The New Crow sees perhaps the largest event in Clear Lake Yacht Club history is just one month away! The Planning Committee needs your help in ensuring it’s not just the largest but the most successful event in CLYC history as well!  Julie Oltrogge is the best we’ve ever seen at filling volunteer positions; even the best needs assistance and cooperation. Please take the time to contact Julie, julieoltrogge@gmail.com, and show your support for our outstanding club; positions of all sorts are still available.  Some require physical work, others don’t; if you have time, let Julie know and she’ll put you in the right spot!

A ton of work goes into making an event like this successful and affordable for participants.  If volunteering isn’t your thing but you’d like to contribute to the success of the regatta, consider supporting it financially. Reach out to Stu Oltrogge for details at stuartoltrogge@gmail.com.

Sailors, you don’t get to enjoy the fun unless you register… ILYA Champs Registration  The late fees will
be kicking in soon; you already know you’re racing, go out and make it official.  Don’t forget to buy tickets for the social events while you’re registering for the regatta; you won’t be able to show up the day of the event and purchase tickets! Non-sailors, we have tickets available for you as well; I’ll have more on that next week!

Many of you are familiar with Helly Hansen sailing gear… The Boater’s Closet out of Chicago is the area’s finest retailer of Helly Hansen and other sailing gear, not to mention a supporter of the ILYA.  The great folks at the Boater’s Closet will be on site at the Championship with all manner of H/H apparel, among other items… BUT, you can order yours ahead of time and pick it up at the regatta!  Check out the ILYA Championship Store and get your gear.  Most of it can even be customized with your boat name and number if you’d like!

This weekend brings the annual showcase of X boat sailing skills, the Annual Russ Schurtz Memorial Dad/Lad/Mom/Lass Race; the “expertise” of the parents is on full display as they take the helm of the youth boats with their child or youth family member in the crew spot. Club bragging rights are on the line but the name of the game is fun and Club cohesion. Sunday, July 14th at 4pm is the warning signal; tune in to Channel 72 on your radio starting at 3pm for instructions from PRO Charlie MacNider!

Last weekend was the 4th of July Regatta in all fleets, well, three of the fleets… Once again, the C and E fleets were skunked Saturday afternoon (this weekend will count as the 4th of July Regatta for you). The Melges 15, MC and X fleets managed to sail two good races Sunday morning after being glassed out Saturday morning.

The washing machine that is Clear Lake around July 4th didn’t relent on Sunday; the tubers, jet skis, and wake boarders let everyone know they were there… Not that they made a big riotous stink, they just made the aforementioned waves as they do every year. Along with those waves, we FINALLY had a solid SW breeze!!!! A SW breeze that was solid and then it wasn’t; and then it was; and then it wasn’t…? What in the (insert your favorite expletive here) is going on here!?

The MC fleet started first with most of the usual suspects in the lead.  Todd Tesar, though, turned on the jets leading the entire way around the track… He was on a mission and wasn’t going to be caught!  Father and daughter duked it out for second, Stu with crew Deb Tesar just barely edged out Emily with crew Kelly Purviance!  Oz finished fourth and Stu Schurtz who has sailed very well and consistently all season was in fifth.

Speaking of consistency; Dave Atkinson was up at the front of the M15 fleet again, this time duking it out with his 2023 rival Riley Cooney…Back and forth they went the entire race, but at the finish it was Dave and crew who took the bullet in race 1; Riley with her brother Wil finished second, the Thompsons finished third, the Ebeling girls and Finley with crew Matt rounded out the top 5.

“Start first and increase your lead…” I think someone we’ve all heard of said that…? And a great start it was from Garret Summerfield with Wes Gordon in race 1!!! They led at every mark and wouldn’t back off.  Even coming into the finish with a big lead, they pushed hard until that magical victory whistle blew!   Jude and Will took second place after doing everything they could to catch the Z-12; the Harris boys had themselves a great race as well finishing 3rd, Charlotte and Tatum were 4th with Alida and Oliver in 5th!  After the races Garrett was quoted as saying, “It was great to sail fast and have fun!” Wes added the simple but well spoken, “Ahhhhh.”  The weight of the first win has been relieved, now onto the next steps.

The competition level in the MC fleet has become reminiscent of the C boat fleets of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  It’s anyone’s race as the starting sequence commences.  Race 2 was started in an up pressure time and the fleet was spread pretty evenly across the line.  The big 2 and the little guy with crew took off and didn’t look back at the rest of the fleet.  Stu with Deb Tesar crewing led most of the way, actually, they led at every mark rounding… It was a story of the last 100 yards that determined the race and the odd shifts which happened there.  In that last 100 yards, Todd Tesar turned his jets back on, hit a great shift and went on to sneak in front of both Stu and big brother Mark, to take his second bullet of the day.  Mark Tesar, who had also taken advantage of the shifts, very narrowly took second place with Stu in third.  Stuz (Stu Schurtz) as Carol Casey has nicknamed him was once again in the mix and finished fourth with Randy Kotz having his best finish of the year with a fifth.

Did I mention that Riley Cooney was back? The rivals; “Siblings Cooney” (that almost sounds like a country band) and Dave Atkinson dueled away again in race 2.  This time, however, the fleet was bunched up and all were ready to pounce.  Some “exciting” spinnaker sets were displayed at the windward marks; no one would back down and kept ripping through the bigger breeze and waves. Riley was able to win the battle in race 2 taking the victory over Dave Atkinson and Finley Nyhus who were hard charging.  The Thompson’s were fourth with the Ebeling ladies in fifth.

Watchful eyes were kept in race 2 in the X boats… Jude and Will weren’t going to have a repeat of race 1… Or were they?  After a less than stellar start the race 1 winners, Garrett and Wes bailed out and played the shifts to crawl back into the race!  The Z-12 was indeed leading at the first weather mark after that rough start with Jude and Will hunting them down.  The entire fleet was still very bunched up at this point.  Jude and Will showed their prowess as the breeze built on the first run and were within striking distance… And strike they did, making the pass shortly after the first leeward mark.  Control was now the name of the game as Jude threw on a tight cover and wouldn’t let Garrett out of his site!  Jude continued to cover and extend, eventually winning race 2.  Garrett and Wes held on for second place, Alida Lundberg and Oliver Thompson had a great race finishing third, Thea and Isla Sorensen were fourth and the Harris brothers took fifth.

The overall 4th of July Regatta Results are as follows:

Congratulations to all the winners!

A quick reminder to the CLYC Board of Directors:  the Board Meeting has been moved to 1:30pm on Sunday, July 14th at the Music Enrichment Center on Buddy Holly Pl.

The next social event is Saturday, July 20th at the Zanios Residence. As usual it will start about 6:30; liquid refreshments will be on hand and available and the hors devours should be brought by all racing members. Parking is available on the North side of North Shore drive; please be sure your vehicle is facing West. Parking is also available along Fairway Drive.

Knock on proverbial wood, the forecast for this weekend looks excellent for racing! Of course that means it’s excellent for powerboats and jetskis as well…Be ready for back-to-back races in all fleets! See you on the bumpy water!  Until then friends…

Stay in the Clear Air,

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