T-Minus 3 days… Are you ready?  After two years of planning, the 2024 ILYA Championship is nearly here.  Right now we have 14 A boats, 39 C boats, 36 E boats and 55 MCs; the event is split into two halves with the A and MC fleets racing the first half; the C and E fleets will race the second half.  Each fleet will have their own course; one fleet in the West end, the other in the East end. We’re very fortunate to have a lake large enough to have a setup like this!!!

Aside from the lake of course, our greatest asset is our membership; without everyone an event of this magnitude would be impossible.  In addition to the membership, we have friends of ours from around town that are volunteering their time to help us!  The Planning Committee greatly appreciates you all putting forth your time and effort!  Now it’s time for our smiling, welcoming faces to put forth our best efforts and run an enviable regatta!

Before Inland racing kicks off however, we have a little bit more Club racing to do!  This Saturday, 8/10 @ 0930 is the Russ Schurtz Memorial Dad/Mom/Lad/Lass Race; smartly the X parents figured if the MC and M15 fleets aren’t going to race, let’s use that time slot!!!  Pay attention to Channel 72 for Charlie MacNider’s call and be ready to go teams!  The forecast looks favorable for parental mishaps and tongue lashings by our youth… As always the Club members are invited to join in on the fun and watch the racing; please come and witness the spectacle that is “The Race of the Year!”

While the race of the year happens in the morning, a couple important races happen in the afternoon Saturday.  Those races are the back-to-back races scheduled for the C and E fleets. In case you haven’t noticed, neither fleet has raced much this year; this is the last tune up before the Big Show.  Fingers crossed they can get two races, maybe ten…… Like normal, the warning will be at 2pm with PRO Tommy Erickson.

What can I say, writing the Crows Nest is pretty darn easy when nothing happens; I really wish my job were tougher!!!!!!!  Well, in terms of writing about racing that is…

Last weekend, rather than 4 races scheduled for each fleet; the MC, M15 and X fleets got one race in with the C and E fleets getting skunked AGAIN!!!!  I’ve run out of superfluous adjectives to explain this series of weather events preventing us from racing this year… Perhaps horse sh…….. Whoops, I almost forgot about the kids there… It’s been a tough year in terms of getting races in for sure!

What wind did blow Sunday morning produced a pretty good, albeit somewhat slow race for the fleets.  Like normal the MCs started first followed by the 15s and then Xs… The attendance in each fleet was good, especially the MC fleet; that’s positive!!!!  The MCs had 14 boats; there were 5 M15’s and 8 X boats.

Emily Haugerud has had a great year sailing and is right in the hunt for the Fleet Championship, especially after leading from start to finish Sunday.  Despite the best efforts of those behind her, she wouldn’t be caught!  Emily took the line honor, followed by Dan Allen, Byron Beasley, Stu Oltrogge and Mark Tesar rounding out the top 5.

The 15’s were noticeably irritated by the light air, especially when they became somewhat entangled with the tall masts of the MC fleet; you’ll have that kind of thing in the light air… The test of patience was best completed by Riley Cooney; Riley was able to make her way around the course, leading most of the way and not relenting.  Finley and Matt had yet another good race finishing second, wow are they consistent! Will Finstad made it around the track in third, Date Atkinson in fourth with the Ebeling girls finishing in fifth.

Many of us remember the days of slogging through the waves on hot, light air days in the X boat.  While it’s not the greatest thing in the world, it’s a fantastic teaching scenario… Stay still, keep focus and look for the breeze.  Jude and Will had a dogfight on their hands with Garrett and Wes; the two boats had put a bit of distance between themselves and the rest of the fleet and the slug fest ensued (figuratively speaking of course!).  Down the last run it looked like Garrett and Wes may have passed Jude and Will, but in the end the Z-7 prevailed over the Z-12.  The Tidrick sisters had a great last beat and put themselves in a great spot on the last run making up a bunch of ground and extending away from the fleet to finish third.  Brady Amble made his debut for the season finishing fourth, yes you read that right, his debut… Fresh off PT from an injured ankle Brady had a good showing!  The Harris boys also showed their ability to be patient and had a good race finishing fifth!

Last Saturday evening the MC fleet party was held at a “non-traditional” location.  Fleet Captain Jesse Tidrick (ok, it was really Laura) held the event at their farm North of Clear Lake.  To say the event was a hit would be an understatement; from fun games for the adults, to entertaining our youngest of upcoming sailors, the Tidrick’s nailed it! Jesse and Laura, we can’t thank you enough for a wonderful evening!  Stu Schurtz, sorry buddy, you weren’t there; enjoy being the 2025 MC Fleet Captain…

Early notice for the E scow fleet:  Saturday, August 24th at 6pm will be the annual fleet party. It will be held at the Price residence: 1423 N Shore Dr.  Fleet Captain Brad Price will be sending additional details to all of you.

So here’s the plan:  Next week will be the middle of the ILYA Champs, so I won’t be doing a Crows Nest… The following week is MC Nationals at Geneva which I’ll be attending.  I’ll make every effort to have a Championship recap done that week, but I make no promises!  I WILL, however, have a full recap of the sailing, social events and general happenings around the ILYA Championship as soon as I can!

In the meantime, let’s all take a collective deep breath, put on our smiles and get ready to have some fun hosting our very first ILYA Annual Championship.  Good luck to all the sailors and thank you to all the volunteers!

Stay in the Clear Air,

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