Is it really that time of year again!?!  Here we are again invading your Inbox with messages of sailing and yacht club social greatness! Thank you, thank you; I’m pretty sure I heard claps of joy!

Hello new friends and welcome back “old” friends; I hope you’re all stoked for an amazing 2024! It’s the 89th year at the Clear Lake Yacht Club, Casey Callanan has the helm as Commodore; 2024 will be a year of firsts for Clear Lake and without question will put us on the map as one of the best yacht clubs in America! The Board of Directors, led by our esteemed Commodore has held its first meeting of the year; not only 2024, but many years into the future is being discussed and we as a Club are setting ourselves up for tremendous success.  One regatta and one junior clinic will be held this year and many volunteers are going to be needed to ensure not only the success of these events, but our future events as well!

 Before we get started on the news of the Spring, let’s start with  news from the winter. Our very own Margaret Osmundson, who has  dedicated much of her time to the CLYC and ILYA causes, was  awarded the ILYA’s John W. Hunt trophy which recognizes an  individual as the association’s “ILYA Member of the Year”.  She (and  two others) were given this award for their tireless work on the ILYA Trophy Committee keeping the 100+ year old trophies in display worthy condition. These are gigantic pieces of silver, some date back to the 1800’s; as you can imagine, this is no easy task and it’s not one Margaret takes lightly. Thank you, Margaret, for your ever-long commitment to all of us!

Speaking of Margaret Oz; she and the Board need all hands on deck April 27th for the Spring Clean Up at the CLYC.  Considering the magnitude of events we have coming this year, she wants the grounds in tip-top shape and needs your help to make it so! Bring your rakes, all the other necessary supplies will be made available. Please contact Margaret for further details:  Margaret – inremoz@aol.com

The ILYA Annual Championship Regatta, the “Inland Champs”, the “Big Inland”, will FOR THE FIRST TIME be held in Clear Lake. The Championships which feature the A, E, C and MC classes are held on lakes with big, wide open water, reliable breeze and great membership bases; they generally follow a rotation between 5 lakes currently (Geneva, Minnetonka, Mendota, Oshkosh and Okoboji); if we do our best work, Clear Lake can become the 6th lake in that rotation! Make no mistake, 2024 is a big opportunity for us!

The A scows kick off racing on Sunday evening, August 11th, then run concurrently with the MC’s through Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon, the E and C scows move in, racing Thursday through Saturday. Over the 7 days, around 200 boats and countless people will be on our treasured body of water, competing for some of the oldest sailing trophies in the country. While we’ve hosted National and ILYA regattas in the past, this regatta surpasses them all; not since Clear Lake’s first regatta in 1892, predating the Clear Lake Yacht Club, has such a sailing spectacle for the entire community been held.For more information on this year’s event please go here —–  https://ilya.org/2024-ilya-championship

The planning phase of this regatta has been ongoing for over a year now, but a regatta like this doesn’t happen without the volunteer spirit of an entire organization.  Every board member has committed to showcasing our organization and lake; once again we call on the entire membership to do the same!  Many volunteers are needed in various positions; no matter your ability, whether you’re a sailor or not, we need you! Julie Oltrogge will once again be handling the organization of volunteers… She’s the best when it comes to this task, but let’s make it easier on her. Let’s come together and make Julie’s job easier; please contact her early and do your part in making history at the CLYC!

Have you checked out the CLYC website lately?  www.clyciowa.com Stu Oltrogge has it looking very spiffy; new pictures, a new scrolling message and the membership tab is streamlined and less confusing!  YES, the membership tab…Go ahead and take a minute….. www.clyciowa.com/membership-info/dues/  – Did you click?  Ok good……………

When you click the tab for Social Membership, you’ll find the option for automatic renewal! You know what that means, you can ignore my constant harassment in the future! Each year you’ll be sent an email invoice on April 1st, your card of record will be charged, done… Racing members, you still have to manually enter your boat information and don’t have the auto-renewal option yet…The deadline for getting your name in the coveted Yearbook is May 7th. Emily and Meg will have the Yearbooks ready for distribution at the first party of the season.  Can you believe it…? I waited several paragraphs before bugging you about paying your membership dues!

Now that we’ve got registration out of the way, we can move on to the benefits of membership! The social calendar, perhaps one of the most important pieces of our Summer! Casey and Hunter have already mapped out the events and they’re going to be extraordinary! The event dates and locations are as follows:

• June 1st @ the CLYC Headquarters
• June 15th @ the Callanan/Hanson Residences
• July 20th @ the Zanios Residence
• August 13th and 16th – ILYA Regatta Parties at the Surf  (more info coming)
• September 2nd @ CLYC Headquarters  – Awards Banquet and Annual Membership Meeting

The CLYC couldn’t exist without the fantastic efforts of the Clear Lake Sailing Center. Year after year the Sailing Center brings a new crop of youth and adults alike into the world of our favorite pastime. The program schedule is posted on their website, www.clycss.com and on their FaceBook page.  Eight weeks of instruction are available this summer and are filling up fast. From beginner to racer; early youth to adult, the Sailing Center has a program for you.  Check out everything happening and register soon!

Our members have been busy this off-season.  From the mountains of the Western US to Europe to South America; the adventures have been plentiful and exciting.  Some of us stayed here and enjoyed the mostly early Spring-like weather. Our younger members have been involved in many events and organizations to occupy their time; undefeated basketball teams, clinics with college ball players, the Stebben’s Theater, football, volleyball, honor bands, writing competitions and more!!! I enjoy bragging about our youth and they definitely make it an easy task!

Sailing is full of stories of woe and triumph; we know many of the “Big Names”, but we can’t necessarily relate to their stories… One of those names we know was featured in an article and we may be able to relate to his story of “almost very poor” decision making; the short article can be found here:  https://www.cruisingworld.com/people/a-legendary-sail/

In the next issue, we’ll discuss the upcoming racing schedule and the excitement surrounding our expanding fleets!  Until then folks…

Stay in the Clear Air,

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