On behalf of the X & Opti Champs’ regatta co-chairs, Margaret Osmundson, Kristin Ebeling and Andi Tisor we would like to send out a huge thank you to the entire club, the town of Clear Lake, and Mother Nature!  We would like to thank the Inland Lake Yachting Association (ILYA) for giving us this opportunity to show and share what an amazing club we have.

The feedback from all those who visited were high praises and compliments all around.  We had months of coordinating and meetings to make this week long event happen.

Julie Oltrogge was the lead in organizing and recruiting all of our amazing volunteers. Mike Starbeck coordinated the spectator fleet for both events, and supported the ILYA with their request to have safety boats on both fleets.Thank you to Lexa Starbeck and Jake Sorensen for being available for this regatta!

Tuesday & Wednesday July 25th & 26th, we had a “set-up” crew, registration, greeters and two sets of “put-in” help.

 Wednesday evening we had the traditional “X Champs ~ Flag Ceremony and March” at the City Park Band Shell, organized by: Nichole Sorensen, Stu Oltrogge, Deb Tesar, Rebecca Nyhus & Wil Cooney. The welcoming ceremony also included a beautifully sung National Anthem by the Nicholas sisters. Team pictures were taken and given to each lake as a gift. Dinner Wednesday night was arranged by Joann Nicholas and her team of volunteers, along with “grill master” Gerald Peterson and his team…. I think this meal set the bar very high for any future “welcome” ceremonies!

Thursday (July 28th) was the start of X Championships. Thank you to our race committee, both from Clear Lake and off-lake.  Both Sr. and Jr. fleets had a successful regatta getting in all of their races.

Our X Champs breakfast team was Ruth & Dave Miller, greeting our families each morning with a smile or a first aide kit.

The lunch team was led by Jan Price (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) & with an amazing group of volunteers each day.

Thursday evening we took advantage of Clear Lake’s Thursdays on Main, and the 370+ guests enjoyed all that was offered!  We had the CLYC open for use as a home base and to keep the volleyball tournament going. Hosts that night at the club were the Craven’s, Ebeling’s and Tisor’s.

Friday again we had our fabulous, breakfast & lunch teams as well as another great day of sailing.

Friday evening was hosted at the historic Surf Ballroom which is always a hit with the out-of-town guests. Our hosts for the evening were the Hanus’.

For the main event; Tracy Ludwig (and family) hit it out of the park with coordinating the night with customized sailboat cookies, amazing sailboat center pieces, and of course BBQ by the Starbeck’s Smokehouse (our commodore’s brother.)

Our raffle fundraiser, (a set of X boat sails) donated by the Zanios family in honor of Thomas J Zanios III, was a huge success raising over $3,000 for the CLYCSS.

Shane Cooney arranged for our entertainment that evening and hypnotist Doug McCraw definitely wowed the crowd. And for those of you that don’t “believe”, I’m here to tell you it works! The Starbeck family were all entranced participants and there is photo evidence!

Saturday the 30th, we had race(s) for both fleets followed by lunch, awards, and some farewells…. Thanks to the “take-out” crew, (efforts led by Al Ludwig and Brad Harris) in making it easy for everyone to get their boats out quickly and safely.

Saturday afternoon the volunteers hit reset and started all over again.  Opti Champs were to start the next day, Sunday, July 31.

We need to thank Dan Allen and Dave Atkinson for set-up and Opti prep which included gridding off the yard and building a ramp.

Morning breakfasts were hosted by Carol Casey & Frankie Winegardner.

Three days of lunches were led by Julie and Marcus Lundberg and their volunteer crew.

Sunday night dinner was hosted by: Chris and Scott Long with a new team of volunteers!

Races for Opti’s were on two courses, Red/White/Blue and the Green fleet. Thank you again to our dedicated race committee.

Sunday there were no races, however, we did somehow end-up with one sailor on the “Injured Reserve” list by way of roller blades vs. fence! Jude, we are glad you are ok but we missed you on the water!

Clear Lake had 10 young sailors represented in the Green Fleet.  Each of them found success in trying something new and learning from our amazing coaches.

Speaking of coaches!  We had Ana Starbeck leading the charge for the seven days along with:  Billy Starbeck, Easton DeVries, Cameron Terry, Riley Cooney, Elle Ebeling, Weston Conway, Cael Crispin, and Danny Starbeck.

Our final evening event was hosted by Mark and Kristin Ebeling & team.

The Gyro Place came down and catered/served dinner followed by some very competitive BINGO!  Our BINGO fundraiser (gift baskets sponsored by Ebeling’s and MacNider’s) raised $1,700 for the CLYCSS. Thank you to the volunteers that helped for both the dinner and BINGO!

In closing on Tuesday, August 2nd, both Opti fleets ran additional races and the award ceremony brought closure to a long week….

Thank you to: Margaret Osmundson for working with Dave Berg on all things ILYA to make both events a huge success.

Thank you again to all the volunteers!  We appreciate you and know that you are the face of the CLYC and why so many people were extremely complimentary of these two events.  Many of them look forward to coming back to Clear Lake. In total, I counted 128 names of volunteers (including race committee,) and I’m sure I’m missing a few. As a club, we should be very proud of how well we turned out in numbers to make this event the huge success that it was!