Did anyone else notice how quickly downtown Clear Lake was cleaned up after the mayhem of the 4th?!?!?!  Wow!  That took some real effort on the part of the city and of course Evans United.  The CLYC’s own Dave Atkinson and Lon Rosenthal were down at the YC building bright and early Thursday morning removing the temporary fences and mending the grounds ahead of a shortened week for the Sailing Center. Thank you gentlemen for your continued commitment to the YC!

We have a busy weekend coming up!  The Jack MacNider Regatta, the E Fleet has races this Sunday at 2pm and of course the party Saturday evening at the Outing Club!  Expect back-to-back races Saturday morning.

Regarding the party on Saturday, July 15th at 6:30…The E Fleet, M15 Fleet and Outing Club/YC members should bring hors d’oeuvres. As always Vice Commodore Callanan will have the beverage options on site.

The residents at the Outing Club are graciously allowing its CLYC members to host a social event for the entire CLYC membership. We do need to be respectful of our friends at the Outing Club; please don’t roam inside on the decks – those are private areas owned by residents… Parking can be found on 10 Ave S, 12th Ave S and S 3rd St; guests are then asked to enter through the South parking lot and walk around the building (by the Jeffrey and Protzman condos). The dock is available if you would like to boat over, please do not use the swimming dock.  Signs will be posted for the restrooms.

Early notice for the X fleet; your annual fleet bash is Friday, July 21st @ 6pm.  This will be held at the Ebeling residence on North Shore Dr.  Please RSVP Kristin or Mark.

The ILYA Melges 15 Championship is quickly approaching; now less than a month away, with onsite registration starting August 3rd. The regatta committee is in the final stages of planning and moving into prep mode!  It’s a very busy season for many sailors, especially you youth sailors!  Good for you and thank you for your commitment to our great sport!  While many positions are filled with volunteers, we still need more in order to thin the workload for everyone; if you’re able to volunteer, even in the slightest capacity, please contact Julie Oltrogge, clyciowa@gmail.com.

Did you see the lake full of sailboats last Saturday?!?!?!  The largest turnouts of the year so far in the Saturday morning fleets; 15 MCs, 6 M15s, and 7 X boats!!!  It was a great sight and hopefully a sign of what’s to come the rest of the season!  It was “Win if it’s your Birthday” on Saturday… Stu Oltrogge and Isla Sorensen both had birthdays on Saturday; both won all of their races.  Nice work both of you and happy belated birthday from the CLYC!

Yet another predicted light wind day last Saturday, however, sailors were shocked when breezes ticked up above forecast!  The shifty nature of a Northerly direction was clearly evident and challenging for the sailors throughout the entire day!  Large streaks of breeze filled down the lake leaving large holes in other places. Staying in the best of the breeze was paramount to being in front.  The largest group of Melges 15’s seen this year so far was led wire to wire in the first race by, guess who, Riley Cooney… Stu Schurtz did his best to track her down but ran out of real estate finishing second with Dave Atkinson in third.  The second race was a different story; Ashley Stokke returned to racing for the first time since aging out of X boats (it was 23 years ago that she aged out) with crew Jeff Nicholas and won big in the second heat. Stu Schurtz once again finished second and Dave Atkinson again in third.  Stu’s consistency at the top was enough for him to take the victory in the 4th of July Regatta!  The M15 fleet is truly becoming a fleet of many stories; female skippers, youth sailors, returning after a long hiatus and new sailors, it’s truly a great value to the YC and the sport of sailing overall!

As mentioned previously Jude Sorensen with his birthday girl sister, Isla won both races in the X fleet.  Elle Ebeling finished second in race one, with Leif Lundberg close behind in third.  A slight shake up in race two behind Jude was Leif Lundberg in second place with Avery Tidrick in third! It’s been impressive to watch the X boats this season as every race seems to be close and competitive!  Everyone is improving weekly and the newer/younger sailors are improving by leaps and bounds!

15 MC’s showed up to the line Saturday morning; that’s the most so far in 2023! Welcome to new MC sailor Stephen Benitz who made his way to line, this is his first sailing endeavor in 30 years. Stu Oltrogge won both races, though the competition was breathing down his neck.  In race one Eric Protzman pushed him right to the end with Dan Allen and Todd Tesar close behind. In the second race, a solid final beat by Dan Allen had Stu sweating, but as usual Stu sailed fast and high, holding Dan off at the finish with Brad Oz in third and Emily Haugerud in fourth.

I mentioned previously the 4th of July Regatta in the X, MC and M15 fleets was rolled over to last weekend due to poor sailing conditions… The results are as follows:

The E fleet set out Saturday afternoon in a building breeze, fourth crews were actually taken and the racing was fast, well most of the time…Some rather large holes still existed on the course and were hugely penalizing.  Emily Haugerud and crew on the Z-23 ripped across the lake clearly in command of their craft, winning both races.  Eric Protzman and crew took second place in the first with Wil Cooney taking third.  Mark Ebeling and Casey Callanan on the Z-10 improved the second race taking a clear second place with Eric Protzman in third.

It was a very competitive weekend of racing across the fleets.  The competition is great to see of course, but the increased participation is far and away the greatest joy for everyone!  We’re only half way through the 2023 season, let’s see how many more boats we can get out!

I’m just curious; did someone make the C fleet trio mad?  Come on fellas, you can make it out this year!

Several sailors ventured off lake to compete against the Inland’sbest racers last weekend into early this week.

● Commodore Brad Price traveled to White Bear Lake for the ILYA E Invitational and had himself a pretty good regatta.  He finished 19th overall including a top 10 finish in the eight race series.
● Mark Tesar made his way to the ILYA Invitational at Nagawicka Lake, WI where three very light air races were completed.
● Leif Lundberg participated at the GLSS Regatta at Lake Geneva, WI. Leif and crew Connor Krogh had a consistent first day and made their way all the way into 17th place in the 76 boat fleet.  A shifty,  light wind, frustrating, day two brought some tougher results knocking Leif and Connor down the results board, however, sometimes those “knock downs” are the best learning experiences.

Congratulations to all three boats on your results and thank you for representing the CLYC in such nice fashion.

The racing folks of the Club, especially the youth have a very busy schedule coming up:  back-to-back-to-back regattas our kids will be competing in:  ILYA Optimist Champs at Delavan, ILYA X Boat Champs at Geneva and the ILYA M15 Champs here in Clear Lake.  Next up for the scow fleets is the ILYA “Big Inland” Championships at Lake Geneva in mid-August.  Much more information will be in later editions of the Crows Nest.  Until then friends…

Stay in the Clear Air.

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