Southeasterns

Anyone that has sailed more than a few times on Lake Lanier has experienced how wonderful the lake can be when the breeze comes from the Southeast at 10 to 15. Unfortunately, for the 21 boats that attended this years Southeastern Championship, the conditions were nothing like that. Summer came early this year to the lake and brought temperatures in the mid eighties, a full compliment of power boats and the light and variable breeze that we're all so fond of.

Despite the challenging conditions, the breeze settled in for two races on Saturday. Dave Pritchard and crew, Alan Capellin, got out of the blocks quickly in the first race to lead around the double windward leeward course. Steve Burke and Nancy Gilreath finished second.

The second race featured the same course with even less breeze. Shawn Burke and Joyce Harvey recaptured their form after an uncharacteristic finish in the first race and lead the fleet from puff to puff in the challenging conditions. It appeared as though the breeze was done for the day so the fleet retired to cold beer and a wonderful dinner coordinated by Nancy Gilreath.

Sunday dawned much the same as Saturday. As the starting time drew near, a light breeze developed, and up went the first shape. We all set up for light air, thankful that the power boat fleet had decided to sleep in.

Steve Burke rounded the first weather mark in first, but Shawn Burke showed great speed in the dying conditions and won the shortened race. The lake showed no promise for afternoon breeze, but tremendous potential for powerboat traffic, so the event was concluded. Shawn and Joyce captured first and Steve and Nancy finished second. A tight group of five boats, separated by four points rounded out the top seven places.

Place     Skipper   Crew           Points

1) Shawn Burke	    Joyce Harvey         7
2) Steve Burke      Nancy Gilreath       9
3) Dave Pritchard   Alan Capellin        15
4) Craig Beardsley  Mimi Beardsley       16
5) Tom Smith        Mark Smith           19
6) Dustin Kays      Clayton Dix          19
7) John Mulhaussen  Kelly Bradley        19
8) Scott Cline      Cindy Hacket         27
9) Brian Haile      Miss Haile           29
10) Brent McKenzie  Scott Tarrell        29
11) Brad Dunn       Diane Robinson-Dunn  33
12) Gary Beck       Julia Kinnaird       34
13) Jerry Kimble    Jeremy Kimble        36
14) Alan Carscaddon Eleanor Bradley      38
15) David MulhaussenTodd Alexander       42
16) Marc Duvoisin   Steven Duvoisin      45
17) Don Hackbarth                        50
18) Bill Moss       Martin Frank         53
19) Randy Wilson    Virginia Lawson      53
20) John Hill       Stephanie Carroll    56
21) Brad Hammerlich Nicole St-Martin     63
--Craig Beardsley


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