WEDNESDAY NIGHT ENCORE 10•09•19 RACE 3
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Thanks to Brad Bowers on She Devil (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
I am going to start with upcoming events first:
Sat. Oct 19 LARC #2 by BFSC (skip meet 11am Aqualand) Oct. 26-27 Halloween Open Regatta LLSC Fall has finally come, I don’t know how long this will last but I am most appreciative of the cooler temps and BETTER wind. Speaking of which, I hope everyone appreciated the superb job Barefoot SC did Oct. 5-6. We had awesome wind and it was definitely a test of wills or skills on Saturday, but rewarding if you toughed it out. Last Wednesday was an interesting night for tacticians, normally we all look at the start and weather legs of the previous fleets to help us make a plan. But this night there was no preview of the things to come in the previous fleets, because if you did follow them then you most likely went the wrong way and there was a lot of that going on this night. After two races with (hopefully) two more to go there are no big surprises and consistency is the name of the game so far this series. But things are heating up because there is a tie for 2nd place in all fleets except Cruisers and they have a tie for 1st place with 3 points separating 1st and 4th place (competitive fleet). A big thanks to Pat Finnick and his wife for the fantastic chilis, Randy Phillips and Ben Harbin for serving and clean up. I appreciate RC putting up the sunset time and dinner menu for that night. Race committee members of Jeff and Cathy Freeman, Tom King and Ted Phillips did excellent work in giving us every opportunity to not screw up the spinnaker launch (which I did anyway). If you get a chance to take photos, please send to Brian Clark at [email protected] for posting to website with the scores. Happy Fall, Dana |
PHRF CHAMPIONSHIP RACE 3 • SATURDAY 9•28•19
Congratulations to the PHRF Championship winner for 2019, Gary Umberger. He will have his name put on a plaque for the perpetual trophy.
Winners of Race #3 were:
Low PHRF was Gary Umberger
High PHRF was Mike Stewart.
Fleet winners were:
Low PHRF was Gary Umberger
High PHRF was Mike Stewart.
It was a close race for the perpetual trophy with each competitor receiving one throw out.
Gary had 6 pts
Mike Stewart had 10 pts
Mark Turner and David Jackson had 13 pts
Jeff Freeman had 15 pts
Much thanks to John McCarthy and crew for doing RC for each race day.
Dana
Winners of Race #3 were:
Low PHRF was Gary Umberger
High PHRF was Mike Stewart.
Fleet winners were:
Low PHRF was Gary Umberger
High PHRF was Mike Stewart.
It was a close race for the perpetual trophy with each competitor receiving one throw out.
Gary had 6 pts
Mike Stewart had 10 pts
Mark Turner and David Jackson had 13 pts
Jeff Freeman had 15 pts
Much thanks to John McCarthy and crew for doing RC for each race day.
Dana
WEDNESDAY NIGHT ENCORE 9•25•19 RACE 1
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The start of a new series and hopefully some new weather. My heart went out to RC this night, this is the beginning of Fall but somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature. As I was cruising the starting line, I noticed the lovely wind that we had coming out to the race course was dying. So I stayed close to the line and watched Fleet 1 start and go to the left and then I watched Fleet 2 start and then the bottom fell out. I felt empathy with RC because as Fleet 3 was 1 minute from their start, Fleet 2 was barely off the starting line. I often believe to be good RC you have to be able to predict the future. Between setting up a race course and using the feeble information we are given by the different weather agencies, they have a most difficult and too often unrewarding job.
Thank you to race committee members, Jeff and Cathy Freeman, Tom Graham, Tom King and everyone else that was involved. An important reminder that the days are shorter and the sun is going down about 7:30, so everyone needs to have working lights on their boat or a portable light that can be used to show other boats where you are. Just a reminder that from this time forward that boats without lights will receive a DNF for that race. As most of you know we will be providing dinner every night of the Encore series. Special thanks goes to Mike Krantz, Rebecca and everyone else that helped with the meal and clean up. Note about the scores: the cruiser fleet had some protests that need to be resolved before I can finalize their scores, but I will notify you of the results ASAP. Just a quick reminder of upcoming events: BF Open Oct 5-6 J Holcomb Women’s Race, Sat Oct 12 LARC #2 by BFSC, Sat Oct 19 Good luck, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 9•18•19 SERIES 2 AWARDS PARTY
CONGRATULATIONS to the SERIES 2 WINNERS and OVERALL FLEET CHAMPIONS!
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Award party photos! DOWNLOAD HERE
OVERALL FLEET CHAMPIONS
SMALL SPORT ---> Dan McGraw Blue Steel LOW PHRF ---> Jeff Freeman Renegade MID PHRF---> Jim Kingery Sotally Tober HIGH PHRF ---> Mike Stewart Breeze CRUISER ---> Alex Mazurek Caribbean Soul |
SERIES 2 WINNERS
SMALL SPORT 1st Place ---> Perry/Pritchard Fellowship 2nd Place ---> Dan McGraw Blue Steel 3rd Place ---> Lenkeit/Morang Rapscallion 4th Place ---> Rebecca Barkley Lamorak 5th Place ---> Brent McKenzie Ex-Kahn 6th Place ---> Gary Umberger Uncle! Uncle! LOW PHRF 1st Place ---> Jeff Freeman Renegade 2nd Place ---> John McCarthy Iniki MID PHRF 1st Place ---> Jim Kingery Sotally Tober 2nd Place ---> Chris Webster Perpetual Motion HIGH PHRF 1st Place ---> Mike Stewart Breeze 2nd Place ---> Bill Quinn Bill the Cat 3rd Place ---> Mark Turner Hawkeye 4th Place ---> Dana Stewart She Devil 5rd Place ---> Mike Iuvone Strega 6th Place ---> Jim Chinik Baiser Francais CRUISER 1st Place ---> David Wright Sails Call 2nd Place ---> Alex Mazurek Caribbean Soul 3rd Place ---> Spencer Gay |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 9•04•19 RACE 2-9
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It’s surprising what you hear at the start of a race, normally you hear count-downs and crew making comments about other boats. But mostly you only hear snatches of things being said on other boats, but on this night as you watch the start of fleets 2 and 3 and you hear the exhortations of a skipper on a big red boat driving down the starting line yelling “Up, Up , Up”. I was jockeying for a position to start myself when I heard this roar over all the other noises that typically are part of sailing. But I believe this start was one that everyone watched to see how things were going to play out for all the other boats on that starting line.
I want to thank RC members of Chris Webster, David Pope, Michelle Golden, Tedd Meinersmann, Jamey Waters, Scott Kelley, Karen Christie, Mike Macleod, and Kelly. A special thanks to Tom Graham (who is up and about these days until the next round of treatments-bone marrow transplant), for helping with the finishes at F mark for the Cruiser fleet. It was a tough race to predict and all the forecasts called for light wind, which was true all day. But once we all started for the race course, Mother Nature took pity on us and stepped in to provide us with enough wind to make an enjoyable evening of racing. We had some exciting racing this week. In the high PHRF fleet, Strega managed to stay close enough to Hawkeye to correct to first place, while Breeze finished behind both but now is in first place overall by one point. Watch out Bullet Bill. The last race should be quite a contest for this fleet. Sotally Tober did a great job of staying in front of “Your Move” (red boat) in the Mid PHRF fleet and the contest between Sotally Tober and Perpetual Motion will be decided at this last race of series 2. The Low PHRF fleet has been dominated by that merry band of men and women on Renegade while the hurricane crew of “Iniki” are making their competitors work hard for every point. Snowfox takes everyone to task when the wind blows (Race 2-8) and the team of Rumrunner has started to get their act together and make the rest of the fleet sweat because they are coming. I loved seeing Lamorak out in front this last race, but if you look at the overall scores it is impressive that 5 boats have won at least one of the 7 races we have had so far in this series by the Melges 24 fleet. That is an awesome achievement for any fleet (except maybe J-24’s J). In the Cruiser fleet (which is growing by leaps and bounds), consistency is the name of the game with Sails Call leading the pack with two 1st, two 2nd, and two 3rds. The date for this last race will be Sept 11th. Many of the competitors will be flying US flags before the race to commemorate the fallen heroes of this date in 2001 and hope you join us. There will be no food this week but I hope everyone enjoyed our Mexican fiesta last week. I especially want to thank Mary Fornoff, Cameron Pach, David Schenck and David Wright for setting up the dinner and the clean up afterwards. I also want to encourage everyone to make plans to join us at LLSC for the Awards party on Sept 18th (you know I hate to take home trophies). At that time we will also have a sign-up sheet for those boats that want to continue their enjoyment of Wednesday night racing. Don’t forget that your registration fee for the Wed. night series also includes the upcoming Encore series (starts Sept 25 for 5 weeks) and the PHRF Championship races. Randy (Captain Dangerous) has promised food every night of the Encore series, even if he has to make it himself (ha! ha!). See you on the race course, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 8•28•19 RACE 2-8
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Thanks to Betsy on Rumrunner (Fleet 3) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
This race was like “Mr Toad’s Wild Ride”. When you add the wind gusts from 10-20 knots and then add the acrobatics of “Captain Dangerous” you have quite an exciting evening. RC took advantage of the lack of motorboats out on this fine Wednesday night and sent us in a loop from X to B several times. The first downwind leg for most of us was sensational with spinnakers “snapping” and often the feeling of being out-of-control. I remember reminding my crew about what to do if things got “too” thrilling. Which brings me back to “Captain Dangerous” and his thrill ride. At one of the early mark roundings, there was some trouble on the foredeck of Iniki and “Captain Dangerous” went forward to yank on a recalcitrant sheet and ended doing a swan dive off the foredeck. There are many things that swirl around in our head in a situation like this, but the one thought “Captain Dangerous” had was to save his PHONE. Reports from the crew and skipper state that after he fell over, they all are watching to see where he is and they reported that they saw a hand rise over the gunwale of the boat to deposit his phone on deck and then disappeared. Of course, a throwable was launched and “Captain Dangerous” was saved by a motorboat watching the race.
The RC of Gary Umberger, Tiffany Schaefer, Cathy Freeman, Brian Anderson and Beth Forde did an admirable job of providing an excellent race course and completing the race before complete darkness set in. I also want to commend the RC for making sure they took a chase boat out to the course for safety’s sake. We have 2 races left and the contests are heating up. The Cruiser fleet competition for the top spot is between Caribbean Soul and Sails Call, while the Melges 24 fleet has a tie for 2nd place between Fellowship and Rapscallion. Renegade is running away with the Low PHRF fleet but Rumrunner is pressing Iniki for 2nd place. Sotally Tober and Perpetual Motion are duking it out for the top spot with 1.25 points separating them in the Mid PHRF fleet. Last but not least is the High PHRF fleet which has a race for the top spot between Breeze and Bill the “pesky” Cat, while She-Devil and Hawkeye are battling it out for 3rd place. Good luck to everyone! Just a reminder, that next week (#9) we will be providing a Mexican feast for dinner and will celebrate the BD of the owner of the pesky black cat that is causing so much grief in the High PHRF fleet and anyone else that has a September birthday. Just a reminder of upcoming events: Wed, 9/18 Wed Series 2 & fleet overall awards (we are planning something special) Sun, 9/22 LARC #1 by SSC Wed, 9/25 Encore series race 1 Sat, 9/28 PHRF Champ #3 at LLSC Sat-Sun, 10/4-5 Barefoot Open Sat, 10/12 J Holcomb Women’s Race See you on the race course, Dana' |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 8•21•19 RACE 2-7
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Thanks to Heathe Temske on Rumrunner (Fleet 3) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
It wasn’t the worst night of my life, but it lands in the top 10. It started as a promising night considering the weather conditions for most of the day, but of course the closer we got to start time we could see the wind start to dissipate. The course was “D” to “F” and the earlier your start time the better the chance you made it to the windward mark without loss of wind. But those of us at the end of the fleet starts, struggled to make it to the windward mark. And then we had to go downwind and it was painful, motorboats flying past separating the fleet by either helping the boats in front or delaying those behind. As I sailed by RC going downwind, how I wished there was a “gate”. Up to this point we had enough wind to move and then for most of the fleets we had a big surprise, a 180 degree wind shift. Most of us were flying our spinnakers and had to do a fast sail change to keep up, but when we finally rounded “F” we now had the daunting task to go back to the finish line “gate” of the shortened course. I can see no way that the RC could have predicted the circumstances of this race and did a fine job with what they had to work with.
I want to thank the Melges 24 fleet and Dan McGraw for stepping up to do RC. I am proud that someone from every fleet has stepped up to do RC, but with 3 more races to complete in this series it would be fair if boats in the 2 largest fleets would volunteer to help finish the series on RC. Contact John McCarthy or register on the website if you would like to volunteer. Race committee members were Dan McGraw, Chris Hoffman, Melanie Stallings and our able volunteer Mike Macleod. Special thanks to Penny Chinik, Dennis Terrell, and Ben Harbin for setting up the meal and cleaning afterwards. There will be no food next week, but we do have a special meal for week #9 along with a BD celebration. Plans are being made to have a great awards party for the culmination of Series 1 and 2, and the presentation of the overall fleet awards. Look forward to seeing everyone on Wed. Happy sailing, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 8•07•19 RACE 2-5
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Thanks to Dana Stewart from Lady J (Fleet 4) and Randy Phillips from Iniki (Fleet 2) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
It was a race that started like a turtle and finished like a rabbit. Conditions looked good going to the race course and continued until after the start of the cruisers and then there was a change in the wind velocity and a shift in the wind direction. Of course the RC noticed this as well and put up the postponement, etc. and changed the course.
As the race progressed, fleets 1-3 made it around the windward mark easily and headed through X to E, meanwhile fleet 4 is starting to struggle to get to the windward mark and slowly, slowly drive through the mass of motorboats waves that are pounding our hulls. You then start to look around for relief and you notice the storm and lightning that is amassing in the vicinity of the dam and Cumming. You begin to calculate how long and what the conditions will be if it travels our way. I personally reviewed storm procedures with the crew and I am also praying very hard that it will not hit until after I finish and hoping it WILL NOT bring the boats behind me flying to the finish. Fortunately I did finish before it hit, but those behind me did get a big boost and congratulations to Daniel Postel and his juniors for correcting to 2nd place. I would also like to mention that we should all be cognizant of other boats and fleets and try not to interfere in their starts and finishes, as you would like the same courtesy. With so many boats and 5 fleets, it helps to be aware of who is starting. We did have a minor contretemps happen before the start of fleet four where 2 boats collided before the race, it helps to designate a crew member to look out for other boats as you cruise the starting line. This was definitely one of those days/nights that we all appreciate using the LLSC barge and chase boats. Fortunately the storm was brief with no one having any major problems, but this is one of the most important tasks of RC is to keep the competitors as safe as possible. I felt very safe with our RC members of Bill Quinn, John McCarthy, Rachel G, Jonathan Stewart, Will Shirley, Randy Phillips and Ken Blankenship. A big thanks to Cathy and Jeff Freeman, Dennis and Bea Terrell, Mike Tataris, Tim Wilson, Mark Klinges, and Will Webster for jumping off the boat and racing to the clubhouse to start cooking the fabulous meal for week #5. We all very much appreciate the effort. Just a reminder that our next dinner will be week #7, I have had no volunteers yet but please contact me if you would like to help. Please send any pictures you take during the races to Brian Clark at [email protected]. The Overall scores will be published on the website. Happy sailing, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 7•31•19 RACE 2-4
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Thanks to Brian Clark for the photos from Lady J (Fleet 4)!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
Race 2-3
It had to happen eventually, a race called because of lack of wind. It is a tough call in any kind of wind to determine if the conditions are fair and safe to conduct a race. It is even harder when the wind has been as fluky and scattered as it has been in the last month. Even though 5 min after the abandon race flag was flown a puff reared its head and gave us a chance to sail in, but then it promptly died 15 minutes later and RC was vindicated. Thanks to Race Committee of Mike Stewart, Mike Blanchard, Randy Baker and Rob Shaw for their hard work. And back at the ranch, a fabulous meal and a great idea for Week #3 was being prepared. A special thanks to Penny Chinik, Jim Chinik, Irene Petree, Brian Hinson, Rick Fulham, Ted Phillips and Tom King for volunteering, preparing and cleaning up after our wonderful meal. Next meal will be prepared by Cathy Freeman and friends on week #5. Thanks so much for volunteering. We still have week #7 and #9 to prepare, so please volunteer. I have had someone to volunteer from the High PHRF fleet and the Low PHRF fleet, so waiting on people from Melges 24 and Mid PHRF to volunteer. If you would like to prepare something ahead of time and bring to the clubhouse before the race, I can find someone to put it in oven and/or set-up if you need. Just let me know. Thanks to everyone for making this series such a success. Race 2-4 A big thanks to Brent McKenzie, David Wright, Lisa McKenzie, David Schenck, Florida Huff, Alex Padgett, Reid Collins and Mike Rouleau for the great job as RC and postponing fleets 2-4 to reset the course for the dramatic wind shift from “D” to “B”. This was tricky since the wind was dying, but they did this in record time and they managed to get in a 2 mile race before the wind began to sputter and made the downwind leg a lesson in light air spinnaker flying. We are now 3 races into the series and we have some interesting results. In the Cruiser fleet, the leaders have both won a race and are now tied for first place. The leaders of the Small sport fleet both have a 1st and a 2nd place finish and they are now tied for firs. Congratulations to Michael Lenkeit and Will Morang for their win in race 4. Race 4 was definitely Flying Tiger weather because they ran away with the Low PHRF fleet, while “Tober” and that engineer (who but an engineer would name their boat “Perpetual Motion”) have been swapping 1st and 2nd place finishes in the Mid PHRF fleet so far this series. That leaves the High PHRF fleet where that black kitty (curse you! litter lover) has been leading the pack, but peddling as fast as they can comes three J-24’s that have been pushing him. Now the Red Baron and Bill the Cat are separated by one point. We would like to welcome the new Ga Tech J-22 #533 for joining us on Wed. nights. They made a good showing in difficult conditions. Don’t forget that this Wed is week #5 and Cathy and Jeff Freeman and the Renegade crew will prepare our meal. Also, start planning to race in the Moonlight Scramble/Firefly this Saturday, Aug. 10; start at 8pm (pursuit start) with skipper’s meeting at Aqualand at 6pm. See you in the sunset, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 7•17•19 RACE 2-2
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Thanks to Alexis Tataris for the aerial photos from 3,500' and Brian Clark for the on-water photos, both from Lady J (Fleet 4)!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
This series is off to a roaring start. After the spectacular sailing day we had on Saturday, our summer has only gotten better.
I think everyone wondered if there was any reason to set up their boat (or launch it), but then RC left the dock and the parade to the starting area began. I was unsure about their decision because we had a storm about 4 pm and another one was on the way. But it was a great call and the 2nd storm of the day waited until after everyone was in with their boat put up. Great wind started the races by the race committee of Mark Turner, Chris and Linda Turner, Glenn Schmudde and Walter Crawford. The Cruisers finished their race in record time, in fact so fast that they had to postpone the start of fleet 2&3 to allow the cruisers to finish (good call RC). As usual we had some exciting races on Wednesday. In the Low PHRF fleet, the hurricane (Iniki) beat the Renegade and the Mid PHRF fleet had a newcomer in David Jackson sailing his C&C 99 “Your Move” (the big red bomb). Once again there was a big shake-up in the High PHRF fleet with the Lady leading the fleet until that black cat took it back on the last leg. Chinik continues to be a burden to anyone in front of him downwind or under him going upwind, you have to watch that French devil. Next week will be week #3 and a big thanks to Jim Chinik and company for volunteering to provide dinner for us this coming Wednesday, make sure you come by while the food is still hot. We still have RC positions available, so please sign up at the website www.llsckeelboat.com go to RC info. I am still looking for someone to volunteer for the meals for week #5,7 or 9. Look forward to seeing everyone next week and maybe I will see some of you Sat. night at the Moonlight Scramble. Keep the lights on, Dana |
PHRF CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES • RACE 2 7•13•19
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Thanks to Will Brown for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
What a great day in the middle of July. This was the brainchild of John McCarthy to have a Reggae style celebration of the PHRF Championship series. We combined the fleet races (MC Scows) with the PHRF Championship series this day and John McCarthy, Will Brown, William Ruland, Doug Early, Bob Scott, Brent McKenzie, Jeff Nibler and Trisha manned the race committee and started one of the best racing days I have had this summer. It was hot but the wind blew consistently 7+ knots all day. The start of the day was exciting because we were unsure if this was going to build or die. Considering the storms all around us on radar and who can forget the storm that blew through Friday night, I had some concerns but everything fell into place. We started in almost whitecap condition and as the day got hotter the wind started to decline. John called a halt after 3 races and then the fun really began.
The heat/humidity ended up being a factor and we moved to the clubhouse while Will Brown prepared a feast. Special thanks to Bea and Dennis Terrell who volunteered to clean up (big kiss). The fun was just starting, we had a band all afternoon and then we had a special treat when we celebrated Gary Umberger (July 13) and Tiffany’s (July 12) birthday with a special rendition of the Beatles “Happy Birthday” by the band with a cake from Jonathan. This day of racing was truly one of the highlights of the sailing season. We had a new boat with a female skipper to join the fleet. Bea, Dennis and Scott Terrell rolled out their Flying Tiger 7.5 this weekend and we are very excited about this addition to our racing fleet. This was race #2 of a three race series that started in March and will end on Sept 28 with the award of the beautiful perpetual trophy and the naming of the PHRF Champion for 2019. Jonathan Stewart won this last year and the competition is getting fierce with 2 race days and 4 races under our belt with only one more race day to go. Good luck everyone. The attached file represents the overall results after 2 days of racing. Below are the winners of day 2, July 13,2019: Low PHRF: 1st Gary Umberger, Uncle! Uncle! 2nd Jeff Freeman, Renegade 3rd KC Shannon, Shaka 4th Morang/Lenkeit, Rapscallion 5th Scott Terrell High PHRF: 1st Mark Turner, Hawkeye 2nd David/Chris Jackson, Lucifer’s Hammer 3rd Mike Stewart, Breeze 4th Greg Cash 5th Randy Lenz, Rabbitt 6th Matt Geiger, Dangerous Curves 7th Dana Stewart, She-Devil Good luck to everyone and enjoy these summer winds, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 7•10•19 RACE 2-1
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Thanks to Brian Clark on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos! Use the 'ALL RACE 2-1 PHOTOS HERE' button below to view and download from 130 photos of last night.
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
A marine radio started off our Series 2 racing. Marine radios can often make the difference between a tragedy and a scary moment. As the cruisers started the last race of the series, we had a wind shift and I changed the course for fleets 1-4. But I was unable to change the starting line because soon after the cruisers started I received a radio call from a cruiser stating one of the crew was feeling ill. Fortunately we had a chase boat and were able to send help to the cruiser and fortunately, it was a case of heat exhaustion and nothing serious.
I want to thank my race committee members of Brian Clark, Alexis T., David Jackson, Victor Smith, Stefan Schulze, Al and Jutta Schulze and Kevin Bachman. I would also like to thank Will Brown for the excellent meal and my clean-up crew who never leave me in the lurch. I would like to comment on a couple of performances in Race 2-1. In the Smallsport fleet, Matt Perry flew to 2nd place, while in the Low PHRF fleet Rumrunner flew around the course and challenged Renegade, losing by only 7 corrected seconds (I hear they got new sails), nice job guys and girls. In the High PHRF fleet, the Red Baron (Breeze) jumped back on top defeating his son (Jonathan) and the Sly Fox (Bill Quinn). Jim Chinik “wing and winged” his way to 3rd place beating Mark Turner by 5 corrected seconds. The Cruisers had some great racing with Spencer Gay coming in 2nd behind David Wright. Nice job Spencer!! Once again I am looking for a volunteer to do the meal for Week #3, so please let me know if you are willing to help. Also, we have lots of RC spots available. CLICK HERE and sign-up. Good luck to all and will see you on Wednesday. Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 6•26•19 SERIES 1 AWARDS PARTY
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Award party photos! DOWNLOAD HERE
HUGE THANKS TO JONATHAN STEWART AND WILL BROWN FOR THE LOW COUNTRY BOIL! Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
Thanks to everyone for your participation in this first LLSC Keelboat fleet Wed. night series. I hope you have enjoyed Wed. night dinners on odd weeks. We have increased our participation this year in these “hump day” and “I need a break ” Wed. night races.
A special thanks to Joe Cumbie, Jonathan Stewart and Will Brown for the EXCELLENT Low Country Boil on awards night and to my servers and clean up crew, Betsy Culler, Heather Temske, and Rachael. I particularly want to thank; John McCarthy for providing a guiding light, Jonathan Stewart for being my right hand man with all his support, and Will Brown for volunteering to cook meals as needed. Of course, we couldn’t do without our trusty treasurer (Gary Umberger) for keeping up with all our spending, Randy Phillips who keeps us heading in the right direction and David Wright our cruiser director. If I can paraphrase a popular saying, “It takes a village” to accomplish the task we have set for ourselves to run the 30 race days that we have on our calendar (Dogwood, Wed Series 1 & 2, Encore, and PHRF Championship 3 day series). Here are the Series 1 winners: SMALL SPORT 1st Place ---> Dan McGraw Blue Steel 2nd Place ---> Gary Umberger Uncle Uncle 3rd Place ---> Brent McKenzie Ex-Kahn 4th Place ---> Lenkeit/Morang Rapscallion LOW PHRF 1st Place ---> Jeff Freeman Renegade 2nd Place ---> John McCarthy Iniki MID PHRF 1st Place ---> Chris Webster Perpetual Motion HIGH PHRF 1st Place ---> Bill Quinn Bill the Cat 2nd Place ---> Mike Stewart Breeze 3rd Place ---> Mark Turner Hawkeye 4th Place ---> Matt Geiger Dangerous Curves 5rd Place ---> Dana Stewart Lady-J 6th Place ---> Mike Iuvone Strega CRUISER 1st Place ---> Douglas Whiddon Just! NChance 2nd Place ---> Alex Mazurek Caribbean Soul 3rd Place ---> Kurt Schurenburg Beau Gust |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 6•19•19 RACE 1-10
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Thanks to Brian Clark on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos! Use the 'ALL RACE 1-10 PHOTOS HERE' button below to view and download from 291 photos of last night.
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. HUGE THANKS to Tom Graham for taking photos from the RC barge all season- there are 700+ photos below.
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O Ye of little faith!! I know, you didn’t think we could pull off a race. It was a challenge to get a square line and a tactical windward leg, but the team put their heads together to give you the best race possible.
I want to thank my race committee members and all who have volunteered their time to this often unrewarding task. I want to thank Karen Christy for scribing and keeping track of how many boats started in each fleet and if they all finished. Tom Graham, the “old man of the sea”, made sure that we were keeping track of time and kept the ball rolling. Then we have Bill Boettcher, who paid attention to Tom G. and kept the flags flying as well as some anchor exercise. A special thanks to Victor Smith, one of our valuable volunteers, who want to be involved with racing or learn what this is all about. He blew horns, pulled anchors and everything else that needed to be done. Then we have the outcasts, the Chase boat crew, which was Brian Clark (and his camera) and Alexis. They are at the beck and call of the PRO and have to pull anchors, move mark/s and pull up anchors again. But with the advent of cell phones, when the chase boat crew turns the radio off so they don’t have to move the mark again, you just call them (Ha Ha). As we all know there is no easy job on RC and it is a team effort that we all practice every time we race our boats. I know of no one that can win by themselves and the best are a group of individuals with the same goals, to sail a race to the best of their abilities. So let us celebrate those boats that had the best teams. The party will be at the LLSC Clubhouse, the gate will be open at 6:30. We will have a low country boil with salad and cornbread presented by Will Brown and Jonathan Stewart. As many of you know Jonathan and Will have cooked and shopped for almost all of our meals for this series and I personally appreciate all their effort in giving us a great meal. Please thank these young men for their hard work. Trophies will be presented after the meal and BIG SURPRISE, we will have crew trophies. So PLEASE plan on joining us this Wednesday night and I look forward to seeing everyone for Series 2 on Wed, July 10. I want to mention a skipper and his team that I thought showed outstanding skills this series. Robin Terrell and his team sail a Capri 22, almost the slowest rated boat in Fleet 4. They were the 2nd boat to cross the finish line in their fleet in 2 different races. An outstanding show of skill in a 16 boat fleet. Robin is a member of UYC and has a longer trip to the starting line than anyone else. I sincerely thank him for joining us each week. Just a reminder to put Sat, July 13 on your calendar for the PHRF Championship race, summer party event. This Reggae style party will have a raft-up, beach party cook out, music and everything needed to celebrate the summer. Make plans to join us because this race is included in your registration for Wed night races. Look forward to seeing everyone Wednesday night as we celebrate summer, good friends, competition, and an awesome front row seat for the sunset. Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 6•12•19 RACE 1-9
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Thanks to Dana Stewart on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
Now that is what I call a Wednesday night race!!! Even though the threat of rain and storms loomed on the horizon, it ended up being a great night to race.
We want to thank Robin Terrell, Tricia Terrell, Wylie Bradley, Judy Smith, Mike Macleod, Victor Smith and Tom Graham for setting up this great race course and knowing when to call a halt. I hope everybody got the notice that we have rescheduled the PHRF Championship race for Saturday, July 13. With much anticipation, we are all excited about this race because we are going to style it like a Reggae Beach party/raft-up. We will have music, racing, food and I just KNOW that we will have wind. So make sure you come and enjoy the summer with us. The next Saturday, will be the Moonlight Scramble/Firefly hosted by BFSC and SSC. Start should be about 8pm with a partial moon showing us the way. We have some surprises this week; the cruiser fleet has some fierce competition for 2nd place with less than one point separating the 2nd and 3rd place boats. Mark Turner is going to have to find some way to put boats between him and the Red Baron for a 2nd place finish in the High PHRF fleet. The contest in the Mid PHRF fleet has been heated all series with 5 points separating 1st from 3rd place, making this last race a possible game changer. With throw-outs of only 1st and 2nd place finishes, makes the contest between Renegade and the “Hurricane” an awesome series in the Low PHRF series. In the Melges 24 fleet, the contest for the top spots is tight with 4 points separating the 2nd and 4th place boats. Good luck to everyone in this last race of Series 1 and look forward to seeing everyone at the Awards party at LLSC on Wed, June 26 around 7pm. Don’t forget to share on our facebook page or me any pictures you take before, during or after the race. Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 6•05•19 RACE 1-8
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Thanks to Dana Stewart on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
I would like to thank Mike Macleod, Scott, Will Brown, Brad Buster, and Tim DeWitt for an excellent job as RC, the toughest job on the lake.
I would like to talk briefly about Wednesday night races. This concept is country wide and very popular. I hear many sailors call this “beer can racing” and often suggesting that this is not as important as a weekend event or maybe some District event. But the point is, when we have dedicated individuals (RC) who don’t sail their boat but run our races, I consider that a serious event and should be treated as any other event with a starting sequence. Often events are considered serious when you have more participants, well I think our nightly participation of 38 boats would qualify as an “important race” and because many of us feel that when the starting gun goes off, we are in racing mode. It is not in the spirit of fairness and competitiveness for an unregistered boat to interfere in another boat’s race. Speaking of interfering in another boats race, there was hardly anyone that did not experience a boat from another fleet drifting by you. It was a very unsettling experience, especially if the crystal ball on your boat was broken. We have some outstanding competition brewing in each fleet. Blue Steel has now won the last 4 races. The “Hurricane” crew (Iniki) and the “Renegade” crew have been trading the top spot all series. “Perpetual Motion” and “Sotally Tober” have been duking it out all series with Webster edging out in front. The “Red Baron” will be pushing the “Sly Fox” to make some mistakes. “Just N Chance” has been the most consistent in his fleet, but “Beau Gust” has won the same number of 1st place finishes as the top boat. I have been asked to make a comment about the starts. Please be aware of the cruiser start and try to stay out of their way. But in the last 4 weeks, the competitors have struggled to get to the RC so that we CAN look at the course board and then often there is NO wind to move away from the committee boat. This is my roundabout way of saying if Fleet 2 starts and there are still Fleet 1 boats on the starting line, maybe that race should be postponed or if necessary, abandoned. And when there is not enough wind so that the competitors cannot tell what flag is being flown should be another indicator of the wind or lack thereof. Just a reminder that this will be the last week of our Wednesday night dinners for Series 1, but we will continue in Series 2 on July 10. I have heard some complaints that we ran out of food before some of the dock rats make it to the clubhouse, we will make every effort to have enough food on hand for everyone. Everybody make plans to come to the Wednesday night awards, we are going to have a special dinner Southern Style and as always great trophies. For those of you who need crew, the LLSC Keelboat fleet facebook page is a great way to “hook up” with a skipper or crew. Also, look for further announcements about the rescheduling of the PHRF championship race which was cancelled because of weather. As always, I look forward to seeing everyone on the race course and good luck in the last 2 races of this series. Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 5•29•19 RACE 1-7
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Thanks to Dana Stewart on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
Who is in charge of appeasing the wind gods? Is that you John? Well it looks like we did not sacrifice enough to the wind gods Wed. night, because we had plenty of wind at the start and then halfway to the weather mark it just died and only those with the crystal balls installed on their boat were smart enough to go the the left where the wind eventually filled in and gave everybody that was parked at “D” mark a chance to slowly make it the leeward mark and fortunately a short finish. I am sure the cruiser fleet appreciated their short finish at “E” mark.
Thanks to RC members; Paul Stouffer, Douglas Whiddon, John Martin, Brandee Whiddon, Emma Cronin and Tom Graham. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Also a big thanks to Will Brown for cooking the fabulous dinner and Heather Temske for washing all his pots and pans. Just a reminder, there will one more dinner for this series after Race #9 and then the awards ceremony will be the Wed. after Race #10. Also, I want everybody to put Sat, June 8 on their sailing calendar for the PHRF Championship Series. See you on the race course, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 5•22•19 RACE 1-6
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Thanks to Brad Bowers on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
It’s a terrible feeling sailing to what you thought was the windward mark and realizing that everyone around you is going to a different mark. Though the starting area is very crowded, it pays to take a second look at the course board to double check the course before starting. It was a great night for a race and RC did an excellent job of redirecting the race after the Cruiser start. We had every kind of wind conditions during the race and it made every mark rounding a challenge, but the gust that came in at the end of the race made for an exciting finish.
We had some interesting results this week; Pat Finnick finished 2nd in the small sportboat fleet, John McCarthy finished first in low PHRF and Jim Kingery pushed his boat to a first place finish in mid PHRF. Randy Baker in his recurring role of substitute skipper won the high PHRF fleet with Mike Iuvone/Paul Stouffer flying downwind to 3rd place. Congratulations to Spencer Gay in his San Juan 24 for his 4th place finish in his first Wed night race. A big thanks to RC members, Bill Quinn and David Wright and their crew for their excellent job. BTW, I love to list all names of the crew on RC if someone would list their names on the finish sheets. Next week is Race #7 and we will be providing dinner after the race. I have heard rumors that Jonathan, Will Brown and Morgan were planning a feast. We would love some volunteers to clean up this week and week #9. Look forward to seeing everyone. Just a reminder that the PHRF Championship race will be on Saturday, June 8th at LLSC. Everyone is invited and registration is free for all Wed night racers and those that have paid for the weekend racing. Keep up with events and results at our website; LLSCkeelboatfleet.com. Happy sailing, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 5•15•19 RACE 1-5
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Thanks to Douglas Whiddon on JustNChance (Fleet 5) and Brian Clark on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
I can see summer is looming on the horizon. This week’s race was a typical example. Light to nothing until it gets dark.
This was a race typified by the comment I heard after the race, “I would rather be lucky…”. The route to “A” mark had lots of landmines and many different paths to the ultimate goal of the black hole that surrounded “A” mark. Once you finally reached the mark, you sat and watched as another boat joined in the conference around “A” mark. It seemed from my vantage point (approaching “A” mark) that there was quite a crowd hanging around the mark (I wondered if McCarthy was passing out Fireball). After you finally rounded “A” mark, you looked at the expanse of spotty to no wind on the way back to “X” mark and you had cold chills wondering how long was it going take you to get there. We had some new first place finishers in this series, Dan McGraw won the Small Sportboat fleet and Stefan Schulze took the top spot in Mid PHRF. I also have to mention the Red Baron because he beat everyone in fleet 3 and 4. Very impressive performance and I am going to follow him in the next light air race. We ALL want to thank RC for shortening the course and I am very sure that the Cruiser fleet were very happy to see Mike and Rebecca at “C” mark taking finishes. But I want to that comment that Jim Kingery always gets the challenging races. As we were drifting toward “A” mark, my crew asked who was doing RC and when I told them, they asked “wasn’t he the guy that had us sailing in the rain last year” and of course the answer was Yes. A big thanks to Jim Kingery, Manning Kingery, Tom McLaughlin, Beth Forde, Tom Graham, Alex McClellan, Carol Kim, Chris McNabb, Mike Krantz, and Rebecca Barkley for doing the best job under the toughest conditions. See you on the water, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 5•09•19 RACE 1-4
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Thanks to Douglas Whiddon on JustNChance (Fleet 5) and Brian Clark on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
Thank you RC members; Tom King, Ted Phillips, Mike Tataris, Mike Wroblewski, Daniel Postel, Mark Klinges, Seth and Megan. And a special thanks to Tom Graham, who has volunteered to do RC while he is recuperating (he says it’s a lot more fun to watch a sailboat race than TV).
Now that we have 4 races under our belt and a throw-out, the gaps in the fleet standings are starting to show. The small Sportboat fleet at this point has some stiff competition for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place, in the Low PHRF fleet, John McCarthy finally cleaned the bottom of his boat and sailed to a clear victory while Jim Kingery won the Mid PHRF fleet race against Chris (old man of the sea) Webster and Stefan. The High PHRF fleet continues to be dominated by the Sly Fox (Bill Q), but Matt Geiger made a great showing by coming in 2nd on Wednesday and moved himself up the ladder to challenge the Red Baron (Mike S) for the one of the top spots in the fleet. The Cruiser fleet has a hotly contested race for 2nd place between Alex Mazurek and David Wright. Just a reminder that we will be serving dinner next week at the clubhouse (week #5) and would love for someone to volunteer to do week #7. * Also several events are coming up: May 18-19 is the LLSC Open regatta, SAILFEST and then the 2nd Saturday in June (8th) will be the PHRF Championship race. NOR and SI for PHRF Championship race will be available on the LLSCKeelboatfleet.com website soon. Just a reminder, that everyone registered for the Wednesday night races (Series 1,2 & Encore) have also paid for all races in the PHRF Championship series. Look forward to seeing you on the race course, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 5•02•19 RACE 1-3
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Thanks to Brian Clark on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
As everyone may or may not have noticed the SI’s have been changed to reflect that Fleet 2 & 3 share a start (Low PHRF and Mid PHRF). Thank you RC, Jim Chambers, Linda Hoopes, Matt Geiger, Bob Baumgardener, Mike Macleod, Tom Graham and Tina.
I also want to give a warm welcome to another newcomer to Wed. night racing, David French in his Capri 22, Tilly. The race this week was a challenge and I applaud your effort. Notable finishes in this week’s race was Robin Terrell in the High PHRF fleet, was the second boat to cross the line and also finished 1 (one) second in front of the Red Baron (Mike S) while in the Small Sportboat fleet, the first 4 boats finished within 1 minute of the leader. In the overall results, the cruiser fleet has been dominated by the two Hunters in the fleet. So far in the LARGEST fleet (High PHRF), there is a battle for first and another for third. Chris Webster of the Mid PHRF fleet had better be checking his boat for sabotage carefully before every race, because he is kicking a** and now has a target on his back. Jeff Freeman had also better watch out because Iniki may start trying to poach some of Jeff’s kicka** crew in an effort to beat Renegade in the Low PHRF fleet. The Small Sportboat fleet has a tie for first place, but actually the fleet is so competitive that the top 4 spots could go to anyone. Special thanks to Will Brown for cooking dinner and to Will B and Will Shirley for the excellent job of clean-up. Your efforts were much appreciated by all (especially me). The next dinner will be Week #5, Jonathan Stewart will be planning the meal and I am sure he would appreciate any help. Also, we would love some of our other participants to volunteer to prepare dinner for week #7 and #9. How about this idea, let the winners prepare dinner!!! Seems fair to me> 😊 Look forward to seeing everyone next week, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 4•24•19 RACE 1-2
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Thanks to Brian Clark on Lady J (Fleet 4) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
Thanks to Mike Macleod, David Watson-Jones, Heather Temske, Alexis Tartaris, Samantha Watson-Jones, and Tom Graham for RC week 2. We appreciate your support and help.
Welcome to Wednesday night racing, this has become a very competitive series. We now have 36 boats competing on a weekly basis. We also are going to continue Wed. night dinners on a biweekly basis (every odd # week), therefore we will be providing dinner this Wed. after race #3, please come join us in the beautiful sunset evenings of this race series. Week #2 had some interesting surprises in store for us. While the wind can be variable on a good day, when it starts shifting before the start of a race, it makes for some very tough decisions on the part of RC. We had an interesting race for Week #2, you couldn’t cross the starting line on starboard so everyone started on port at the pin. It made for some very interesting starts, especially when you start in a 10 boat fleet. Somebody always loses in that game. But I thought the best start was Fleet 3 as I observed 2 boats try to start at the pin on port and the unlucky devil, Chris Webster got pushed to the wrong side of the pin at the start. What was even more impressive was that he flew around the racecourse and managed to finish first in his fleet. Competition is getting fierce in all the fleets, in Fleet 1 we have Rebecca Barkley and Dan McGraw competing for 2nd place. Everyone is chasing after Renegade in Fleet 2, in Fleet 3 there is stiff competition between Chris Webster and Stefan Schulze for the top spot. Fleet 4 has the Red Baron and Bill the Cat leading the pack and there is a tie for first between Alex Mazurek and Douglas Whiddon. Please watch for possible changes in the SI’s for this week. Will keep you posted and make sure you watch the boards on back of the committee boat. Happy sailing, Dana |
WEDNESDAY NIGHT 4•17•19 RACE 1-1
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Thanks to Randy Phillips on Iniki (Fleet 2) and Douglas Whiddon on JustNChance (Fleet 5) for the photos!
Send your photos from Wednesday nights to [email protected] and they'll be added to that week's gallery on this page, JPG < 1mb/ea please. |
What a gorgeous evening for a sailboat race. We want to thank RC for the excellent job of waiting just the right amount of time for the wind to fill in. RC members are John McCarthy, Mike Stewart, Randy Phillips, Randy Baker, Warren Collier, Doug Early, James Guyton, Rob Shaw and Tom Graham.
We had almost 30 boats in attendance and the competition was fierce. Sailing in an 8 boat fleet, Gary managed to finish first in the Small Sport fleet, Jeff flew to first in the Low PHRF fleet, Chris Webster managed to defeat his opponents in the Mid PHRF fleet, while in the biggest fleet Bill Quinn in his new boat, Bill the Cat, took top honors in the 11 boat High PHRF fleet. New to Wed night racing, Douglas Whiddon, in his Hunter 33 beat out the competition in the Cruiser fleet. I hope everyone enjoyed the Wed night kickoff party of burgers and dogs. We would like to do more of this so watch your emails and our facebook page, LLSC keelboat fleet, for more information. A big thank you to JoAnn Estes and Will Brown for preparing and cooking this great after race meal and to Randy Phillips and friends for the clean up. Look forward to seeing everyone next Wed, Dana |
DOGWOOD REGATTA
PHRF CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES • RACE 1
