The time has come for the YC to party! Saturday, June 4th is the first of four social events for 2022.  Starting around 6:30pm at the Yacht Club building downtown, the “Old Fashioned Hootenanny” as VC Brad Price called it, will commence.  Social Members have the honor of bringing heavy hors de’ vours; this is the first time in two years we have this option and I for one can’t wait to see what the Social Members come up with!  Beer, wine and soft drinks will be available on site; please remember, at this time no hard liquor is allowed on the YC premises.  The Yearbooks are printed and will be available at the party; come on down, grab your yearbook, introduce yourself to the members and make them feel welcome!

Hopefully everyone made it through the gale without damage and was able to make the most of the holiday weekend. If anyone is missing a deck umbrella, please contact the Minnesota State Patrol or perhaps Canadian Border Patrol, it’s likely made its way up there! It was obvious to most everyone that racing would be canceled for the weekend, but we all sat hopeful the forecasters would be wrong… As Charlie mentioned, in a way only Charlie can, the forecasters were finally correct… Let’s hope their trend of being correct continues, as the forecast for this weekend looks much more sailable with moderate winds and seasonal temperatures.

Since we were blown out last weekend, the first three races this weekend will be scored as the Memorial Day Regatta according to scorer Mark Tesar. Fleets, be ready for back-to-back races both days. E boats, this Sunday June 5th is the first of the “extra race days.”  Make sure your crews are aware, the lines untangled and the kites repacked for Sunday. As always tune in on marine channel 72 an hour ahead of time to hear the early reports from the PRO’s. One last reminder of the schedule since we didn’t race last weekend:

Saturday @ 9:30am – MC and X Fleets

Saturday @ 2:00pm – E, C and Hobie Fleets

Sunday @ 10:00am – MC and X Fleets

Select Sundays @ 2:00pm – E Fleet (June 5th and 26th, July 17th and 24th, August 14th and 28th)

The Sailing Center opens next week! This week, eight instructors are in Okoboji for an instructor clinic, honing their skills for teaching our young ones! June 6th is the official first day of the first session and the instructors, the boats and the gear will be ready to roll.  Ana Starbeck leads the Center this year and she’ll do a great job; she has a knack for teaching kids and interacting with parents! Registration is open on their website, www.clycss.com, which shows dates and times along with an entirely new curriculum! Don’t forget about the adult classes which have become more and more popular in recent years!

The regatta season goes into full swing soon!  A few X boaters are going to Okoboji for a racing clinic being coached by the legendary Gordy Bowers on June 6th and 7th. They then come back to Clear Lake for the 3rd Annual West Water Clinic June 13 and 14th. Our clinic has become quite popular; X boats from Okoboji and Minnetonka have been attending and love the event!  The good vibes from this event certainly help sway the decision makers of larger events to come to Clear Lake with their events!

Speaking of regattas; perhaps you didn’t know a rather large pair of regattas is happening here in Clear Lake… July 27 -30th is the ILYA X Boat Championship with the ILYA Optimist Dinghy Championship on July 31st – August 2nd.  Volunteers are still needed!  This Saturday at the YC party you’ll have the opportunity to sign up for volunteer positions during one or both events!  Please check your calendars now and be ready to fill a volunteer spot or two. If you have any questions or just can’t wait until Saturday to sign up, please contact Julie Oltrogge at clyciowa@gmail.com.

The “non-youth” sailors have some pretty big events coming up as well:  June 17th – June 19th is the C Scow Nationals being sailed at Green Lake, WI. I’m not sure if any of our C fleet boys are planning to attend, but from what I hear the national class is going to be putting on a show. June 23rd – 25th the over 50 crowd goes to the MC Masters National Championship at Gull Lake Yacht Club. The CLYC will be sending several MC sailors of the “certainly-not-youth” category to this great event.

Selfless action and daring rescue; also known as the correction to bad decision making… We love these types of stories; we love them more when it happens due to ill advised decisions which result in no harm or damage!  Unfortunately I don’t have all the details, but the Langhart crew decided to launch their beloved cruising boat, “Chardonnay- On Ice” on Memorial Day Weekend… In the middle of a high wind warning… With no tow boat… With no additional assistance… Jennifer has been around long enough to know the gnarly state of the lake in such breezes… Thankfully, Stu Schurtz and Eric Protzman answered the calls, donned their super hero capes and were able to get the Langhart crew back to their dock unscathed… Despite the lack of detail and thankfully without injury or damage; Langhart’s, you’ve been nominated for the Blooper Award…

Another nomination should have been made a couple weeks ago; I suppose, it’s better late than never… New members are not immune from Blooper nomination and the jestful persecution to surely follow; Matt Ridgeway of the newly formed E boat team, Z-11 Wildside, introduced himself to Stu Oltrogge and the bow of his Cobalt with a very undignified swan dive while launching the E boat.  After having completed his horrible attempt at boarding the powerboat he quickly broke rule #2… Don’t drop the painter/bow line…The E boat floats back toward the Ritz ramp with skipper Dan Allen aboard, apparently with a look of confusion and bewilderment… The crisis however, was quickly averted with no harm to anything aside from a bruised ego of a new crew member… Welcome to the Clear Lake Yacht Club Matt and congratulations on your early nomination!

I hope to see you all this weekend on the water and at the first party of the year!  Until then…

Stay in the Clear Air,

Dan Allen
MC 2811 – Relentless
E Scow Z-11 – Wildside
dsallen@cltel.net
www.clyciowa.com
www.clycss.com