And then there was one… One weekend left of the 2023 sailing season; at least here in Clear Lake… The Labor Day Regatta is this weekend which means two races on Saturday morning and afternoon, one race Sunday morning for the MC, M15 and X fleets. Don’t forget the only “race” you don’t want to win; the “race” for the Juno Cup in each fleet… The most beautiful set of trophies the sailing community has ever seen; finish last in the last race, get yourself a beauty to display on the mantle!

Labor Day weekend also means we have the Awards Ceremony, Sunday night starting at 5:30.. Dinner will cost $10 per person.  We will only be able to do cash or check! On the menu are pulled pork sandwiches with sauce choices, potato salad, pasta salad and a dessert all from Louie’s! Following dinner we’ll have the Annual Membership Meeting where the nominations for new Board Members, Flag Officers and Race Officers will be approved (hopefully) by the membership, the Treasurer’s report will be given and Commodore Brad Price will give his last remarks before handing the reins to our next Commodore. Awards will commence promptly following the Annual Meeting. Please be sure to bring back the perpetual trophies if you have one. This year will bring more glassware to your collection which started last year and will hopefully continue on… Well, I hope it continues on until I have a larger set!!!!

Reminder- if you have a Blooper nomination, let Stu know about it. Call or email him at clyciowa@gmail.com

Last Saturday morning’s racing was intense across all the fleets!!! Having been moved to the West slightly due to the Hobie Regatta, the fleets sailed in a breeze, nearly completely foreign to them which made the game even more fun!  The Northerly breeze was around 10-13 mph with gusts coming down out of nowhere hitting about 18 mph.

The X boats wrapped up the Second Series with two races; Elle made her move in the first race leading wire-to-wire taking the bullet in the first race, which would also be her only race of the day. Jude Sorensen finished second in that first race, then did what he needed in the second race taking the bullet.  Brady Amble had a nice day, he finished with a 3, 2.

The MC fleet was short of its top three sailors; Mark and Todd were away to the MC Masters Championship (more on that later) and Stu decided to watch from the luxury of his Cobalt taking hundreds of pictures. A good number of MC’s still showed up to the starting line, including Leif Lundberg who competed in his first MC race as a skipper; he’ll enter into the fleet full time in 2024. Both races were very close and hard fought; Dan Allen took line honors in the first race, followed by Steve Dunbar and Emily Haugerud. In the second race, Emily took home her first win in the MC this year, she was followed by Eric Protzman and Brad Oz.

The Second Series continued to be the Dave Atkinson show in the Melges 15 fleet.  Another two races and a 1, 2 scoreline… Ashley Stokke took the helm with Jeff Nicholas as crew and showed her prowess taking a 2, 1 to split the weekend with Dave.  In the end, it was just too much to overtake Dave in the second half of the season!

There was no racing Sunday morning as the wind just wouldn’t cooperate enough to allow a good course to be set up.

The Second Series results are as follows:

Saturday afternoon brought a building breeze and amazing conditions for the C and E fleets!  Can you believe it…? I bet you won’t… Four races were sailed in the C fleet this year!  That’s got to be some kind of record in the past 5 years for most completed in a season.  All four races were sailed in the Second Series in beautiful conditions, suitable for the discerning sailing tastes of the remaining three C’s.  Alright, I give them all a horrible rash of crap every year, one of these years I may give them a break… Yeah, I doubt it…! Bill Nicholas comes out on top with a stunning average of 1.67 only having lost one race in the long arduous fight!  Second was Steve Swift, followed by the best looking boat in the club (no question there), Z-2 Tom Birdsall.  Ok guys, you can take your fishing trip now!

Emily Haugerud came into the final weekend with the destiny of the Z-23 in her capable hands.  Win two races, take home the Gold… Brad Price and team weren’t going to just let them have it, he made them work for it.  It was a dogfight to the end in both races.  In the end, Emily takes home the Series!

Yes, the champions of each fleet have been crowned, however, I need to leave a little suspense and something to write about next week!  Of course, you could cheat and go look at the results, but what fun would that be????  I’ll give a recap of the year in each fleet next week along with the winners of the “outstanding sailing” and “service awards.”  Oh and don’t forget the Blooper Award!

I previously mentioned Mark and Todd Tesar were absent from MC racing this past weekend… They were racing at the MCSA Masters National Championship at White Lake, MI.  This is the National Championship for the over 50 crowd; make no mistake, this regatta is no joke!  Masters boasts names like Burdick, Keller, Fisher, Draheim and many other National and World Champions.  Todd and Mark were determined to show the 64 boat fleet how good they really are.

The conditions varied from barely raceable on the light side to fairly breezy on the high side.  Todd never waivered through the event sailing an amazingly consistent series; his finishes were, 11, 12, 18, 10, 1… Yes, that’s right, Todd won the last race of the event!  What a great way to finish a Championship, that win would propel him up to 5th overall. Mark, while not as consistent, had top finishes which propelled him to 7th overall!  His finishes were, 16, 3, 35, 2, 4! Amazing sailing fellas and congratulations!

Last weekend as we all saw was the Annual Hobie Regatta… I apologize but I have no report from that event at all.  It looked like they had about 15 boats or so and they had good breeze on Saturday.

The racing in Clear Lake as we all know is extremely competitive and close; it’s this close racing that helps make us better racers when we attend off lake regattas.  Four of our sailors this year have managed to qualify for the Blue Chip Regatta in their respective fleets.  Leif Lundberg qualified for the second year in a row in the X Boat, a regatta which was sailed in early August.  Stu Oltrogge, Todd Tesar and Mark Tesar all qualified for the MC Blue Chip Regatta with their previously mentioned fantastic results at the Inland or Masters National Regattas… I’m not sure at this point if any of them will be able to attend; the E Scow Nationals plus the constraints of life may just be too much.  Qualifying for this event is a feat to be admired.

In just two weeks, the largest E scow regatta in history is set to commence on Lake Mendota in Madison, WI.  Currently over 120 E scows are registered for the 2023 National Championship; it’s the 100th year of the E scow and what better way to celebrate than gather and race in such a large fleet!  Currently we have two boats attending from Clear Lake; the Z-23 team with Emily Haugerud at the helm, Dave Haugerud on the kite, Stu Oltrogge running the bow and Deb Tesar in the 4th spot; joining them will be the Z-9 team with Brad Price on the helm, Will Price running kite, George Kennedy on the bow and Kelly Purviance in the 4th spot.  Mark Tesar will also be in attendance working on the RC team for this massive event.  Good luck to all attending!

I hope to see everyone this weekend either on the water or at the Awards Dinner!  Until then friends,

Stay in the Clear Air,

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