What a Weekend!

That was certainly the buzz. In emails, Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else folks chat, people were talking about this past weekend. You won’t get an argument from me. I was just glad to be home to enjoy it with the bride.

We had great wind and temps on both days. I was even able to convince Ms. Joy that a trip to the dam was an appropriate course of action. It was a smooth and fast, reachy, reachy, reachy down. Got over taken by that dang Freedom Forty (man that’s a lot of sail area) and had a great trip back with the breeze on the nose. I threw a reef in the main for the comfort of the bride and it turned out to be a great idea anyway. The boat was living in the high fives and low sixes all the way home (no sense working hard than you have too).

As we were approaching the club, we came across the Melges 24 crowd playing during the LLSC fleet races. We doused all canvas; I grabbed the camera a stole a few more Happy Snaps. Good stuff. There are even more pics at My Facebook page.

Kirk Out!

Too Cool To Be Slow

Finns to the left. . .Finns to the right

Those were the days. . .

. . .NOT!

LLPHRF Committee Results For August

SSC SOOR Just Around the Corner

The dates for the SSC Special Olympics Open Regatta (SOOR) are closing in fast. The dates are Friday, September 10th through Sunday the 12th. There are some emails floating around with last year's dates on them, so don't get confused.

Remember, the idea is to raise money to support this worthwhile cause. It only takes $250.00 in donations to race and the idea is to find enough sponsors to pack the bank. Prizes go out to those that raise the most money.

Event Registration Form
Notice of Race

New FYC Commodore Revealed

I guess being Commodore of one sailing club simply isn’t enough. Here the newest flag officer of the Fenderpalooza Yacht Club (FYC) proudly hung his colors to port last Wednesday night while parading around X island. Reports have it as a spectacular sight, and it was also reported the fenders were struck just before going into sequence. After all, they could prove slow while on a starboard tack.

I'm guesing there may be a Captain's Mast for some of the crew before this Wednesday's racing.

Special thanks to my super secret Sail Lanier photo correspondent.

Kirk Out

Another Teen Gets Underway

Set Sail for the Champions

The 11th Annual Open Sailing Regatta, hosted by the Southern Sailing Club (SSC), to benefit SOGA is Sept. 10 – 12 at Lake Lanier. The regatta includes registration and a reception Friday hosted by SSC, sailing on Saturday with a skipper’s party and reception in the evening, and more sailing on Sunday with an awards ceremony.
New this year: A poker run for those not interested in racing on Saturday! We’ll have great prizes for the best hand.
For more information, contact Cassidy Moody at (770)414-9390 ext. 107 or Cassidy.Moody@SpecialOlympicsGA.org.

For More Information Click Here

Wet Floorboards, and Cargo Ships make great start to Race Week at the Abacos

I got the following in from Mac the other day. It's an interesting inside to what you can expect when crossing the stream to Marsh Harbor. It's a fun read. Thanks, Mac, for the log and the Pics.

Kirk Out!

Awoke from sleep by the crew saying we have water in the boat. First I think I’m dreaming until I put my feet on the teak floor and I feel water between my toes. My first thought was this can’t be good. Myself and my friend Werner Schwartz start going to all the thur hulls in the boat to see if there is a hose that has come off. While checking the last thur hull seacock and seeing that the water was not coming in from the thur hull seacocks, I get a new call coming from the Watch captain Brad. Mike there is a ship off our starboard stern and he seems to be on a collision course with us.

So now the two of the most feared words (water leaking) and (Ship on a collision course) have been said and I’m not sure if I’m awake yet. I have to decide very which is the most important problem. I picked the ship. First I looked at the radar and the ship is indeed coming at us. I try to hail the shipper on channel 16 but get no response. I take the spot light and shine on the bridge of what seems like a 250-300 foot ship that seemed to no more than 250 yards away. Then I come up and take the helm and try to turn and drive a course to pass a stern of the ship. As I turn he also turns and now seems to have stopped dead in the water. Looks as if my efforts have worked and we go back to our heading of 145 to Spanish Cay in the Abaco’s .

While I was trying to not get run over by a ship my friend Werner had found the leak. It was the raw water pump on the engine and leaking about a 10 gallons an hour. Long as the engine doesn’t over heat we can handle this amount of water. Later we found we had a few problems with our bilge pumps but we were able to handle the water.

ThirstyWhale and a crew of 5 was heading over to do the Abaco Race week being held from July1st to July 11th. This is a great regatta that is more of a race to the rum party than it is a hard nose regatta. We entered the Mother Tub fleet and sailed similar boats. Here is a link to the Regatta and hope to see you there next year. If anyone is interested in the rest of the trip please give me a call. We all had a great time with over 850 miles of sailing in the 3 weeks we were gone.

Best Michael MacLeod

Windmills on Lanier