Who would have thought, other than an avid runner, that masses of people running outdoors would be such an amazing sight to see?  We should all be overjoyed to see such things these days; a true sign perhaps life is somewhat returning to normal!

Spring in Clear Lake has been in “normal swing” for a few weeks now; docks and lifts are filling the shores, the Coots have taken up residence along those same shores and the fishermen are out in droves.  Powerboats and sailboats are going in slowly, if you put yours in this past weekend, I hope you kept in mind the very low temperatures we’ve had over night!

The Spring Cleanup at the Yacht Club building is scheduled for May 1st at 9am.  This is an all-hands event as we have a facility rental scheduled for May 2nd and we all know how “particular” Margaret Oz is!  Please come over and help out, if you have any questions feel free to email Margaret at m.osmundson75@gmail.com

Have you registered for the 2021 CLYC season yet?!  The process is user friendly, streamlined and takes mere minutes to finish; head over to www.clyciowa.com and get registered today!  The deadline for getting your information in the yearbook is May 7th; naturally registrations will be accepted after that, however, everyone wants to have their name in the book!  If you know someone who’s not tech savvy, give them a shout and help them out, call one of the officers and let them know, they’ll get those people taken care of! Teamwork folks, let’s make sure we get everyone registered.

Speaking of the yearbook; don’t forget a page or possibly pages will be dedicated to the people we’ve lost in the past who’ve left a lasting impact.  If you would like to list a family member, friend or have a suggestion of a person that should be listed, please contact Chris Long at long.christine@bradshawlaw.com or Emily Haugerud at ecoltrogge@gmail.com

The Clear Lake Sailing Center registration is up and running!  Every year the Sailing Center adapts and goes with the flow to offer programs for many different levels of learner.  Register as soon as you can at www.clycss.com the classes are sure to fill up fast!

The club racing season kicks off May 29th with the Memorial Day Regatta in honor of Art Tesar, Bob Swanson, Gill Bovard, JIm Larson and John Lundberg.  Sailors, as always, be ready for back-to-back races on Saturday at your respective times.  In the first Crow’s Nest of the year I had it wrong, in the second my Editor-in-Chief caught my mistake, this time I corrected it on my own!  Did you catch my mistake? The racing schedule is as follows:

Saturday @ 9:30am – MC and X Fleets
Saturday @ 2:00pm – E, C and Hobie Fleets
Sunday @ 10:00am – MC and X Fleets
E fleet:  Extra racing Sundays – June 6, July 18, August 8, August 29

The following Saturday, June 5th kicks off our social calendar. The Yacht Club building in downtown Clear Lake will be the host location.  If memory serves, the Social Members have the honors of Hors de’ vours at the first party?  We have a way to go, I’ll get back to you on that one!  The Social Event Calendar is as follows:

June 5th – YC (downtown Clear Lake)
June 19th – YC (downtown Clear Lake)
July 17th – Brad and Margaret Oz residence
August 14th – Marcus and Julie Lundberg residence
September 5th Awards Dinner – YC (downtown Clear Lake)

2021 is going to be an exciting year of racing here in Clear Lake!  We’re hosting the 50th MC National Championship; As of right now, we have nearly 70 boats registered with over 100 expected to be in attendance.  The field will include Olympians, World Champions, National Champions, Regional Champions, Local Champions, Professionals and Amateurs; it’s going to be a spectacular show of sailing ability; all managed by a fantastic Race Committee team! The regatta committee can’t put an event of this magnitude together without help however, if you’re already volunteering, we thank you greatly for the efforts; if you would like to volunteer and haven’t been approached, please contact Mark Tesar, Stu Oltrogge, Margaret Oz or Dan Allen.

The second is the annual West Water Clinic for the X boaters. The Sailing Center put on such a great event last year despite the COVID challenge they were asked to hold the event again; and hopefully host the event for years to come!  They’ll have boats coming in from Okoboji and Minnesota lakes; some eager sailors may start showing up before all the MCs are gone from Nationals!  Ted Keller of TK Sailing is coming over to help on the water; he’ll help with improving the skills of all sailors participating and their coaches, it’s truly a blessing to have a professional like Ted coaching our youth.

The 2nd Annual Clear Lake Boat Parade will be on July 4th from 1-3pm; some of the finer details are still being worked out, but, if you want solid answers the best place to get them is from Andi Tisor andi_tisor@msn.com.

The ILYA has a great offer to promote attendance in their Invitational Regattas.  If you haven’t raced an ILYA Invitational Regatta in the past 5 years, the ILYA Promotional Committee will pay your registration fee if you choose to attend one.  That’s all the scow fleets; E, C, MC.

E Invitational – Mendota Yacht Club – July 9-11
C Invitational – Minnetonka Yacht Club – July 16-18
MC Invitational – Okauchee Lake Yacht Club – July 9-11

The ILYA Championships are in Okoboji this year; the event stretching an entire week the pertinent info can be found at www.ilya.org or www.okobojiyachtclub.org .  A’s and MC’s race from August 16-18 with the E and C fleets finishing the week August 19-21.  Several boats are planning to attend. If you plan to attend and haven’t made housing arrangements, you may want to do so soon; hotels are filling up quickly.

If anyone has items for sale they would like listed on the website please email Stu Oltrogge, if you would like it listed in the Crow’s Nest please email Dan Allen:

For Sale – MC 2577 (available in July) – 2013 Melges, enclosed cockpit in great shape – email Dan Allen at dsallen@cltel.net for details.

For Sale – C/MC boat lift – $250 – Contact Don Taylor at 515-979-8430

Please don’t forget to go out to the website, www.clyciowa.com and register today!

Stay in the clear air,

Dan Allen
MC 2577 – Relentless
dsallen@cltel.net
www.clyciowa.com
www.clycss.com