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
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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
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​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
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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
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​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
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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
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