Before we move into 2022 action, we have an announcement regarding 2021!

“To recognize excellence in development, promotion, and management by organizers and sponsors of the year’s outstanding multi-class or single class, international, continental, national or regional regatta.”  This is the description used by USSailing for the One Design Regatta of the Year; that’s what the CLYC has been awarded for its running of the 2021 MC National Championship.  Despite uncooperative weather conditions the entire club came together and put together an event that will be remembered for ages by 119 MC teams!  Thank you to the countless volunteers who helped make it a tremendous success; it takes the effort of many to run a regatta of this magnitude. The award was presented at the famed St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco just last week; Stu Oltrogge and Mark Tesar along with their beautiful spouses were on hand to accept the award on behalf of the organizing committee.

In case you missed it:  Sailing World Magazine, the “World Leader in Sailing” had an author and photographer on site at the 50th MC National Championship Regatta which resulted in a truly remarkable article; it can be found here  In Good Company With the MC Scow

Drum roll please….NOW, let the 87th CLYC season begin! Commodore Mike Starbeck brought to order and completed his first board meeting of the year which was a great success; it even comes with an early Blooper nomination!!!  No gavel… No problem; use a meat tenderizer!  Hopefully it never came in contact with the frozen cat…! The lake is officially “ice out” and Mother Nature has teased us a few times with Spring like conditions; she’s also kicking us in the butt with some cold, windy junk this week.  Do we commence the input of docks and lifts?  I say let’s go for it; the days of sailing, wakeboarding, swimming and boat cruising are coming soon!

2022 registration is now live on the website; www.clyciowa.com. May 7th is the deadline for registration this year; Meg Casey and Emily Haugerud would like to have the yearbooks available to all at the first party of the year, getting such a masterpiece together is no easy feat! If you’re wary of using the online system, you can, by all means print a paper copy and snail mail it to the Club.  If you need any assistance in registering, please don’t hesitate to contact me or anyone else at the Club, we’ll get you taken care of!

The annual Spring cleaning at the yacht club building will be held Saturday, April 30th starting at 9am; all that’s needed is your willingness to get dirty!  The tools and cleaners will be provided. Any and all manner of cleaning is necessary, if you have a little time, please stop by and lend a hand! If you have any questions, please contact Margaret Oz at m.osmundson75@gmail.com

May 7th the Clear Lake Yacht Club is hosting a Race Management seminar; these seminars with John Strassman (USSailing Certified and Internationally renowned Race Officer) are designed for yacht club race committee teams that want to know how to get organized and run great regattas and races. This is NOT the seminar for US Sailing certification that is based on the rule book. (but still, bring your book!!). This seminar will also be great for RC teams that want a spring refresher before the opening race of the season. There will be hands-on exercises and lots of time for questions and deep dives into your situations.

For times and location please contact Mark Tesar at mtesar@cltel.net 

Seminar Registration Link

June 6th marks the start of the season for the Clear Lake Sailing Center’s activities.  The entire schedule is posted on the Center Facebook Page and should be uploaded to their website; www.clycss.com very soon!  The instructors are psyched to start and I’m sure the kids are starting to chomp at the bit.  Now is as good a time as any to get the kiddos and maybe yourselves registered for classes!?!?!  The two new coach boats will be out of the plastic soon and ready for the coaches and instructors to teach the next generation of Clear Lake sailors!

This year we host three events, two for the X fleet and one for the Optimist fleet.  The Annual X Boat West Water Clinic kicks us off June 13th and 14th.  Now a staple for our X boaters, this clinic is a great event where youth come from Okoboji and Minnetonka in order to hone their skills in preparation for the upcoming large regattas.

The ILYA X Boat Championship followed by the ILYA Optimist Championship is in Clear Lake, July 27th – August 2nd. We’re talking about hundreds of sailors, parents, grandparents, coaches and cheerleaders assembling at our great club.  Margaret, Andi and Kristin have long been planning for these events and are now in the final stages of putting on the event.  If you have not been asked or already volunteered your services for this event; please contact one of these fine ladies to do so!

In case you’ve missed it, there’s an artfully written article in Sailing World Magazine about the X boat, its sailors and the impact they have on sailing in the Midwest. https://www.sailingworld.com/racing/generation-x-boat/

The first social event of the year will be June 4th at the YC building downtown. The fine details of food and drink are still being hammered out and I’ll get them to you in the near future. We have a designated party date of July 16th, however, we don’t have a definitive location; if you would like to volunteer to host this event please contact Mike Starbeck at michaelstarbeck@gmail.com. The complete social schedule shapes up like this:

June 4th – Yacht Club Headquarters
June 18th – Yacht Club Headquarters
July 16th – Private Residence (TBD)
August 13th – MacNider-Ebeling Compound

Would you like to become more involved in the YC, I don’t mean by volunteering (though volunteering is great and always welcomed), I mean by getting out on the water with some of the sailors and seeing what the “Other side” of the club enjoys.  Opportunities are endless to jump on race boats; you don’t have to be “qualified,” you don’t have to be a certain size, the racers want all of you! The racers would like to see as many of you participate as possible, joining in the fun of competing with Mother Nature and fellow members. Please feel free to contact Dan Allen dsallen@cltel.net and he will get you in contact with the right person.  Maybe you don’t want to race right away, that’s fine; click on the email address and start typing, he’ll make sure you get on a boat and feed the curiosity of sailing away from the race course.

The fleets are growing in 2022!  The X boats could be up to 10 boats, the MC’s up to around 20 and the E’s back up to 10! Of course we still have the C and Hobie fleets.  The most exciting news is the official CLYC Board approval of the Melges 15 fleet. Clear Lake is already recognized by the Melges 15 Class Association and the M15 Class has been officially approved by the ILYA as well! The Melges 15’s will be cruising the lake thanks to the forward thinking and deep caring for the future of our Club by Jeff Nicholas. These are great boats, a stable platform with exciting speed! They’re able to be sailed by a largely varied duo; husbands and wives, parent and child, male and female, two males or two females, young and “well aged.” These boats may be the multifold solution to engaging the youth after X boats and expanding the sport of sailboat racing in Clear Lake to those on the outside; don’t forget the fleet crossover that’s bound to happen! Currently 6 boats reside in Clear Lake, with the hopes of many more starting formal racing in 2023; contact Jeff if you’d like to try one out, you won’t regret it!  jnicholas@cltel.net

Fleet Captains were “elected” last year under varying levels of impropriety, in a few cases with outside influences and coercion; the X fleet of course was able to maintain the integrity of its process and pass the torch on.  Those “elected” Captains have many responsibilities, such as encouraging participation in the fleets, encouraging knowledge and following of the rules and of course organizing the annual fleet parties!

Fleet Captains:

X – Danny Starbeck michaelstarbeck@gmail.com
M15 – Jeff Nicholas jnicholas@cltel.net
MC – Jake Sorensen drjakesorensen@cltel.net
Hobie – Steve Brewer sbrew7659@gmail.com
C – Bill Nicholas cscowz3@gmail.com
E – Wil Cooney wrcooney27@gmail.com

The Memorial Day Regatta in honor of our lost Past Commodores kicks off the 2022 racing season on Saturday May 28th. *Please note the Tri-Clear Lake has a different swimming route this year!  Sailors between 4th Ave N (around Tom and Toni Ebeling’s home) and the Lake Side Inn please watch for swimmers; they’re scheduled to start at 9:00am. May 28th.* 

For those of us who never seem to quite get the schedule correct in our brains, here it is:

Saturday @ 9:30am – MC and X Fleets
Saturday @ 2:00pm – E, C and Hobie Fleets
Sunday @ 10:00am – MC and X Fleets
Select Sundays @ 2:00pm – E Fleet (June 5th and 26th, July 17th and 24th, August 14th and 28th)

The clock is ticking, Memorial Day weekend will be here before we know it… Please hurry out to the website and register for what promises to be a banner year at the Clear Lake Yacht Club!

Stay in the Clear Air

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