COUNIHAN/MAIER WINS 2018 SOUTHEAST INLAND LAKE CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2018 Melges 24 Southeast Inland Lake Championship Regatta had it all, light wind with big directional shifts to a full on heavy wind.

For the first day of competition, with little or no wind predicted, eleven boats headed out for quite a surprise. The first race was delayed for 30 plus minutes while the wind slowly filled in across the lake. The light wind came with directional shifts that continued to build.

By early afternoon, the wind continued to increase into the low teens. Four races were completed with six teams separated by 9 points: 1st @ 9 points - 2nd @ 14 points - 3rd @ 15 points - 4th @ 17 points - 5th & 6th @ 18 points.

On the second and final day of racing, the wind filled in strong overnight WNW @ 15 with Gust 20. The first race had to be called off as the weather mark anchor did not hold. The wind increased closer to 20 with gust reaching up to 30. The Melges 24s reveled in the breeze to complete two crazy fast races on Sunday.

In the end, congratulations goes to Lake Lanier's very own Roger Counihan and Travis Maier aboard JAWS, as they beat one of their toughest rivals, second runner-up Brent McKenzie on EX-KAHN by six points. Mike Krantz's LAMORACK was third.

FULL RESULTS (FINAL, After Seven Races)
1. JAWS - Roger Counihan / Travis Maier: 2-1-3-3-(4)-2-1: 12
2. EX-KAHN - Brent McKenzie: 6-(7)-1-1-1-5-4: 18
3. LAMORACK - Mike Krantz: 5-2-6-2-(8)-1-3: 19
4. SHAKA - KC Shannon: 4-4-5-4-5-(6)-2: 24
5. OBSESSION - Gary Schwarting: (8)-3-2-5-6-3-6: 25
6. UNCLE - Gary Umberger: 3-5-4-6-2-(8)-5: 25
7. HERMES - Tony Stanley: 10-6-7-8-3-4-(DNF): 38
8. FIREWATER - Randy Draftz: 1-9-8-9-7-(DNF)-DNF: 46
9. AKA - Pat Finnick: 9-(10)-9-10-10-7-7: 52
10. ROCKETSHIP - Rick Keith: 7-8-10-7-9-(DNF)-DNF: 53
11. WAVE BYE - Michael Macleod: 11-11-(DNS)-DNS-DNS-DNS-DNS: 70