Merry Christmas and Happy New Year… Happy Holidays… Seasons Greetings… Whichever cheerful greeting you prefer; I hope the entire Clear Lake Yacht Club family enjoys this wonderful season of joyful blessings!!!

If you haven’t been in town; the city of Clear Lake once again did a tremendous job with Christmas by the Lake; Santa made his annual pre-Christmas trip, the Clear Lake HS Dance Team pulled some strings to bring in the Grinch and Cindy Lu Who and of course the fireworks over the lake.  Who can forget the crazies for a cause participating in the Annual Polar Bear Plunge!  The lake is barely back in a solid state after being nearly completely blown open by the storms on December 15th, measurable snow has fallen and mostly melted; maybe we’ll have a nice mild Spring like Winter and get back to those boats sooner than we thought!

While the season may be merry and bright; the CLYC light has been dimmed with loss of another longtime member and stalwart; Bill “Oz” Osmundson passed away Thanksgiving night surrounded by his family.  Oz and family have been longtime members; many know that he and Fran have lived full time in Bill’s childhood summer home for the past 20+ years after retiring.  Old and young have learned from Oz, enjoyed his stories of old times, enjoyed listening to him read stories in the classroom and shared many great times with him over the years. Oz (the original great and powerful) will be truly missed.  A private family funeral has already been held; a celebration of life will be held sometime during the summer at the CLYC.

Some sailors within the club haven’t had much of an “off season” to speak of…  Mark Tesar made his way down to Rush Creek Yacht Club in Texas for the revival of the Black Tie Regatta. I’m not sure if the regatta has the same pomp and circumstance as it once did, but boy did the sailing sound phenomenal.  Mark finished 4th overall, including a bullet in race 2!  Chris and Xander Wessels competed at the US Sailing Multihull Championships in Corpus Christie, TX at the beginning of November.  Chris made the Gold Fleet, finishing 25th overall with an amazingly consistent scoreline.  Xander wound up 9th in the Silver Fleet; he had a 3rd and a 1st in the Championship round of racing!  Well done all of you!

In late fall, both brand new CLSC coach boats were delivered and are ready for use starting in the early summer sessions. The work done by those on the Sailing Center Board has been tremendous, they certainly deserve a huge round of applause as well as our thanks.  Mark, Andi, Kelli, Jake, Rebecca and Brad; Please take a bow.  Not enough thanks can ever be said to all of those who donated.  A very special thanks again to Vince and Jenny Tomlinson for pushing the Center beyond their goal and to the Hanson Foundation for matching all of the funds so generously contributed!  Don’t forget friends; you still have time to make a tax deductible donation as the CLSC is a 501(c)(3) (please consult your tax professional on your ability to deduct certain donations).  Any donations should be sent to:  Clear Lake Sailing Center, PO Box 29, Clear Lake, IA 50428

2022 promises to be a banner year, full of amazing social gatherings, great racing and fun around the lake.  Social gatherings….Commodore Mike Starbeck… I think that says it all; if you haven’t been to a Starbeck gathering, you’ll soon see what amazing hosts they are! Vice Commodore Brad Price will be performing the most important role during the social events…arranging the “soups and sauces” to satisfy your discerning taste buds.

Two HUGE regattas are scheduled back-to-back this coming summer; the ILYA X Championships and the ILYA Opti Championships, where around 100 X boats and 70+ Optis will be racing over the course of a week.  Andi Tisor, Kristin Ebeling and Margaret Oz are the Co-chairs for these events; they take a level of prep work, organization and volunteer help not heard of during other events.  Please think it over as to how you may be able to help and contact one of them!

I could be in danger of losing my press credentials if I didn’t help spread rumors, so;  the mill is turning and people are talking about additional boats and injured sailors returning in nearly every racing fleet…AND the possibility of a new fleet being introduced and eventually added to the club lineup…?  20+ MC’s, 10+ E’s, 10+ X’s and a new fleet???  Stay tuned friends, the racing and spectating excitement is guaranteed to be turned up many more notches!

Plenty more news will be coming your way soon enough; most likely after the first Board meeting of the year which is traditionally in March.  Until then friends…

Stay in the clear air.

Dan Allen
MC – 2811 Relentless
E boat – Z-11 Wild Side
dsallen@cltel.net
www.clyciowa.com
www.clycss.com