Once again it’s time to party!  Not just the members; the Sailing Center parents are invited, the Adult Class participants are invited, so is anyone else you think may enjoy the Club and has the potential to join us in our fun and love of the lake! The second social event of the year is this Saturday June 18th, starting around 6:30, at the Yacht Club building in beautiful downtown Clear Lake! Though no spirits were dampened at the first party, let’s hope the weather is just a touch nicer…  This time around the X boat parents, C fleet and Board Members are responsible for the hors devours; we shall see if they can impress as the entire social member contingent did at the first event. As always beer, wine and soft drinks will be provided; please remember no hard liquor is allowed on the YC premises.

This weekend is the time when the X boat parents shine!  Not just for their cooking abilities, but also for their sailing abilities; or at least their willingness to try! The Annual Russ Schurtz Memorial Dad/Mom/Lad/Lass Race is scheduled for Sunday June 19th at 2pm!  The past couple of years have been missed due to “adverse conditions”… At least that’s what I believe they were called… Nope, not gonna fly this year… Rig the boats, sail with the kids, have a great time whether it’s winning, laughing at your mistakes or mending your bruises (physical or ego) for days! It’s a CLYC tradition and perhaps the highlight of the summer for many!  Non-participants, come out and cheer them on! Like regular racing, tune to Channel 72 on your radio to hear the wisdom of the PRO as well as updates on conditions as needed.

Everyone knows by now the ILYA X and Optimist Championships are coming up in late July… Volunteers are still needed to fill various spots during the long weekend of fun filled racing; Julie Oltrogge is in charge of getting volunteers and as always, if you don’t find her, she’ll find you!  Contact Julie if you’re able to help at all!  clyciowa@gmail.com

Speaking of volunteers; Mark Tesar and Charlie MacNider have requested some volunteers for Race Committee duty during the Optimist Championships.  I’m not exactly sure which positions they’re looking to fill, however, it would be a great opportunity to become involved in race management under the tutelage and supervision of two great race officers.  If you have an interest in helping please contact Mark at mtesar@cltel.net or Charlie at cmacnider@gmail.com

Who doesn’t love great swag/merchandise from a big regatta? The regatta committee has opened a webstore with merchandise branded for the X and Opti Inland… I’ve gone on and done some browsing, it looks like pretty great stuff.  Go out and check out the webstore, pick out your favorite items and order!  X and Opti Champs Merchandise

The Sailing Center has had two weeks of lessons and the turnout has been fantastic!  The students and instructors have been all in and having a great time.  I’ve heard a good amount of feedback which of course has all been positive!  Nice work to all involved!

Last weekend the forecasters retreated from their glory of correctly interpreting weather models… Saturday morning was the closest to forecast, but still pretty far off; Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning were way off.  The Saturday afternoon races which were forecast to be windy had every E boat team fretting… Flotation panels on, 4th crews on, rigs dialed down for the big breeze; that big breeze never came, in fact the biggest puff may have been 12mph… Sunday morning was the opposite end of the spectrum; a morning that was forecast to be light turned out to be big lulls then hard hitting puffs eventually building into the mid teens.

Despite the odd, unforecasted conditions the full gambit of racing was completed; 4 races for the X and MC fleets and 2 for the E fleet.  Leif Lundberg in his brand new X boat took the fleet by storm winning 3 races; Jude Sorensen claimed the win in the remaining race. Elle Ebeling was in the hunt the entire weekend finishing with four straight seconds! It was great to see 7 of the 8 X boats out on the water for the first time, even better to see how close together they finished! The MC’s… Mark Tesar, good Lord!  Mark won all four races in pretty spectacular fashion, he’s showing off a mid-season form in week 3 of club racing! The E’s… Emily Haugerud, can I get another good Lord?  The Z-23 walked away from the entire fleet after the first windward mark in both races, winning them convincingly.  4 wins in the first 5 races of the year; not too shabby! The Z-9 and Z-7 teams hit the water for the first time, it was great to see more of the E fleet on the water; hopefully all 10 are able to hit the water soon!

Two National level regattas are upon us early in the season; the C Scow Nationals at Green Lake, WI is this weekend and the MC Masters Nationals at Gull Lake Yacht Club in Brainerd, MN is June 23rd – 25th. I mentioned last week I was unable to confirm any participation from our C fleet at Nationals, that has since been confirmed… While no C’s from the Z are attending, Mark and Deb Tesar will be attending in a race committee role.  Mark will be the PRO for the event and Deb will be on one the boats helping!  Thanks Mark and Deb for volunteering and helping run important events across the country!  So far six MC’s from Clear Lake have registered to race at Masters; they’ll be joined by around 60 other boats for what promises to be a top notch event.  This regatta may be for an older crowd but the competition is incredible; former Olympians, National Champs, ILYA Champs…Good luck Byron, Oz, Steve Dunbar, Stu, Mark and Todd!

Writing the Crows Nest is really great… You get to hear all the funny stories and choose which friend of yours should receive public ridicule and exclude yourself when necessary! Now I would not poke fun at new sailors as the simple things can be missed and mistakes can be made when you’re new to something, right?  But…… Two seasoned vets…… Game on…With that said, a short explanation of two events mixed together in order to maintain anonymity of the offenders: it’s best to look at the big white board at the aft (that means back…) of the RC boat.  When it says W3, you sail 3 upwind legs, not 2…Make sure to sail all the legs before you start going home…  3 comes after 2, which comes after 1 in case you forgot! You could look for a line flag on the RC boat too, that way you would know if it’s a finish or not… The W also means you finish upwind; it’s best to round the leeward mark and make your way in the same direction as your friends…  Now members, by all means, commence the guessing as to whom the aforementioned offenders were!!! I’m sure they’ll be outed at the party this weekend after a few Lake Time beers!

We won’t have a Crows Nest next week due to the holder of the mailing list being away at a regatta; the week after, I’ll have a wrap up of the C Nationals and MC Masters; of course we’ll have highlights of this week’s party and a preview of the upcoming regattas!  Until then friends…

Stay in the Clear Air,

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