Two weeks in a row starting with regrettable news; Past Commodore (1971) Dick Utne passed away on Saturday May29th at his home in LaJolla, CA. Thank you Dr. Utne for your service to the Club over the years. Our deepest condolences go out to Barb and Bill Nicholas and the entire Utne family.

The kick off to racing is done and in the books; next up, the first party of the year! Saturday June 5th is the kickoff social event for the CLYC.  6:30 pm at the Club Building downtown. Come on down and enjoy the company of friends and family; perhaps say hello and chat up an unfamiliar face, let’s grow the family that is the Clear Lake Yacht Club.  Beer, wine and soft drinks will be available.  On site for some amazing food; Starbeck’s Smokehouse of Cedar Falls, amazing creators of BBQ masterpieces! Please don’t forget – Do not bring any food items to share and no hard liquor is allowed on premises.  Lastly, if you’re feeling ill, please stay home – we have plenty of summer to get together!

During the party on Saturday, Andi Tisor and the Clear Lake Sailing Center will be showing off some new swag!  A small fundraiser for the Sailing Center and a great way to sport some new CLYC apparel, seems like a win-win to me!  Find Andi, she’ll show you the items and even help you with ordering if you would like!  To look at those items on the website prior to Saturday, please visit https://clyc2021.itemorder.com/sale?read_message=true.

While we’re on the subject of partying; Vice Commodore Mike Starbeck is known for throwing some great bashes…  Be ready for new ideas, some changes, some updates and excitement at our events.  Let’s have fun and get lively!  Chat him up on Saturday with your ideas if you have any to share!

Speaking of Starbeck’s…. It’s never too early to mind a watchful eye for the always fun and entertaining Blooper Award!  Frozen cats, missing trailers, electrical lines, it’s all funny; well as long as no one is hurt too badly…….

The Memorial Day Regatta started with a Friday evening warning from the Head PRO……… Cold temps, cold water and no sun, oh my…. A very warranted warning to be sure. Despite the less than ideal conditions, great efforts were put forth by the RC teams and sailors to complete two very fair and fun races in the X, MC and E fleets on Saturday.  Sunday was a cold and wet sob story, one rightfully cancelled by our PRO.  The results of the Memorial Day Regatta in honor of …………………………… are as follows:

X                                       MC                                       E

1. Z-7    Jude Sorensen    1. 2718  Mark Tesar            1. Z-23  Emily Haugerud

2. Z-88  Sam Ludwig        2. 2566  Byron Beasley       2. Z-13  Mark Tesar

3. Z-15  Elle Ebeling         3. 2605  Brad Oz                 3. Z-94  Eric Protzman

4. Z-00  Danny Starbeck  4. 2606  Stu Oltrogge           4. Z-7   Will Cooney

5. Z-48  Finley Nyhus       5. 2577 Dan Allen                5. Z-9   Brad Price

The Silver Cup……. A new recognition for the up-and-coming sailor in the MC and E fleets.  Those of us not at the top of the fleet but showing great strides in moving forward are eligible for this new award, thanks to the thoughts of those we’re chasing!  The actual “formula” is still being worked out, however, this is something to look forward to.  Those “front fleeters” aren’t eligible until we start beating them, putting our names on the trophies!  Challenge accepted!

The 50th MC National Championship, need I say more…  The Pinnacle event for MC racing comes to Clear Lake in just over 3 weeks. 104 boats have registered with more expected to be in attendance; the record?……… 109 boats, held by none other than THE Clear Lake Yacht Club… Can we surpass that?

An event of this magnitude can’t be run without volunteer help, and the Club needs your help!  Julie Oltrogge is the Chairperson of the volunteer committee; give her a call or shoot her an email, clyciowa@gmail.com, if you can help in any way.  Can’t physically help at an event; let your waterfront space do it for you…In order to maintain our Covid protocols and good practices we intend to spread the fleet across as many docks as we can.  No mooring will be allowed down in front of the club.  If you’re comfortable having a boat or two at your dock, please contact Deb at dtesar@cltel.net.  Rest assured folks; if you don’t come forward now, these nice ladies will come calling!

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 in preparation for the X Inland Championships in Wisconsin. Ted Keller of TK Sailing is coming over to coach our sailors on and off the water; it’s so great to have a professional coach like Ted involved with our youth.

Following the two regattas, the excitement continues in Clear Lake.  The Carnies will be in town and open up shop on the 30th of June continuing through the 5th of July; The 2nd Annual Boat Parade will be happening on the 4th of July along the same or at least a similar route as last year; On the 5th of July, the Annual Parade down Main Street.  For more details on the local festivities head to www.clearlakeiowa.com; for more detail on the boat parade, hit up Andi Tisor at andi_tisor@msn.com

The ILYA Championships are over in Okoboji this year.  Some are planning to make the short trip; let’s help out Okoboji and get as many boats there as we can!  The A’s and MC’s race August 16-18, with the E’s and C’s finishing the week August 19-21.

X Boaters, you guys get to go back over to Pewaukee for the Inland Championship, which runs from July 28-31.  That’s just the culmination of many regattas from what I understand.  You kids are going to be tired by the end of summer and ready to go back to school……….. Alright maybe not….

The season of losing things in the lake is also upon us; please be sure not to lose any trash in it.  If you do, kindly go after it.  Some people lose other things like hats and shoes in the middle of fun.  Mark and Deb Tesar have become the proud new keepers of a size 4/5 toe shoe.  If that sounds like something you lost, get ahold of them!

Lastly if you have items for sale please let me know.  Currently we have a couple of items:

2018 O’pen BIC Sailboat.  Lightly used and is what the CLSC uses for youth lessons.  $2,000.  Contact Marcus Lundberg at damfino999@yahoo.com if you’re interested.

MC 2577 – Available after Nationals – 2013 Melges, all white in great shape.  Contact Dan Allen at dsallen@cltel.net for more details.

I hope to see everyone on Saturday, primed to party! Until then….

Stay in the Clear Air,

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