A couple weekends ago a great party was held in the Land of Oz, complete with a steel drum band – a huge thanks to Shane Cooney for making that happen, great eats and of course the cups runneth over with chosen delights.  Thank you very much to Brad and Margaret for hosting another gathering at your home; as always you’re great hosts!

Notice to the Board:  This Saturday at 4pm or 45 minutes after the E boat races, will be the next meeting of the season; the location has yet to be determined.  Commodore Long will be sending an email to all those involved.

Notice to the E Fleet:  Sunday is a scored race day in your schedule.

The Clear Lake Sailing Center needs your help…… Aside from teaching our very young ones and new adults how to sail, the instructors themselves are being taught how to race.  Effective teaching of these hundreds of students is very tough to do without proper equipment.  The current coach boats are nearly 20 years old; the engines and boats can only take so much use and so much fixing…  With that in mind;  the Center is pursuing the purchase of two new coach boats to be used on and off the lake.  They’re a mear $11,000 short of the goal where raised funds will be matched by a generous donor. Whether you would like to write a check for $11,000 or $50, every dollar counts when we’re talking about the futures of these sailors! Please keep in mind the common goal of teaching valuable life skills, the future of sailing in Clear Lake and our common love of the sport and the lake in general!

Hobie Fleet 10 is hosting the Clear Lake Hobie Regatta this weekend.  They’ll be using the City Beach as their launching point and the YC building as their main headquarters.  Regatta Chairman Steve Brewer says they’re expecting 12-15 boats.  They’ll have a 10:30 first warning on Saturday with races to follow at the discretion of the PRO; Sunday the first warning will be at 9:30.  Currently our PRO Charlie MacNider is planning to run the club races on the West side of the large end…  Please pay attention to the PRO for further instructions on Channel 72 before your respective race times…  As always, please be courteous when sailing out or back home for club racing, please stay clear of the Hobie Regatta.

Summer regatta season is winding down and as usual we end with the ILYA Championships; this year held at Lake Okoboji.  We had great representation from Clear Lake, consisting of 6 MCs, 3 Cs, 2 Es and others on Race Committee duty! That’s a lot of sailors seeking pride and nearly ancient silver… The first half of the week featured the A and MC fleets, who were greeted with great conditions!  Winds from the South at 12-18mph with higher gusts and waves; The second half featured the C and E fleets with extremely varying conditions; winds were clocked from 5 to 30 mph over the 3 day portion, plus the big waves!  Waves, I mean WAVES; “Chop” from 30 foot power boats on top of an already rolling swell; it made for some quite difficult and interesting racing…. It was also the most consistent feature during the entire 6 day regatta; even more so than the breeze!

Pride and silver is what Mark Tesar and Stu Oltrogge with Deb Tesar crewing brought home!  They put together great series scores, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectfully.  Mark also brought home the “Reese Yard Art Trophy” for winning Race 3; you’ll have to ask Mark the history of the trophy, it’s very interesting!  Mark says; “I’m not a fan of big waves, but I seem to know how to sail in them.  Winning race 3 in the big waves was a thrill.”  After the regatta, 3rd Place winner Stu Oltrogge said; “We had a great week of sailing and socializing in Okoboji.  After having this regatta cancelled last summer due to Covid, it was great to compete and see friends that we see only during our regatta travels.  And having wind every day of the event made for a complete regatta experience and a quiet ride home.”  Todd Tesar had 2 top 5 finishes, 3 total top 10’s!  Dan Allen, Steve Dunbar and Dave Haugerud also represented Clear Lake in fine fashion. Allan Terhune, (North Sails – Annapolis, MD) was the eventual champion.

Thursday through Saturday was the C and E fleet’s turn.  Thursday was light and frustrating, while Friday and Saturday the top was blowing off the lake.

Clear Lake’s entire C fleet left home in search of Inland treasures, while none was found they sailed extremely well!  Top 5 results in races and great crew work is proof these gentlemen still have what it takes to race competitively in a physical boat against the younger crowd! It was the Haegar show in the C fleet with Kent Haegar from Lake Beulah winning his first Inland Championship.

On the E course, Team Loon – Syndicate Leader Stu Oltrogge at the helm and Team Goose – Brad Price and Crew, both made their own respective highlight reels while in Okoboji despite the extremely varying conditions.  Nice work to both teams! The winners were none other than Harry Melges IV with crew Finn Rowe, Ripley Shelley and Finn Burdick.  You may remember, Melges and Rowe just wrapped up an Olympic campaign also…

Everyone loves A boats so I suppose I’ll give them a mention…  They had what I thought was a truly fantastic turnout.  17 A’s competed; Vincent Porter sailing the I49 “Full Throttle” won the event in pretty convincing fashion, winning the first three races, then three consecutive 4th place finishes.

Across the 4 fleets, 27 total races were scheduled; 26 of those were completed!  The only race missing was an E boat race; that missing race was started and abandoned due to high winds.  That’s a definite success for the entire ILYA, Okoboji Yacht Club and every sailor competing!

Meanwhile back in Clear Lake, sailors have been busy racing hard with the Championship Trophies on the line.  Elle Ebeling has been clutch and steadfast in the X fleet, taking a second and 4 consecutive bullets to pull ahead on the score line, nicely done Elle. In the MC and E fleets;  it was the Eric Protzman show, as he put on a clinic in both fleets: 1, 1, 2, 3, 4 in the MC and in the E fleet it was a 2, 1!  Nice racing Eric!

The second series ends after this weekend, which also concludes the scoring for the fleet championships….The X fleet scores are so close it’s anyone’s game; mathematically 4 boats have a chance at taking home the big trophy after being crowned Champ.  The E fleet is down to a two team race:  Team Mayhem and Team Loon.  With four races left to decide the Championship, who will come out on top?  Mark Tesar and crew have a fairly substantial lead over the Oltrogge/Haugerud boat, but anything is possible!  Teammates turn rivals…………The brothers Tesar are neck-and-neck for the MC Season Championship… Last year’s Champion Stu Oltrogge has a mathematical chance as well!  Who will it be?  Big brother, little brother or best friend???!!!  Just one weekend remains for Championship scoring!!!! I’m not really sure how the C fleet is going to shake out; it’s just too close to call.  This coming weekend will be most pivotal in this class as just one single point separates first from last! It’s been a very hard fought year for these guys, to see it come down to the wire is not shocking!!!  Get out this weekend and watch all the action unfold! Best of luck to all the sailors this weekend!

Looking at the scores across the club makes me wonder…… Could 2021 be the most competitive year the Club has seen in it’s 86 years?  After contacting my Club Historian, my thoughts were somewhat confirmed….  He could remember just two different times in history when it may have been similar; the C fleet in the late 1970’s and the MC fleet in the late 1990’s – early 2000’s. This year should certainly be celebrated as one of the greatest racing years in our history!  Amazing competition among friends and family, fantastic relationships which withstand the tests of time and the memories for us all!  We are truly a blessed organization!

The Blooper Award nominations are piling in, considerations of viability are being considered and the finalists being whittled down to the select few deserving of such an outstanding award. Please be sure to send further stories of hilarity and misfortune directly to Stu Oltrogge; clyciowa@gmail.com

An early notice for the next party which is also the haul out/awards dinner.  It will be held at the Yacht Club facility downtown and catered again this year.  It will be held September 5th, which is the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  Come show your support for everyone at the awards ceremony!

For Sale: Nothing as of the writing of this article – As the summer season winds down, please remember those boats, parts, trailers that you don’t want to store.  Perhaps you’re replacing or upgrading your boat; PLEASE try to keep it on Clear Lake!  List your items here so our members at least have first crack.  It’s always great to grow our fleets!

I believe that’s all the news!

Stay in the Clear Air,

Dan Allen
MC 2811 – Relentless
dsallen@cltel.net
www.clyciowa.com
www.clycss.com