It doesn't get much better for sailing in the fall in Atlanta. Clear skies, temps in the high 60's to low 70's, winds from the east straight down the lake at 8-10 mph and no low water level islands to sail around ! 54 teams, mostly family members, competed on the water and enjoyed the party in their creative costumes. St Pete Fleet 801 had 5 teams participate and 5 teams also showed up from the Gulf Coast, demonstrating the hard work the Duffy's and Jerry Blouin are doing developing Snipe sailing in the area.
Due to the size of the 'A/Spooks' fleet (38 boats) that series had only one start and as a result the competition was keen. No sailor won more than 1 race and 25 points in 3 races put you in 5th place. Saturday started out with a fairly steady 10 mph easterly breeze with the usual puffs. During the Saturday races the teams which upwind worked the left side of the course usually gained, while off wind big gains were made staying close to the rumb line and jibing on the puffs and shifts. Atlanta favorites, Shaw Burke and Joyce Harvey from Lake Lanier won race 1 with Lee Griffith and Lisa Griffith from Surf City in New Jersey taking 2nd. Griff Hall from Annapolis and Amy Fricker from Atlanta followed in 3 rd, with the team of Don Hackbarth and Amy Thompson from the host club, Atlanta Yacht Club, in 4 th and Tom and Jack Smith from Lake Lanier in 5th.
The second race was more of the same conditions with some new players. Marty and Katie Kullman from St Pete, in their new Persson, got out front in the race and held the lead to the finish. Again SCIRA Commodore Lee Griffith with Lisa were 2nd. Hackbarth and Thompson moved up to 3rd. Burke/Harvey crossed in 4th and Hall/Fricker followed in fifth.
In the 8 boat 'B/Goblins' Fleet the AYC team of Clayton Dixon & Clay Burnup (cousins) managed 2 bullets in the Saturday racing. The Saturday morning, 3 race, Junior Series had 8 teams compete. The Series was won by the AYC team of Dustin Kays and Whitney Garner with finishes of 1,2 and 1. The Dixon/Burnup team was 2 nd with a 3,4,2 and Martin Frank and Anna Duckworth from AYC were 3 rd with a 6,1,5
With the racing done for the day, the hot buttered rum was warmed up and the costume party began. All kinds of creative figures showed up; the World Champion and AYC Champion wrestling team with their ladies, Jack the Clown, The Sheets, Peeping Tom, the China Dolls, the mummies and on and on. Sunday started out looking like it would be a light air race with a light breeze coming again from the east but more to the south, possibly favoring the right side of the course. However, as the race began and the boats sailed the first beat the breeze filled in reproducing Saturday's conditions.
Again the boats to the left did well and those to the right followed. Many of the leaders were back in the fleet! The Lake Lanier team of Craig and Mimi Beardsley took the blue shape in this race. Jerry Blouin and Frank Davies from New Orleans crossed 2nd. The new Snipe team of Brock Schmitt and Brian Caruso from Gulfport, MS were 3rd and did check in for this race after receiving penalties in both races Saturday. Burke and Harvey held on for a 4th. But where is Commodore Lee? Well, Lee finished in the high teens which would have placed him in 5th or 6 th, BUT at the start he was OCS with the 'I' flag up and failed to go around the ends! Yes he was awarded a new pair of eye glasses at the awards ceremony!
Note that 6 of the top 10 were teams of husband/wife or father/son. A very significant portion of the teams were relatives, indicating further how important family participation is to Snipe sailing.
Tom Parks from St Pete and Katie Trice from AYC won the final Goblins race. Steve Adams and Catherine Womble from AYC came in 2 nd and Dixon/Burnup took 3 rd to win the Goblins Series.
Thank you to all that came. We hope you had a great time. We enjoyed your company. To those that were not here, we missed you and encourage you to come next year.
--Don Hackbarth
| SPOOKS FLEET | |||||||||
| Place | Sail # | Skipper | Crew | City/club | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Total | |
| 1 | 26743 | Shawn Burke | Joyce Harvey | Lake Lanier SC | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 | |
| 2 | 29610 | Marty Kullman | Katie Kullman | St Pete SC | 6 | 1 | 8 | 15 | |
| 3 | 29148 | Craig Beardsley | Mimi Beardsley | Lake Lanier SC | 8 | 8 | 1 | 17 | |
| 4 | 26737 | Tom Smith | Jack Smith | Lake Lanier SC | 5 | 9 | 6 | 20 | Top Master |
| 5 | 27054 | Griff Hall | Amy Fricker | Severn SA | 3 | 5 | 17 | 25 | |
| 6 | 29014 | Don Hackbarth | Amy Thompson | Atlanta YC | 4 | 3 | 21 | 28 | |
| 7 | 24093 | Scott Cline | Cindy Cline | Privateer YC | 7 | 15 | 9 | 31 | |
| 8 | 28044 | Watt Duffy | Priscilla Duffy | Ocean Bay YC | 13 | 7 | 14 | 34 | |
| 9 | 28750 | Marc Duvoisin | Steve Duvoisin | Lake Lanier SC | 11 | 10 | 16 | 37 | |
| 10 | 28678 | Brock Schmitt | Brian Caruso | Gulfport YC | 22 CNF | 14 CNF | 3 | 39 | |
| 11 | 29602 | Jerry Blouin | Frank Davies | Southern YC | 23 | 14 | 2 | 39 | |
| 12 | 29200 | Woody Norwood | Julie Smither | Atlanta YC | 20 | 11 | 11 | 42 | |
| 13 | 25406 | Tarasa Davis | Kristen Williams | Atlanta YC | 15 | 21 | 7 | 43 | Top Female Skipper |
| 14 | 25840 | Brent McKenzie | Stephen McKenzie | Lake Lanier SC | 12 | 13 | 19 | 44 | |
| 15 | 29204 | Lee Griffith | Lisa Griffith | Surf City YC | 2 | 2 | 41 OCS | 45 | |
| 16 | 25172 | Gordon Hackstaff | Cindy Hackstaff | St Pete SC | 10 | 18 | 18 | 46 | |
| 17 | 25677 | Jerry Kimble | Bunny Kimble | Atlanta YC | 26 | 12 | 10 | 48 | |
| 18 | 4196 | John Sepanski | Chris Stahl | Carlyle YC | 31 | 16 | 5 | 52 | |
| 19 | 27027 | John Hagman | Dawn Hagman | St Pete SC | 18 | 22 | 12 | 52 | |
| 20 | CAN 28045 | Doug Folsetter | Marnie Appleton | Royal Hamilton YC | 17 | 17 | 22 | 56 | |
| 21 | 25071 | Dustin Kays | Lisa Maroski | Atlanta YC | 19 | 24 | 13 | 56 | |
| 22 | 26668 | Brian Haile | Miss Haile | Atlanta YC | 16 | 23 | 20 | 59 | |
| 23 | 27004 | Bruce Kitchen | Annette Kitchen | Cowan Lake YC | 24 | 19 | 23 | 66 | |
| 24 | 25054 | Don Brennan | Emily Brennan | Buchaneer YC - Mobile | 17 CNF | 35 CNF | 15 | 67 | |
| 25 | 2888 | Bill Moss | Martin Frank | Atlanta YC | 29 | 20 | 25 | 74 | |
| 26 | 26100 | Frank Pontious | Kay Redmond | Atlanta YC | 21 | 28 | 26 | 75 | |
| 27 | 28500 | Bill Hooper | Velda Hooper | Atlanta YC | 30 | 26 | 24 | 80 | |
| 28 | 30000 | Gary Beck | Kelly Schlagle | Lake Lanier SC | 22 | 33 | 28 | 83 | |
| 29 | 28628 | John Hill | Chris Hurst | Atlanta YC | 28 | 29 | 27 | 84 | |
| 30 | 24442 | John Muhlhausen | Anna Duckworth | Atlanta YC | 27 | 25 | 37 | 89 | |
| 31 | 26745 | Brian Hackbarth | John Coolidge | Atlanta YC | 32 | 30 | 30 | 92 | |
| 32 | 20427 | Micki Gramm | Bishop Steffel | Pensacola YC | 33 | 32 | 29 | 94 | |
| 33 | 19056 | Henry Wade | Alex Padgett | Atlanta YC | 35 | 34 | 31 | 100 | |
| 34 | 24264 | Dick Crookston | Brandon Crookston | ? | 34 | 37 | 33 | 104 | |
| 35 | 26116 | Titu Doctor | Rucsandra Woods | Atlanta YC | 36 | 35 | 34 | 105 | |
| 36 | 24747 | Dan Williams | ? | Privateer YC | 37 | 36 | 35 | 108 | |
| 37 | 25951 | Ben Givens | Vicky Beaget | St Pete SC | 38 | 39 CNF | 32 | 109 | |
| 38 | 28842 | Dave Pritchard | Taylor Pritchard | Lake Lanier SC | 25 | 38 DNF | DNC 38 | 111 | |
| GOBLINS FLEET | |||||||||
| Place | Sail # | Skipper | Crew | City/club | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Total | |
| 1 | 24994 | Clayton Dixon | Clay Burniup | Atlanta YC | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | Top Junior Team |
| 2 | 25434 | Steve Adams | Catherine Womble | Atlanta YC | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| 3 | 27379 | Bob Whitman | Vicki Casto | Cowan Lake YC | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | |
| 4 | 24020 | Tom Parks | Katie Trice | St Pete SC | 5 | 6 | 1 | 12 | |
| 5 | 26105 | Randy Wilson | Lu Han | Lake Lanier SC | 2 | 6 CNF | 6 | 14 | |
| 6 | 26306 | Bob Green | Tom Gore | Atlanta YC | 7 | 8 DNF | 5 | 20 | |
| 7 | 12021 | Lee Bradley | Courtney Bradley | Atlanta YC | 8 | 5 | 7 | 20 | |
| 8 | 25373 | Alan Thompson | Jim Womble | Atlanta YC | 6 | 7 | 8 | 21 | |
| JUNIOR RACES | |||||||||
| Place | Sail # | Skipper | Crew | City/club | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Total | |
| 1 | 25071 | Dustin Kays | Whitney | Atlanta YC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| 2 | 24994 | Clayton Dixon | Clay Burnup | Atlanta YC | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | |
| 3 | 2888 | Martin Frank | Ana Duckworth | Atlanta YC | 6 | 1 | 5 | 12 | |
| 4 | 29014 | Amy Thompson | Don Hackbarth | Atlanta YC | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 | |
| 5 | 4196 | Chris Stahl | John Sepanski | Carlyle YC | 7 | 3 | 3 | 13 | |
| 6 | 26737 | Jack Smith | Marc Duvoisin | Lake lanier SC | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 | |
| 7 | 25054 | Emily Brennan | Don Brennan | Mobile | 5 | 5 | 7 | 17 | |
| 8 | 25373 | KatieTrice | Kristen Williams | Atlanta YC | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |