Do you smell that?  Funnel cakes, pretzels, pizza, ice cream and Carnies!  That’s right, Evans United Shows has taken over the downtown area for a while providing the most expensive cheap entertainment of the summer!  Wristbands, $3 for 1 game – $40 for 3 games, whoops that little piece of red is left on the center of the paper… Better luck next time… We have the boat parade on Sunday afternoon at 1, the parade down Main Ave on Monday morning and of course the fireworks over the lake Monday night!

All the added fun around the 4th of July on land also means we plan to have a little more fun on the water.  This weekend is the 4th of July Regatta with back-to-back races planned for the MC and X fleets.  Saturday afternoon, the E’s, maybe the C’s and perhaps some Hobies will have back-to-back races.  Sunday morning will bring the MC and X fleets back to the water for a scheduled race; be mindful that we may sail two races Sunday if only one or none are completed Saturday.  Be very aware on the lake this weekend as the volume of traffic will be very high, especially Saturday afternoon; many of the people on the lake are not aware of the rules of the water… Let’s all be courteous, careful and have a stellar weekend!

I mention pretty often the great and sometimes not so great scenarios or situations of being the “Author” of the Crows Nest… I have my favorite.  Nothing beats sitting and listening to a bunch of sailors rehash a regatta well sailed!  Last Sunday morning while watching the wind blow I had the opportunity to sit down with a few MCers and hear all about the MCSA Masters Championship which had just concluded.  I’m not going to repeat those stories as I don’t want to intrude on their thunder and allow them to tell the membership themselves.  While awe-inspiring would be the first word to come to mind, humble, would be the second.  All were very congratulatory and in awe of the regatta winner!   The regatta was sailed in a mix of conditions, heavy the first two days followed by a lighter third day.  Stu, Todd, Mark, Oz and Byron once again make the Clear Lake Yacht Club proud at a huge event; all 5 in the top 25! Stu won Race 7 en route to a 2nd place finish, Todd sailed consistently the entire regatta and finished 3rd, Mark won race 6 and finished 5th.  Oz and Byron both sailed tough the entire regatta, finishing 19th and 25th respectively; Byron brought home hardware for being the 2nd overall “Mega Master (over 70)” sailor. The overall results can be found here.

Due to the Carnie invasion of downtown Clear Lake the Sailing Center didn’t hold any classes this week… They did however make good use of the down time by putting together a racers clinic for the X boaters!  Stu Oltrogge and Jeff Nicholas were gracious enough to lend their expertise to the sailors in several chalk talks and on the water drills!  I saw several pictures from the event; the kids looked to be very attentive and involved and I know the coaches were excited and happy to help!  Thanks to everyone involved!

Major regatta season is just getting started if you can believe it; the ILYA E and MC Invitational Regattas are next week…  Mark Tesar will be at the ILYA MC Invite being sailed at White Bear Lake; Brad Price with his Z-9 team and the Oltrogge/Haugerud team sailing the Z-23 will be in Pewaukee for the E Invite.  Leif Lundberg is going to be one busy boy; he’ll be at 2, possibly 3 regattas prior to the X Champs right here in Clear Lake! Good luck to all at your respective events!

Speaking of the ILYA X Championships; it along with the ILYA Optimist Championship will be held here in Clear Lake from July 27th – August 2nd. Hundreds of sailors, their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc are coming to town for a weekend of great racing!  It’s pretty amazing the number of people who have volunteered for many different positions and times; of course we still need some more help… Contact Julie Oltrogge clyciowa@gmail.com Commodore Mike Starbeck needs spectator boat drivers for all those folks wanting to go out on the water to watch little Johnny and Janey; it will take a village to move the droves of spectators, please contact him if you’re available at all michael.starbeck@gmail.com and Mark Tesar could use some assistance with Race Committee during the Opti Championship mtesar@cltel.net.  If you can help in any fashion please contact one of these three fine folks, they’ll get you in the right place!

I’m sure you’ve seen them rocketing around the lake by now; the small red spinnakers flown from high performance small boats… It’s time to check out the Melges 15! This Friday, July 1st at 1pm, Jeff Nicholas invites the youth sailors down to his house to spend some time on the new rigs and see what they think of them.  At 4pm it’s the adults turn; come on down and take a look, go for a sail and see what the future may hold!?

A little bit of racing was held locally last weekend… Saturday morning may have been one of the most odd wind events in quite a while… PRO Tommy Erickson called the MC and X fleets to the water with winds at 15 to 21 mph and everyone was getting ready for some fun; then it was 12; then 8; then 0… Racing abandoned… I guess we all got at least a practice start under our belts. Sunday afternoon brought the E boats out on the lake in a building breeze that eventually caused a little carnage in the way of torn sails and capsizes.  Ultimately it was Z-11, Team Wild Side winning both races with Eric Protzman and team taking two seconds.  Sunday… YIKES, it was windy!  No extra time was needed to see the wind wasn’t going to relent and Tommy made the early call to cancel…

Lastly, Barb Pappajohn has a really nice powerboat for sale, if you would like to see pictures, they’re available at CLYC For Sale Listings

One owner. Stored & maintained yearly on Clear Lake. 1995 Chris-Craft 21 Concept with 5.7 GL Volvo with Duoprop outdrive. 9 person capacity. No trailer but one may be available for additional price. Boat is water ready with new registration. Asking $9,800 OBO. Contact bpappajohn6@gmail.com

Until next time 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