taking the top spot, while McCarthy, Freeman and Guy/Stewart are pushing each other to outperform their competitors in the Low PHRF fleet. Kingery and Thran are battling for the 2nd spot in Mid PHRF, while the newly refurbished GT J-24 “Balance Point” is taking the lead in the one-design fleet, but the big surprise is the battle of the “22’s” for the top spots in the High PHRF fleet. The next couple of race may tell a different story. Women sailors/skipper; you should be out there practicing for the Joan Holcomb Women’s race on Sunday, May 22. Registration will be at BarefootSailingClub.org on May 1. For those of you who love a night race, the first Moonlight race will be Sat, May 14 skipper’s meeting at 6 pm Aqualand and the first Friday night race will be Friday, May 27 with starting gun at 7pm (see Randy Phillips for more info). The Moonlight races are free to all participants that are a member of BFSC, UYC or LLSC and the Friday night series is included in both Wed Keelboat and Keelboat weekend race registration. Last but not least, the menu for next week’s Wednesday night dinner will be taco night. We are celebrating Cuatro de Mayo, Wednesday night style. I am including some of the photos I have seen on facebook and they are great reminders of the what a joy it is to have a sailing break in the middle of the work week. Thank you Julie Stuart and SV La Luna for the great shots. See you on the race course, Dana ____________________________________________________________________
What’s shorter than Tommy Sawchuck and Mike Blanchard? Oh I know that one, last night’s race. That course was so short that by the time the J-24’s started, we met head on with the Melges 24 as they rounded the leeward gate. What do you call a boat that is half Melges 24 and half J-24? Two boats that unexpectantly meet at a mark rounding.
I want to thank race committee of Mike Stewart, Randy Baker, Mike Blanchard, Will Brown and Ted Sheldon for providing an excellent course that didn’t include “E” mark. It was a tough call and an even tougher course to set with the wind direction on this fine Wednesday night. Not only was this a fine spring evening with comfortable temperatures and enough wind to make easy sailing, but we also had the fine epicurean meal of southern style Beef Stroganoff provided by our master chef, Will Brown. The volunteers of Linda Cellamare, Ted Sheldon and Marie Umberger made feeding the 47 boats this evening much more enjoyable. I have included the overall scores and if you continue to the end, you will find the specific times and results from race 1-3. We had some interesting results this week: Jim Chambers won the High Cruiser fleet, Tony Stanley moved to the top with his 4th place finish in the Melges 24, John McCarthy made it to the top spot with his 4th place finish in the Low PHRF fleet, Joey Duran won this race in the Mid PHRF fleet, while Tom Graham and Mark Turner won the J-24 fleet by a very close margin. See you on the race course, Dana _____________________________________________________________ Oh, those nasty Southerly winds. Race committee for the last 2 weeks have had to deal with this unusual wind direction and what a challenge. RC were excellent in managing a difficult job of setting the best course or longest course possible for the winds we had this evening, but what a gorgeous evening it was. A great night to be sailing as I believe the other 43 boats that were out there with me would agree. To quote Mr. Rogers “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…” and that would definitely describe race #2.
A big thanks to our race committee of Warren Collier, David Jackson, Elizabeth Jackson, Harry Huff, Karen Huff, Christian Koerner, Mary Lyons, and Will Brown. When you have 44 of the 55 boats registered in 7 fleets (can you believe how we have grown!!), the starts and finishes can be quite exciting. I know 3 of the J-24’s finished within 1 second of each other and the mid-PHRF fleet has some excitement at the starting line. RC is doing a wonderful job of announcing the course, changes and most important. boats that are over early. So it is very important to have a radio on your boat and turned on (my idiosyncrasy) to receive important information and communicate with RC if you are retiring or in trouble during the race. Btw, I apologize for not complimenting our Culinary Specialist, Will Brown, for the delicious chicken and broccoli casserole that he cooked in week #1. Can’t wait to find out what he has planned for us this upcoming week #3!! If anyone would like to volunteer to do a meal on one of the odd # Wednesday night races, please contact me and we will gladly accept your help. For all you lovers of sailing under the full moon, the next Keelboat event will be Saturday, May 14; LARC after Dark Moonlight race #1. More information will be sent at the beginning of May. And speaking of May, the Joan Holcomb Women’s Race will be Sunday, May 22. So let’s put some women at the helm and teach them the thrill of driving a boat. Look forward to seeing you next Wednesday, Dana _________________________________________________________________ The first race of a 10 week series is always fraught with changes and questions. This year we had 50 boats registered for this series and this causes some changes in fleet splits and starting order. There was excitement in the J-24 fleet with 6 boats registered and their own start. Now let’s stir in some weather. There were storms that threatened the peace of our first night and you have a recipe for taught nerves and lots of foul weather gear. Fortunately for us, the storms delayed until after the High PHRF fleet made the windward mark of E. It started to fill in with little puffs making the spinnaker finish a lot more exciting. Most of you have seen the scores or corrections of the scores. I think I have all the issues ironed out. Please see attached for the latest and greatest of scores for Race #1. I have heard many compliments for the race committee for their broadcasts and getting a race completed. Race committee of Tom Graham, Warren Collier, Glen Schmudde, Mark Turner, Will Brown and Kevin Kennedy did an excellent job with the unpredictable conditions we had this night. Time is not always on the side of race committee, and they often do the best job in the amount of time given. Thank you for volunteering for this important job.
Photos from Will Brown on facebook at LLSC Keelboat page.
_________________________________________________________________ by Warren Collier
The LLSC 2022 Dogwood Regatta was a wonderful way for the LLSC Keelboat Fleet and Georgia Tech Sailing Clubs to kick off their racing seasons. Saturday, the conditions were challenging with a 180-degree wind shift during the first race which meant the start was upwind and the finish was downwind – all in the same direction! Georgia Tech did a wonderful job with the dinner Saturday evening and everyone enjoyed the camaraderie watching the stunning sunset. On Sunday, the conditions were very sporty in the first race with 18 knots gusts. Things settled down in the 2nd race with 11-14 knots and then in the 3rd race the wind moderated to around 7-9 knots. The racing was very competitive with 1st place decided by 1 point or a tie breaker in several fleets. The trophies were handmade by Georgia Tech and everyone loved receiving them. Wednesday night sailing starts up April 6 with first warning at 6:40 pm for the cruiser fleet. Make sure you’re registered and come have fun! __________________________________________________________________ You can always tell when everyone had a great time sailing that day when they hang around the finish line after the race. Sometimes they are checking to make sure they finished far enough ahead of their competition. But this last LARC race of the Winter series was such a great day that you saw many a boat hanging around after the race enjoying a leisurely sail around Chattahoochee Bay before going back to the dock. LARC #4 by LLSC was a great winter day. I was happy that we had our 60 degree temperatures. Race committee of Randy Phillips and company did a superb job setting a course that could adjust to the varying conditions of that day. Needless to say that conditions were varied when a J-24 beat a J-90 to the weather mark. But that’s ok because Jonathan will get over it. Congratulations to Davis Macleod for the winning his second race of the series. In the High PHRF, Bailey White in his C&C 36 managed to trounce on the J-24 therefor winning the series, while Pete Winham didn’t win this last race but managed 2 first place finishes in the series to win the Cruiser fleet. Registration for the LLSC Keelboat events is up. Go to http://www.llsckeelboat.com/registration.html. The picture below is proof I was in front of the J-90 (blue spin), for a while anyway. See you at the Dogwood, April 1-3. Dana  _______________________________________________________________________
What a pleasant surprise these last two weeks of February have been. I would have forgotten it was winter if it weren’t for the morning temperatures. The Whitecapper one day Regatta was on Sat. February 19th with 50 degree temperatures and the wind that was not quite whitecapping. Race committee of Robert Burke and volunteers managed to get 3 races for both fleets on Saturday.
It seems that almost every race we have had during this Winter season, showcases a new boat. This regatta was no different. We are very proud of our new J-24 fleet member of Brad Bowers and his boat #555. Brad has been crewing on J-24’s and the J-90 for a couple of years, so look out for him and his bright white boat. We were also lucky that our famous/infamous webmaster and photographer was out on the point taking pictures. I have included many of the photos that he took. To see more, go to https://www.localflavorphotography.com/llsc-whitcapper-220219 Look forward to seeing everyone at the Dogwood Regatta, April 1-3. Dana _______________________________________________________________________ This was a race that started with a bang and ended in a whimper. But this was not the outstanding feature of the race. The outstanding feature of this race came afterwards at the LLSC clubhouse when Greg Fisher and Greg Griffin did a comprehensive talk about sail trim. They followed every competitor at some point in the race and took video of each boat’s performance and made suggestions on the video on the boat’s sail trim. They talked about a few boats and did an excellent job of how each of us could improve and specific details on how to determine if we have our boat sails trimmed fast. They will be making all videos and comments available on their website and will send us a link to these videos (this might take a week or two). But I will definitely send that information to you ASAP.
The race course was originally set at 8.3 nm, but we ended up having to Short Finish (SF) at X mark which made the course 6 nm (or 5.96). But the fun is still the order of the finishes, though they don’t reflect the corrected times because the wind didn’t allow us to complete the entire course. The Results links above have the corrected times based on the shorter course that we ended up sailing.
Next race will be the Whitecapper Open Keelboat regatta on Saturday February 19th. The fee for the Whitecapper (Feb 19), PHRF Championship race (June 4 )and the 1064 (Nov 19) are included in the Wednesday night and weekend registrations. Our first race day will be this Saturday, and we will have multiple races which will be scored that day with awards given that afternoon. The first race will start at 11:30 am and for this first race the RC will have fleet splits as well as the course listed on the whiteboard on the back of the RC. Come and join us on this beautiful winter day. If you think you will sail during this series, please email(officers@keelboat.com) by midnight on Friday. On this first race day of the series, we will need to determine the fleet splits. ___________________________________________________ A big thanks to Pete Winham and Fred Kempner for setting up the course for this exceptional race day.
As race time got closer the sun peeped out and I no longer felt the cold (maybe it was the adrenaline rush) and surprisingly the wind picked up and began to do it’s Lake Lanier shift dance. As we sauntered down leeward leg of the race course from D to E, it wasn’t always easy to determine whether to fly the spinnaker or not. This was a great day to have a fleet in front of you because the wind shifted back and forth from west to southwest so often that you really had to be on your toes or you missed a shift and got left behind. This was a tough race on the jib trimmer. Attached are the results by fleet, but the fun of a pursuit race is the order of the finishes. Take note of the (new) boats in our fleets.
***GREAT NEWS- We have an exciting opportunity for everyone that wants to improve their sailing performance. Brent McKenzie has invited a couple of top sailors in dinghys and keelboats to watch our performance in the next LARC race on February 12. See the flyer below: ---------- Dear Lake Lanier Sailors You are invited to two on the water coaching sessions February 12th and 13th hosted by Greg Fisher and Greg Griffin of Evolution Sails South Atlantic. Greg and Greg will watch the LARC race on Saturday, focusing on sail trim, tuning and the challenging shifty inland lake sailing we all enjoy! They will shoot video of every boat and then share their thoughts and suggestions, and answer any questions, with LL sailors back at the club after racing (we’ll notify timing at the finish via radio). If the weather is not inviting, or sailable, they will be prepared to do a presentation for us all on trim, tuning and inland lake sailing 4:30pm-6:30pm. Greg Fisher and Greg Griffin are both excellent sailors, both Thistle National Champions, well versed in sail trim and tuning in all boats from Thistles up to 50 footers. They are anxious to help and share their knowledge and experience. If you have any specific questions or suggestions, they urge you to reach out! Come join and enjoy! Greg Fisher greg.fisher@thesailinginc.com 410 212 4916 Greg Griffin greg.griffin@thesailinginc.com 904 226 077 Look forward to seeing everyone on Feb. 5 for the Hot Ruddered Bum at UYC Dana Not exactly the start of the sailing season I was looking for. The temperatures I was prepared for but the threat of rain was too much for many people. You noticed I said the threat of rain, though it did rain briefly at the start of the race it didn’t last long.
But no matter the conditions, there were those that were eager for the racing to begin to test their new boat against the competition. We had a record number of new boats out for this first race; Dan McGraw was out in his new Hobie 33, Dark Star; Kent Rogers was sailing his new trophy boat, C&C 99 Slingshot; Robert Jones was sailing his Columbia 8.7, Slapit and Jim Rapp has hung up his Colgate 26 for a Beneteau First 305. A big thank you to Edith Collins, Dale Owens and the rest of the UYC gang that provided us with our first opportunity to race in 2022. Happy New Year, Dana _________________________________________________________________________ |
Results by Month
June 2022
Results by YearScorekeeperDana Stewart | She Devil |
RSS Feed