June 25, 2020

The first party of the year is in the books.  Ok, so it wasn’t our “normal” version of party but, it was phenomenal none-the-less.  What more can you ask for, enjoying the company of old and new friends, beverages and amazing comfort food beside our gorgeous lake?  During the party, the membership of the CLYC was awarded the prestigious, Club of the Year award by the ILYA.  Since she couldn’t be there in person, ILYA Commodore Beth Wyman sent a very nice congratulatory letter along with the trophy.  The prestigious honor of ILYA Member of the Year was awarded to Jeff Nicholas.  In case you didn’t know it, Jeff put in a lot of time and effort, not to mention money, to rebuild the E fleet here in Clear Lake.  Thank you Jeff and congratulations to the entire membership for your continued enthusiasm to the club’s endeavors.

X boat parents/guardians/grandparents or other gluttons for punishment and embarrassment:  The annual Russ Schurtz Memorial Dad/Mom/Ladd/Lass race has been postponed to July 12^th at 2pm.  That gives you an extra couple weeks to not hone your skills or prepare for the other unprepared parents…

The past two weekends have brought very little racing for the fleets.  The E and C fleets were skunked, the MC fleet got in just 3 races and the X fleet just 2.  Despite the lack of racing, some atta boys need to be given to Sam Ludwig and Stu Oltrogge.   Sam has strung together a series of 4 straight wins in the X fleet, while Stu has now posted 3 in a row in the MC fleet.  Nice work guys.

This weekend brings the 4^th of July Regatta.  Be prepared for back-to-back races on Saturday.  The E fleet also has a set of extra races on Sunday, so E sailors be prepared for that. It’s possible each fleet could have 4 races this weekend…  Fingers crossed!  Scorer Mark Tesar advises the first three races of the weekend per fleet will be the scores used to calculate the regatta results.

The “West Water Clinic” is coming to Clear Lake Monday and Tuesday, June 29 and 30.  The event hosted by the CLSC Board will feature X boats from Clear Lake, Okoboji and Minnetonka.  20+ X boat crews will be in town for some racing, learning and fun!  What a great way to showcase our lake to more sailors!

If you’re like me, you’ve been following the unfolding regatta nightmare the ILYA has had to deal with this year.  We all know the Covid Pandemic has made things very difficult; imagine being an organization trying to hold multiple large regattas across multiple states in a span of 8 weeks or so…  Everyone is coming together to make the most of the summer and we’re expecting a definitive plan from the ILYA next week.  Hopefully they can tell which, if any of the regattas will be held and where.  Stay tuned for more information.

Speaking of regattas… The Interlakes Regatta which was set to be hosted by the Minnetonka Yacht Club has officially been cancelled for 2020.  This year would have marked the 125^th anniversary of the regatta.  Unfortunately with its lackluster attendance over the past 10 years or so, combined with the pandemic, we may have seen the end of an era.

In case you missed some other regatta news…  The A Nationals was cancelled; E Nationals in Little Egg Harbor, NJ has been cancelled; C Nationals has been postponed and MC Nationals is still on the bubble.  Our big regatta, the MC Masters Nationals is still on the books for September.

Lastly the next Board Meeting is this Saturday at 4:30pm.  I’m not sure if this is another Zoom meeting, in person somewhere or a mix of the two…  If you haven’t already, you should be receiving a notice from Commodore Anderson soon.

Stay in the clear air

Dan Allen
MC 2577 – Team Relentless
dsallen@cltel.net
www.clyciowa.com
www.clycss.com