Another beautiful sunset in the neighborhood and Mother Nature was at her best this evening. 
What a great course by our race committee members of Jim Chambers, Pat Finnick, Linda Hoopes, Elizabeth Dixon, Kiri Masters and J. Lilian Gray.   Once again, race committee showed their unique talents by setting up the starting pin at “C” mark. 
 
We need some help from the registrants/racers.  Attached are the scores along with skipper/owner’s name, boat type, boat name and the number listed as your sail #.   There were 48 boats that came out to sail on this evening, but too often many people are using sails with sail numbers that are NOT what is listed as their sail #. 
 
There are many reasons to use sails with a different number, but you are making it difficult for race committee and the scorer when you use a different sail #.    PLEASE, PLEASE, if you find you have to use a sail # different than the one you registered with, you need to notify the scorer (me) by Tues or notify RC as you sail by or radio to RC that you are using a different sail #.  This will help immeasurably as RC does a difficult job of finishing 40+ sailboats each Wednesday evening.
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See you on the race course, Dana
                    _______________________________________________________________

Things are not always as they seem.  Tonight was one of those situations.  If you motored or hitched a ride to the  starting line, you probably were placing bets whether there was going to be a race this night.  But if you had bet on no race, you would have lost.
 
Thanks to the race committee of John McCarthy, Ken Blankenship, Doug Early, Jim Kingery, Bertrand, Betsy Culler, Manning, Tom, Beth, Morgan and Jay for the excellent job of waiting till the wind filled in and started the race.  There was some confusion among the Cruisers about where they were in the starting order if the race was postponed.
 
We did have some outstanding performances tonight.  In the High Cruiser fleet, Maggie Mae put a crimp in Wind Spinners sails, while Lamorak after winning this week has moved into the top 3 of the Melges 24 fleet.  In the Mid PHRF fleet, Super Bueno sailed an awesome race beating Breakaway by 8 seconds (ET), while Cinderella rose from the ashes and once again trounced the J-24 fleet.  The big boats in the High PHRF fleet, Firefly, Strega and Hope are fighting over the second spot in their fleet.

​See you on the race course,   Dana
                       _________________________________________________________________

Have you ever asked the question, why are most Regattas, two days?  Now we know the answer, because if you sail on Lake Lanier you never know what kind of wind conditions there will be from one day to the next and sometimes totally different in the morning than in the afternoon.  Race Committee lead by Jonathan Stewart, David Jackson, Elizabeth Jackson and Mary Lyons did an excellent job in looking for the best wind possible.  They moved the RC several times to different locations, but had no success in finding  suitable wind conditions on Saturday.  They did start the cruisers but after sailing to the windward mark for about an hour, the race was abandoned and we waited with lots of sun and diminishing hope as the Saturday afternoon wore on.   But conditions on Sunday were totally different (and better) and with an east wind and all the accompanying shifts and puffs they were able to complete 3 races for the regatta.
 
Ga Tech students and alumni did their usual excellent job in feeding us Saturday night and a big thank you to Mike Harrington, for answering the call and providing a canopy for shade Saturday night.
 
The is the scoring done by Kyle Meyhoefer:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eFBV9OcY6gT-N8N_9mnRsxiCoT6x_PvBJiqU-RCc6D8/edit?usp=sharing
​Thank you Jack Jeffery (see the facebook page of LLSC Keelboat fleet) for these shots of the Dogwood participants.
 
See you on the race course,  Dana
                 ___________________________________________________________________

Thank you race committee of David Jackson, Warren Collier, Doug Early, Dan Kalinowski, Scott Terrell and Mary Lyons.  The race course we had this evening was unforgettable.   We  should have been filming the starboard roundings at the windward mark and sold the resulting video of bloopers for a lot of money. This is not a race I will forget for MANY reasons. 
 
We had some outstanding performances this Wednesday in the Low Cruiser fleet, Instigator II, rose to the top of the fleet this evening while Bob Morris, in the Hunter 28.5, was fending off his closest competitor, Norman Plotkin in Starcatcher of the High Cruiser fleet.  In the Low PHRF fleet, John McCarthy climbed into 2nd place in his fleet  and what a great performance by Jim Kingery in Sotally Tober of the Mid PHRF fleet  this week by almost catching Bailey White in Griffin.  The real star of the evening was Stefan Schulze and Amy Larkin in the J-24, Cinderella, who managed with just the two them to glide into the top spot of their fleet. 
 
Dogwood/ Georgia Tech Open coming this weekend, it is mandatory that you come to registration from 9-9:45 am if you are going to race.  Additional dinner tickets will be available at registration.  Come join this great celebration of the 47th Dogwood Regatta.
 
Great news for next week, I heard that Will Brown will again be feeding us at the Jr. Field on Wednesday night.  Don’t be late.
 
Thank you Linda Hoopes and Lara Vest Wittlin for these great shots from this Wednesday night.

​     ________________________________________________________________________________

The star of the show on Wednesday night had to be Will Brown and his showmanship.  He made a patch of grass and a couple of dinghys into a magical evening with your friends at the grill and did we have a great time!!!   We are looking for some more magic on Dogwood/Ga Tech Open Regatta on May 20-21.  Ga Tech will be manning the grill and making a sumptuous dinner for us on Saturday night once again at the Jr field.  Watch for the lightshow. 
 
If you haven’t signed up for the Dogwood regatta, registration is still open at LLSCKeelboat.com (especially dinghy sailors), now is the time to do it.  Ga Tech will be offering dinners, hats, shirts and donations to their sailing program.  Wednesday night skippers will be getting an email asking what boats will be planning on participating in the Dogwood so we can make plans for food, refreshments and fleet splits.
 
A big thanks everyone that made last Wednesday something special.  Thanks to Will Brown, Jonathan Stewart, Jill Mashburn, Chris Jackson and Dona Cardenas for setting up the dinner for this evening in the beautiful Junior area.  And especially to the race committee who did a terrific job of not making the driftfest last any longer than necessary.  This evening’s race was brought to you by Mike Iuvone, Paul Stouffer, Stefan Schulze, Amy Larkin, Hudson Brock, Bob, Jill Schulze and Nancy Dalman. 

See you on the race course,    Dana
​                        _______________________________________________________________

Good news from our Culinary Specialist, Will Brown:
Allllllllrighty then sailors.
The fair winds of last night brings the following news: next Wednesday (weather permitting) we will finally have a dinner after sailing! I will be grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and dessert (no salad) at the junior area near the RC docks. We chose this location because there is power and its proximity to the docks and bath house on the hill. Friendly reminder: clubhouse is still closed off until the repairs are completed.
I'm excited to finally get everyone together so make sure word spreads to all the boats and crews.      -Will
Another day and another heavy air race, if you are not getting good at it, you haven’t been sailing enough.    This was definitely a good night for those heavier boats and many with reefed mainsails.  In the High PHRF fleet, Strega really strutted her stuff tonight and showed these were perfect conditions for the “Witch”.   In the J-24 fleet only one boat, Althea, flew her spinnaker.   While in the Mid PHRF fleet, the battle between the red boats ended with Breakaway taking the top spot.  Uncle! Uncle! had her best race tonight, taking a 3rd in the biggest one-design fleet.
 
It was not all fun, but we should give a big round applause for Spencer Gay in Revelry who stayed after the race and assisted #62, Matt Dollacker and crew on Maverick from their entanglement with “D” mountain.  I hope they survived with little damage from the HATEFUL HUMP (bump in front of D island).
 
Thanks to race committee of Chris Webster, Sean O’Connor, David Pope, Sophie Webster, Nancy O’Connor, Bruce Barrett, Randy Baker and Michele Golden.  I have heard nothing but praise for the deviation in our usual W-L races and the Cruisers had the best of many worlds this night in their course.
Watch Facebook for the overall results on Sunday.  See you on the race course,    Dana                      _________________________________________________________________