Thankfully, we didn’t get the weather Southwestern Iowa had; our thoughts are with them after being pummeled by tornadoes. Someone left the spigot on in North Iowa; we’ve gone from nearly a foot below the weir to 4 inches above! Many docks went in early and given the amount of rain we’ve had over the past several weeks, some docks are nearing the need to be raised! On one particularly windy day I noticed waves crashing over a public fishing dock… Yikes… I bet many folks are going to  be busy raising boat lifts back to the proper height as well after lowering them last fall!

Board Members: You have a meeting Sunday, May 26th @ 15:30 at the Music Enrichment Center, 509 Buddy Holly Pl, Clear Lake, IA.  You should have gotten a notice already, if not, check your spam folder or let this note serve as your notice.

This weekend is the Memorial Day Regatta, with back-to-back races Saturday morning for the MC, M15 and X fleets. Saturday afternoon for E, C and Hobie fleets should plan on back-to-back races as they normally do. Sunday morning would then be a single race in the MC, M15 and X fleets. That plan of course depends on the weather…a sudden freak snowstorm or 100 degrees and tornadoes (anything is possible Memorial Day Weekend)……as always, pay attention to HRO Charlie MacNider Saturday morning and PRO Tommy Erickson Saturday afternoon on Channel 72 for all the updates. With that said, please be prepared… Make sure you’ve got the proper equipment on the boat; radio, throwable, life jacket, paddle, water bottle, etc… This weekend isn’t the one to forget the essentials.

The Racing Rules of Sailing 2021-2024… Do you know them?  I’m sure you do as we have so few protests in this Club, however, please review Rules 10 through 23 as these are the most commonly used.  Please note, HRO Charlie MacNider has issued, for local purposes, an interpretation of Rule 42 which has been highly questioned lately at the World Sailing level, yet still affects all sailors. The interpretation and explanation is far too boring and frankly too long to include here; please take a look at it in our local SI’s; it’s point 15 – CLYC Sailing Rules. Sailing Scuttlebutt very recently published an article regarding this very subject – Scuttlebutt Article

The first Club Social Event of the year is next weekend; Saturday, June 1st about 6:30 at the Yacht Club. Social Members should bring hors devours, beverages of different varieties will be made available. While you’re there, check out all the gorgeous new furniture in the building, it’s pretty great stuff! Thank you to the generous donors for helping us out with the much needed upgrade!

The rest of the summer social schedule looks like this!:

• June 15th @ Callanan/Hanson Residences
• July 20th @ 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

Don’t worry, additional reminders will be given prior to each event!

T-minus 80 days and counting until the start of the ILYA Championship here in Clear Lake.  For the past year our planning committee has been working tirelessly putting together an event to remember!  Sailors, please go out and register for your event(s) ILYA Champs Event Page. Please don’t wait, you know you’re going to sail…Clicky, click that link above and inflate the attendance numbers early! Help us show the enthusiasm the CLYC has for this historic regatta!

The week kicks off with onsite check-in Sunday, August 11th; the A boats also have two races scheduled for that evening. The A and MC fleets then race Monday, August 12th – Wednesday, August 14th.  Wednesday is going to be a busy day… As the A’s and MC’s are leaving, the E’s and C’s will be piling in; it’s going to be an awesome experience.  The E’s and C’s race from Thursday, August 15th until Saturday, August 17th. The full schedule is listed on the webpage you’re planning to click on for registration…!

It takes a village to put on an event of this magnitude and we’re counting on you! We’ll need people to assist with launching/retrieval of boats each day, parties, spectator/crew boats, taxi boats and more. Please contact Julie Oltrogge and put your name in:  julieoltrogge@gmail.com She will also have a sign up available at the first party so you can speak to her there if you want to sign up or have any questions.

The Clear Lake Sailing Center opened registration a couple weeks ago and classes are filling quickly!  I know I’m personally excited for my youngest child to start her journey into the world of sailing; you should be excited to send your kids or grandkids as well.  An opportunity to learn a skill like this is in very short supply, we should be thankful we have such a dedicated team of volunteers leading the Center and a wonderful group of instructors teaching!   For all of the specifics please head out to www.clycss.com, there you can find everything from the schedule to the curriculum and everything in between!  Don’t miss the boat, enroll now!

This Spring we’ve had several sailors out on the regatta circuit…First up was Mark Tesar who sailed the MC Winter Series in Florida, then did some RC work, then over to Cedar Lake, WI a couple weeks ago where he finished an impressive 4th in a solid fleet.  Last weekend, the CLYC Road Warriors, aka Team Price in the Z-9 E boat, trekked to Geneva; let’s just say, Brad and team are upping their game!  They finished in 16th place with a 8th place finish in Race 3; did I mention it was at Geneva in a stacked fleet???  Nate Kotz, who doesn’t race with us anymore but is still a Social Member and will forever be a Laker, raced at the MC Eastern Championship last weekend as well.  Nate finished 5th overall in an extremely talented fleet at one of the toughest venues on the East Coast…It just happens to be the club where I grew up racing in New Jersey…Pretty cool for me to see Nate do so well there and bug him with text messages!

Congratulations to all the early season travelers on your successes, you make us all proud!

Blasts from the past: a new fun portion of the Crows Nest each week…The past of the CLYC is peppered with fun facts, quotes and trivia worthy notes; each week I’m going to feature a small piece of our storied past, sometimes with a possible prize to be won for the first correct respondent… I make no guarantees as to the value (if any) of those winnings, but it will be entertaining to say the least!  So without further ado…

“Sailing is a sport that requires skill and practice. Nothing develops skill and tests the sailors’ judgment like racing against other boats. No special physical ability is necessary.  In the X Class girls and boys compete on an equal basis and in other classes grandpa often finishes ahead of the younger skippers.”  –Excerpt from the 1957 CLYC Yearbook–

While we may argue small points in the quote, it’s a great reminder how the sport of sailing has a great many equalizers; from old folks to young stars we come together and compete with the same ferocity no matter who we are or who our competition is!  It’s one of the most dynamic and amazing sports in the world!

Will we see big fleets on the line? Let’s make it happen! Good luck to everyone racing this weekend! Until next time Lakers…

Stay in the Clear Air

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