PLEASE BE AWARE: The Tri Clear Lake will be happening this weekend and those moving about in town should be very careful of those competing.  South Shore Dr will be closed all morning Saturday, those near downtown (between the Yacht Club and Ebeling’s) should be careful if moving by boat as the swimming portion will take place in that area.  North Shore will be full of runners so those along there, please be aware!  This concludes your public service announcement.  (Imagine emergency alert tones in your head if you feel like it)

Attention CLYC Board Members: Commodore Price will be conducting the second Board Meeting of the year, Sunday, May 28th at 4pm at the Music Enrichment Center.  If you have items you wish to be included in the agenda please contact him.

Are you ready for a season of great fun on the lake?  Is your boat in the water? What are you waiting for?  You might want to get that done today before the “Great Summer population jump of 2023!” As I was putting my own boat together last week, the Ebeling, Nyhus and Tidrick families launched their X boats… The early season shenanigans at a boat ramp are always legendary no matter how seasoned a person is, however, it was with great awe that I witnessed something amazing! Every X boat backed in slick as can be; well, almost…Chad Nyhus… keep trying buddy, keep trying…

Every year the anticipation builds to a near boiling point as Summer approaches; 2023 is no different. Great events, camaraderie and meeting new friends; those are the backbone of what keeps the Clear Lake Yacht Club thriving through the years. Commodore Brad Price has set the Social Event dates, Vice Commodore Casey Callanan has promised nothing but his best efforts in entertaining and our hosts as always are so gracious!  The dates for the social events are as follows:

June 3rd @ 6:30pm – Clear Lake Yacht Club

June 17th @ 6:30pm – Clear Lake Yacht Club

July 15th @ 6:30pm – Outing Club

August 12th @ 6:30pm – Tesar/Oltrogge/Tesar Compound

September 3rd @ 5:30pm – Clear Lake Yacht Club (Awards Banquet)

Speaking of parties… E Fleet your Fleet Captain has already set your annual party date!  Early notice for the fleet party at the Sorensen residence, June 24th @ 630pm.  Further details will be available at a later time.

The anticipation among sailors is equally intense when race time comes along! We begin the racing season with the Memorial Day Regatta, of course; Saturday, May 27th at 0930… the MC, Melges 15 and X Fleets kick us off in that morning session. That afternoon at 1400, the E, C and Hobie fleets will take to the waters and begin their season!  While the scheduled times haven’t changed for some time, we do have a new fleet and some sailors moving to different fleets, so here’s how the season is scheduled:

• Friday at a time TBD:  Melges 15 “Developmental Series” (contact Jeff Nicholas for details and scheduling)
• Saturday at 9:30am: MC, X and Melges 15 “Championship Series”
• Saturday at 2pm: E, C and Hobie
• Sunday at 10am: MC, X and Melges 15 “Championship Series”
• Sunday at 2pm: E Fleet – June 4, June 25, July 16, July 23, August 13, August 27
  • Melges 15 “Mixed + Series” (contact Jeff Nicholas for details and scheduling)

A couple times in conversation the question regarding the starting sequence and leeward mark assignments during Saturday morning racing has come up. As of right now, PRO Charlie MacNider intends to use the following sequence:  MC – Melges 15 – X boat.  The Melges 15 and X fleets will use the short leeward mark (the starting line mark) and the MC fleet will use the longer leeward mark. Please note this is subject to change; please be sure to check the course board at the stern of the RC boat!

The Clear Lake Yacht Club is thriving my friends!  Our social membership is expanding, some of those members are starting to race, expanding the racing fleets and that’s great news!  Each year we strive to garner more members and share our joy of all things Clear Lake.  This year we have added the Melges 15 to our repertoire of classes, the E fleet remains steady as does the C Fleet. The X fleet saw a couple age outs, however, a couple new boats have been added in and the numbers remain consistent. The MC fleet has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and has now swelled to 19 boats.  Welcome to the new sailors in your respective fleets and welcome back to a few sailors who have been missing in recent seasons!

2023 features two sailing events here in Clear Lake.  The first is the X Boat West Water Clinic, June 25-27.  Sailors from Okoboji and Minnetonka will be joining our X boaters in a clinic environment to further prepare themselves for the many regattas they sail during the summer, namely the ILYA Championship at Lake Geneva, WI.  The second regatta is an all-hands event; the ILYA Championship in the Melges 15 will be contested from August 4-6 on our beautiful lake.  Many members have volunteered in certain areas already.  If you haven’t, please reach out to Julie Oltrogge, she will most certainly find a place suitable for your talents.

Melges 15 sailors, please go out and register for the ILYA Championship if you intend to compete!  The process is simple and safe, it also boosts the entry numbers encouraging others to register!  Melges 15 ILYA Championship Registration

Commodore Brad Price and the Z-9 E scow team started the year last weekend with their annual trip to the Geneva Spring E Regatta.  Not much changed this year, the weather was still unpredictable, the wind blew from 5 to 25 knots and the racing was tight.  In the end, it was a good start for the team in their new boat finishing in the middle of a high class pack!  Nice work team Goose!

Many more Clear Lake sailors will be hurriedly moving (eventually traipsing) across the nation, competing for local titles, ILYA regattas and National Championships! In just a few weeks at least 5 MC’s will be heading to Rush Creek Yacht Club in TX for the MC National Championship. The ILYA Championships are in Lake Geneva this year, again… Thankfully, we’re hosting them next year!  The E scow National Championship is kinda special this year… It’s the 100th, yes, the 100th running of the NCESA Championship and it will be held in Madison, WI on Lake Mendota; we have at least two teams already committed to racing, hopefully more decide to take part!

The Clear Lake Sailing Center opens for the season June 5th! Nine separate sessions will be run this year for kids and a class Tuesday nights for adults. Many sessions are starting to fill up already, please register yourself and your young ones today! Go to their website www.clycss.com to get registered and don’t forget to look them up on Facebook to get the most updates!

Every sailor knows his story, everyone who knows small bits about sailing has heard his name:  Harry C “Buddy” Melges, the patriarch of the Melges family who launched the Boat Works to the world stage, dominated every facet of his sailing career and shared more knowledge than any one person is required, passed away late last week. A great number of articles have been eloquently written in the days since; if you have time, do a Google search, the stories you’ll find are great! You can find his obituary here:    Buddy Melges Obituary

I hope to see you all on the water this weekend.

Stay in the Clear Air

Dan Allen
MC 2811 – Relentless
dsallen@cltel.net
www.clyciowa.com
www.clycss.com