Hurricane Idalia

We had some interesting results this week.  In the Low Cruiser fleet, there was a tie for first place between Spencer Gay (Revelry) and Greg Cash (Impetuous).  The Tony Cellamare in Area 51 of the Melges 24 fleet had an impressive 2nd place finish while Michael Wroblewski in Drippin Wet finished 4th in this race.    Kurt Stadele in Ole Sole Mio of the Mid PHRF fleet took line honors on this wild evening of wind and rain while his fleet member Jim Kingery in Sotally Tober has had excellent finishes in the last 2 races.  Sotally Tober  tied for 2nd in race 2-9 and then he won this race.  This last race was crucial in the overall ranking in the one-design J-24 fleet with Tom Graham /Mark Turner winning the race.  It was a very close contest in the Low PHRF fleet between Patrick Vrana in the J-88 and Sean O’Connor in the J-80 with this last race determining the winner.
 
A big thanks to race committee of Tommy Sawchuck and Breakaway crew and Darryl Lanier and Instigator II crew.  This race committee team not only had to deal with three (3) boats that ran aground on the “hump” by D mark but also an approaching hurricane.  What I will remember most about this race is as I started my downwind run back to the finish, the race committee barge and all the boats in that vicinity suddenly disappeared from view.  At that point I decided that going back to that area by the race committee barge did not seem like a good idea.  We took down as much sail as possible and headed towards a safer area.   But unfortunately, the one thing no one could escape was the downpour that occurred just as the first fleets began to finish.  This was a challenging race for this team of volunteers and we thank you for your service. 
 
Also a big thank you to Will Brown,who has been working very hard to keep us fed.  I am looking forward to our traditional Low County Boil again this year.  The “boys” do a great job in providing an excellent Awards dinner.
 
Thank you Dona Cardenas and Rachael Green for the stunning photos below.  I call them the before and after shots.

See you at the awards,  Dana.
                    ________________________________________________________________

Race 2-8   Thank you race committee of Sean O’Connor and Bailey White and their crews for abandoning the race for lack of wind.
 
Race 2-9;  Aug. 23, 2023
 
Things are heating up in more ways than the weather.  You could feel the sizzle at the start of the fleets on this next to last race of the series.  In the two one design fleets there were 2 boats in each fleet that were called over early.
 
Many people thought with increase in temperature we would have a decline in wind, but Mother Nature has shown some sympathy for us, because even though it was as hot as hades out there, we still had enough wind to sail the 3-4.5 nm course in an hour. A big thank you to race committee of Mike Harrington, Kyle Wheatley, Penny Johnson, Nick Eldridge, Ben Martelino, Mike Smith and special help from injured Brent McKenzie.
 
With only 6 races sailed so far in this series, there will only be one throw out for everyone.  We have some very hot contests in some of the fleets.  In the Melges 24 fleet, there is a tie for first place between Premature Acceleration and Rapscallion and third place boat, Ex-Kahn is only ¼ (.25) point away from the leaders.  Next week’s race is going to be a contest to watch.  There is a tie for first in the battle of the J’s (88 vs 80) in our Low PHRF boats between Valkyrie and Meraki.  While in the other one-design fleet of J-24’s, Althea and Hawkeye are less than one point away and will need to keep a close eye on each other. 
 
A big thank you to Dona Cardenas for the jambalaya that she cooked.   There will be food for Race 2-10 and Will Brown and his elves have something special cooked up for us on the  awards evening on Sept. 6 as well as the unique trophies that will be awarded. 
 
Thank you Dona Cardenas for these gorgeous shots.
See you on the race course,   Dana

​                        ____________________________________________________________

Let me start this with a plea for registered skippers to sign up for race committee for the next 3 races.  We have a lot of experienced sailors and potential race committee teams, please do your part in making this a successful series.  We can’t have a race without race committee.  If you are inexperienced but interested in learning, contact Jonathan Stewart (770-598-4346) and he might be able to pair you with an experienced team.  The view of a race from the RC barge (in this case the Jr barge) is always awesome and sometimes scary.   Awesome is when everyone completes their course, don’t hit the race committee (I am talking to you, Melges 24 fleet) and comes across the finish line one at a time.  But scary is always a possibility.
  
After all the fleets got started (just one small hiccup), it was time to look around and see what the weather was going to do.  Considering the almost daily storms we have had for the last couple of weeks, it would be smart to watch the weather radar and shorten the course before the weather gets nasty.   After looking around and seeing the sky (see picture from Otis Sisk on Iniki above), I started to keep one eye glued to the weather app on my phone and one on the 8 fleets that were sailing.  In the end, I decided that making fleets 1-4 sail the last 1.5 of their course might put them in the storm.  A big thank you to race committee members of  Anne Howard, Heather Temske, Doug Early, Claire Bean, Michael Lenkeit and Klaus.

We had some very exciting finishes and great performances in the fleet this Wed night.  In the EXTREMELY competitive Mid PHRF fleet, Sotally Tober finished 2nd place while Iniki finally put on her hurricane cloak and finished first in the exceptionally fast Low PHRF fleet.  The Melges 24 fleet had some remarkable finishes with the first boat, Premature Acceleration, finishing over 1 minute in front of the next 3 boats with only 12 seconds between 2nd and 4th place.  That is a tough fleet which means fleet members have lots of room to grow.
An exceptionally warm thank you goes to Wheeler Sutton and all those worked to produce a fine meal for after the race this week.  Watch the LLSC keelboat facebook page for updates from Will Brown on upcoming meals.  I know he has great plans for the awards dinner.

See you on the race course,   Dana
                                 __________________________________________________

We have finally completed 4 races and everyone gets a throw-out.  Race Committee averages have been calculated and the results are attached.  At the end of the overall results, will be the individual results for Race 2-6. 
Competition is getting fierce in many fleets.  In the Low Cruiser, Darryl Lanier and Will Lee and company have found the top speed for the Capri and have tied Greg Cash for king of the hill.  David Wright is challenging Jim Chambers and his band of merry wine drinkers for the Silver trophy of the High Cruiser fleet.   Davis Macleod and his band of Generation Z’s have managed to squeak into the top spot by throwing out the first race.  Interesting fact; we have 2 fleets where one boat ended throwing out a first place.  In the Low PHRF fleet the battle rages on between the J-80 and the J-88 with these two boats tied for the top spot in this fleet.  It is the battle of C&C’s in the Mid PHRF fleet.  Bailey White in his C&C 36 has been trying to hold off the challenger, Tommy Sawchuck in his C&C 99.  These 2 boats are now tied for the gold.  Brad Bowers and his bunch of pirates are dominating the J-24 fleet but we all have to watch out when the Stefan brings Cinderella out and races around the course and making it back to the dock before she becomes a pumpkin (maybe that is why she never sails in Moonlight races)!!
Thanks to  Davis Macleod and Kyle Meyhoefer for their excellent race course this week (Race 2-6) and thanks to David Wright, David Schenck, Justin Guido, John Antweiller, Mark Turner, Robert Burk, Chet Kemp and Glen Schmudde  for their valiant attempt to run a race on July 26 (Race 2-5).

​Watch facebook for news from our Culinary Specialist about next week’s dinner.  The awards and a great meal for this series will be on Wed, Sept 6.   Mark your calendar and come join us for a great party, excellent food and unique awards.
See you on the race course,   Dana
                     ________________________________________________________________