August 27, 2020

One of these days I’ll learn to keep my mouth shut; Mother Nature heard me and thought it would be a good time to teach me a lesson….  I say the word “Windchill” and she turns up the furnace! Apologies to those who may be heat sensitive… I concede Mother Nature, the game is yours to play, you do what you want, no complaining here!  Randy Kotz would like a little more rain though; nothing crazy, just a slow soaking rain every 3 ½ to 5 days combined with hot temperatures, then go ahead and level everything off in time for harvest…

The Hobie Cat Fleet 10/Division 7 Points Regatta is this weekend, being held on the East end of Clear Lake. Steve Brewer and the rest of Hobie Division 7 are looking to host about 20 boats, down from a normal year obviously, however, it sounds as though the competition level will still remain top notch!  Expect to see Hobie sailors from as far as Texas in attendance.  Please make sure to sail around the outside of their course when coming out to race and going back to your docks.

This weekend and next, that’s all we have left of CLYC club racing for the year…. I just heard the collective sigh from here. The 29th and 30th will mark the end of the 2nd Series and the scoring for the overall Championship for your respective fleets.  Since it’s the end of a peculiar season, why not throw another wrinkle into the mix?  This weekend our fleet racing will be held in the West end of the lake…. Does that mean out in front of Harbourage or just scooted further West from our normal spot…?  We don’t know yet; Charlie is coordinating with the Hobie Regatta PRO to make sure those folks have all the water they need. I’m sure plenty of information will be passed along Saturday morning.  Just be sure to allow for more time if you’re coming from the East shore. It’s been a good long time since we’ve raced on that end, I’m looking forward to a change!

If you’ve been watching the race results, the fleets are close!  Leif Lundberg and crew vs Sam Ludwig and crew, title match 2020 in the X fleet: It’s always great to see the X fleet up for grabs coming into the last weekend of Championship racing!  Both the MC and E fleets seem to have become the Tesar – Oltrogge show.  In the MC fleet Stu Oltrogge has a very slim lead over Mark Tesar; Todd Tesar also has a chance to put an end to the monopoly held by Stu and Mark.  The E fleet lead is held by an Oltrogge turned Haugerud; Emily leads the Tesar boys with Jeff Griffin, but, West end, last weekend, anything is possible!  Come out and watch what promises to be a great final weekend of the Championship!

Two weeks remaining; that means you still have two weeks to be captured on camera by our friendly eyes in the sky…. AND don’t forget, more than the sky has eyes; no one is safe and still being watched for lapses in judgement, unusual happenings, maybe even the bone head move no one was meant to know about!  Move over Big Brother, the OBC (Oltrogge Blooper Commission) is watching and listening.

The MCSA Masters Nationals is on!  As of last count 35 boats are preregistered with additional boats verbally committed. The Notice of Race and Covid-19 response is posted on the CLYC website as well as the MCSA website. Many volunteers will be needed in order to host the top notch event to which the sailing community is accustomed. Mike Starbeck is heading up the spectator fleet for the MC Regatta; this is one area in which we’re going to need a good amount of help, especially given our self-imposed social distancing guidelines.  Please contact Mike if you can help. It can be one day, the whole weekend, the use of your boat for another to drive, any help you can offer is great!  Mike Stabeck 319-290-9088

• A special note regarding MC Masters, if you have an MC, are 50+ and want to race, please register now.  If you have a boat and don’t plan to race, please contact Mark or Stu, they’re receiving inquiries into borrowing boats and would love to help those folks out!
• Please remember, this is a preview for these folks…. Lest we forget, we’re hosting the 50th running of the MC Nationals next year right here in Clear Lake.  Let’s do everything we can to get all of them back here in June and make that event something to behold.

The CLYC board members met last Sunday in person…. It’s amazing that meeting in person has become such a big deal.  Like a normal meeting, details were hashed, budgets discussed, yada yada yada…. The fun part was hearing the nominations from our nominating committee; So… new people were nominated to the Board as well as the nominations for Officers including our next Vice Commodore… Ah the suspense.  That will all be released at the year end party.

The Tri Clear Lake IS being run this year, September 5th to be exact. The committee needs a volunteer on a powerboat to observe swimmers on the elongated Olympic course, beginning at 7am on September 5th.  If you’re able, please contact Jake Kopriva at 641-231-1414

Some folks have equipment they would like to pass along or are looking to obtain, please see the following:

• Steve Taylor has a 2004 Melges X Boat for sale, a race ready boat with 2 sets of sails.  He’s asking $3500 – Contact Steve at sgtaylor6@gmail.com or 515-360-0664
• Dan Allen is looking for an Opti in good condition.  If you have one or know of one available, please contact him at dsallen@cltel.net
• Several families from Lake Minnetonka are looking to purchase a used Laser or Laser parts.  If you have anything Laser related and are willing to part with it, send Ian Solum an email at solum.lmss@gmail.com

Stay in the clear air,

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