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Watch for information about the upcoming 47th annual Dogwood regatta on April 1-2 and registration details for the Wednesday night series.
The next LARC race will be Moonlight #1 hosted by BFSC and will be on Sat. June 3 with skipper’s meeting at Aqualand at 6pm. I will send a reminder to register the week before. Okay, I admit it … I got cheap and didn’t put enough money in the wind meter. Edith and Kent (thank you UYC ) asked if I had put in enough money and I said sure. Boy, did I learn a lesson! We had a triangular course and I figured surely we would get at least one weather and one downwind leg during this race. But not to be!!! It looked like it was going to being a downwind start and ended up being a very close reach and by the time we eventually rounded “A” (no SF because the leaders rounded before 3pm), I realized I had not put enough money in the wind meter and the wind EXPIRED. I want to thank everyone for their participation in the first LARC series of 2023, we had an average of 18 boats in each race and that is an excellent start to the new year. I especially want to thank Kent Rogers, Edith Collins and all the nice UYC folks who welcomed us to their club and gave us a nice breakfast before the first race. I will begin working on trophies for the Fall 2022 and Winter 2023 series and will send an email with time and place for their presentation. Attached are the overall results for the Winter 2023 series. See you on the race course, Dana ____________________________________________________________ Race committee of John McCarthy, Brad Bowers, Graham Bowers, Samuel Trimble, Will Shirley, Ken Blankenship, Paul Blesse, Ansley and Tim Thompson had a difficult job this evening because John McCarthy dropped our crystal ball and put a crack in it, making it very difficult to predict the weather this evening.
It was a difficult call for RC this night with the daily and sometimes twice daily storms we have had to deal with for the past week. When these pop up storms show up, you need a crystal ball to decide whether to continue, shorten or even abandon the race. A difficult decision when you see storms on the radar and need to decide how to proceed in the next couple of hours. The Weather Channel is not always right! But I want to thank this race committee as well as the other 30+ teams of sailors that have taken on this responsibility each week for the last 18 weeks of racing we have enjoyed. We appreciate your dedication in providing the best possible race course each week. The racing is getting tougher each week, this is obvious in watching the starts of each fleet. A big thanks to Will Shirley for taking photos of the starts, which in some fleets were very competitive. See you on the race course, Dana ________________________________________________________________ All I can say in my defense is that I requested the Moon to wait until after the fireworks were finished to put in an appearance. So, if you sailed to H and back after we Short Finished at X, you got a great view of the fireworks and then when you got back to the dock the Moon provided a gorgeous glimmering light. It was a fabulous ending to our Moonlight series.
This is the order of finishes by elapsed time. Since we SF- short finished at X, the distance changed to 1.52nm and then a handicap was given to determine the corrected time (see the file attached). But it is fun to look at how everyone finished: C&C 99 ET = 42 min 27 sec Wavelengh 24 ET = 43 min 35 sec J-22 ET= 49 min 35 sec Beneteau 310 ET= 49 min 43 sec C&C 36 ET= 51 min 41 sec Hunter 34 ET= 54 min 01 sec E33 ET= 51 min 03 sec Santa Cruz 27 ET= 54 min 59 sec Beneteau 285 ET= 1 hr 01min 47 sec I have bought some great trophies for this series and will be giving them out at the Wednesday Series 2 awards on Wednesday, September 7th. It was a great night for a Moonlight race. See you at the first Fall LARC race on Sun, Sept 18 at 1pm. Dana _________________________________________________________________ The gauntlet has been thrown down in some fleets. In almost every fleet, somewhere in the top 3 places there is a one point difference in the overall results. The starts are also getting more competitive and most people can now recognize the Individual recall “X” flag and what they should do when they are over early. Being in one of the last fleets to start, you get a great view of some of the more innovative starting solutions people try, like the infamous “dip” start. I have seen that in the last 3 races.
Thanks to race committee of Mike Iuvone, Warren Collier (temporarily out of medical retirement), Paul Stouffer, Greg Aksamit, Steve Griffin, Mary Lyons, Julie Stuart, and Colton Spell. We appreciate their efforts in these days of difficult weather. We can thank Will Brown and his supervisors Jonathan Stewart and Chris Jackson for the excellent meal of Chicken Tetrazzini after this race. I noticed some great kitchen helpers of Marie Umberger, Linda Cellamare, Rose Mazzotta, Jordi Lobon, thanks so much for volunteering. See you on the race course, Dana __________________________________________________________________ The important question of the evening was “Did you finish with the same number of crew that you started with?” If you answered to the affirmative, then you had a successful evening. Listening to the stories of mayhem and carnage that occurred during this short and eventful evening sent chills up my spine but also taught me some very valuable tips on handling these pop-up storms. I have to commend the team on the J-22 ( Pyg) of Will Bryant, Oliver Sobering, Abi Anderson and Stephanie Griffin for handling the storm this evening and completing the course.
Race committee members of Tedd Meinersmann, Brent McKenzie, Lisa McKenzie, Reid Collins, Doug Thome, Lisa Thome, and Terry Vick probably had the most difficult RC we have had so far this year. We had lightning, thunder, shifty East wind and wind gusts probably up to 30mph and how can I forget, THE RAIN!!! We appreciated the announcements but had some difficulty following the countdown (just kidding RC) and it’s corrections. We are looking for volunteers for future Wednesday night dinners. You will need to feed about 80 people and we do have a budget. Let any of the officers of the keelboat fleet know of your interest in volunteering to make a meal and Will Brown will get in touch with you. Don’t forget that we will have dinner next week. Watch facebook for an announcement of this coming Wednesday’s culinary delight. See you on the race course, Dana ________________________________________________________________ It was obvious from the comments at dinner that Wheeler Sutton, Caroline Speir, Greyson Emory, Kyle Meyhoefer, Davis Macleod, and Dona Cardenas made an excellent enchilada casserole and southwest salad this evening. A big thank you to Jo Ann Estes and April Macleod for keeping everything warm while everyone went out sailing in this summer race.
I applaud race committee for their unique course and the announcements. I notice it is getting harder and harder to get close enough to the barge to see the course without interfering in another fleet’s start. Speaking of starts, you can tell that competition is getting close because the starts are getting tougher. RC recorded that there was a boat over early in three different fleets. Thank you race committee of Bailey White, David Wright, Daniel Postell, Carol Reddaway, Nadia Schenck, Dave and John Antweiller for this evening’s race. Interesting developments in the Melges 24 fleet, Area 51 flew to a win. While Breeze aka “the Red Baron” fought off the other J-24’s to become the “Ace” this week. In the battle of the 22’s, we have a new winner in High PHRF fleet with Tedd Meinersmann in his Lindenberg 22. Instigator II has successfully pushed the crown off of the head of Impetuous in the Low Cruiser fleet. There are coming to get you, Greg Cash!! Stay dry and see you next week on the race course, Dana ________________________________________________________________ I apologize for the tardiness of posting scores, there have been a couple of glitches in the overall scores that I have been working on solving and will post as soon as possible.
What an exciting evening. Once again Mother Nature was waving around her storm stick, but at least she gave the excellent 8+ knots of wind that picked up as the race proceeded and the RC managed to finish the race just before the rain and storm hit. Thank you race committee of Mike Stewart, Spencer Gay, Randy Baker, Norm Barnes (hope spelled right) and Caden Boullen for this great night of sailing. It looked like a tight race in High PHRF fleet between Strega and One Over 8, while the NEW GUY in the J-24 fleet scored another win (does he have tiny ducks under his boat paddling away). Meraki, Griffin and Valkyrie fought for the top spot in our most active fleet of Mid PHRF and Magic Fly challenged Renegade in the Low PHRF fleet. Rapscallion and Uncle! Uncle! with only 4 seconds between them had the closest race of the night in the Melges 24 fleet, while in the High Cruiser fleet it was Wind Spinner taking the horn. Don't forget the great dinner that Wheeler Sutton and crew have planned for us next week after race 5. See you on the race course, Dana P.S. If anyone else would like to receive these emails, please tell them to send their email to me and I will add to the list. Same goes if you would like to be removed. ______________________________________________________________ THE PATIENCE OF SAINTS. I believe this would describe race committee this week. They were willing to wait and let Mother Nature do her thing. Thanks to Davis Macleod, Kyle Meyhoefer, Wheeler Sutton and Lily Vigtel for going the extra mile and waiting for the lovely wind that filled in for this evening of racing.
We had some great racing this evening. Revelry broke into the top spot of the Low Cruiser fleet while Starcatcher in his first race of the series snatched the top spot in the High Cruiser fleet. Perpetual Motion and Griffin battled for first place in the Mid (and most popular) PHRF fleet but the Old Salt, Perpetual Motion, sailed to the win by 8 corrected seconds. Great sailing guys!! She-Devil managed to fly to the finish line in front of THE NEW GUY in the J-24 fleet and Strega was top dog (or should I say Witch) in the High PHRF fleet. A big thanks to Jonathan Stewart for the fantastic Sloppy Joe dinner with an even bigger thanks to Debbie and Mike Stewart for taking care of the clean up afterward. I hope everyone got a piece of Tiffany’s birthday cake. It is my understanding that at our next dinner (in 2 weeks, Race 2-5) Wheeler Sutton and crew will be volunteering to make dinner for us. I like their volunteer spirit. See you on the race course, Dana ___________________________________________________________ Mother Nature was being very capricious this evening. She has been waving her thunderstick around and no one knew what she would do this evening. We set up a cautious course for the possibility of nasty weather but in the end no foul weather and lots of beautiful breeze on this beautiful moonlit night.
A big thanks to Pete Winham who set up the course for the evening. Here is the order of the finishes: Jonathan Stewart- Bill the Cat Will Thran- Super Bueno Bailey White- Griffin Jim Chambers- Wind Spinner Spencer Gay- Revelry Norman Plotkin- Starcatcher Pete Winham- Southern Cross Just a reminder that the last Moonlight race will be Sat, Aug 13. See you on the race course, Dana ______________________________________________________________ Let me start with a reminder that there will be NO race next Wednesday, July 6, but when we come back on July 13 we will be fed by our team of culinary specialists. We will continue to race for the next 8 weeks until our next awards ceremony on September 7.
Just a reminder that we have the 2nd of the 3 Moonlight races coming up on Saturday, July 9. We are going to change the location of the 6pm skipper’s meeting to the grassy area in front of “X” dock at Aqualand (quieter and plenty of room to park). I will send out a reminder next week. It was an awesome night to go sailing if you were able to make it to the lake through the traffic and the rain that was reported on most of the freeways. Fortunately for those of us that made it in time for the race, we had a great time with wind that varied in strength, always shifted (it was an easterly) but never died. I heard people talking about boat speeds that varied from 4-7 knots, not bad for July. It was humid and I spent more time looking at the sky and wondering “Is that rain or something else”, but RC did a great job of watching out for us. Once again, we had a great gang of people on RC this week led by Stefan Schulze, Al Schulze, Jill Schulze, Nancy Dalman, Eugene O’Donnell and Mike Tataris. We had some exciting action on the race course this evening. Lately we have heard a lot of yelling (for good reason) from Greg Cash about boats interfering in the Cruiser start. But this week all the Melges 24 fleet wanted to start at the committee boat and they just didn’t fit (live and learn) and of course someone had to pay. We had some exciting racing among the fleets this week. David Wright came out on top in the High Cruiser fleet while Spencer Gay climbed to the 2nd place in the Low Cruiser fleet. Mike Krantz flew around the course with Gary Umberger chasing him in the Melges 24 fleet, while Mike Macleod celebrated his son’s birthday by taking a 1st in the Low PHRF fleet. Brad Bowers and his musical team took the J-24 fleet by storm this week. I hope everyone has an exciting and safe 4th of July weekend. See you on the race course, Dana ____________________________________________________________________ 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 _________________________________________________________ |
Results by Month
February 2023
Results by YearScorekeeperDana Stewart | She Devil |
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