Crow’s Nest 05/08/25

Registration deadline off the Starboard bow! CLYC Membership

Saturday, May 10th is it!  Please register now! Doing so by May 10th gets your name forever inked into CLYC history! Emily Haugerud and Meg Casey-Payne put a great deal of effort into producing a gorgeous yearbook; it would be a shame to not have your name in it!

Saturday the 26th was the annual clean up of the YC building and the grounds.  As she’s done for many years, Margaret Oz ran the show and (no pun intended) ran a tight ship!  Cobwebs, sticks, branches, winter dirt and sticky junk of various origins were removed while new mulch was methodically spread. It was a group’s work that a village accomplished! A huge thank you to everyone who showed up and put in a great deal of hard work!

Thursday the 24th two of our Sailing Center instructors and a long time CLYC member were on site at the Surf Ballroom for the Annual Green Expo. Together they introduced the attendees to the Center and the Yacht Club.  The event saw a large amount of traffic and these three guys were able to engage a good number of folks sharing the mission of each organization! Thank you Brady, Finley and Stu for your efforts!

Speaking of the Sailing Center; unless you’ve been ignoring the previous Crows Nests (how dare you) you know the Center has a bit of a different look this year.  The Board is building upon its previous success and the momentum is swinging further in a positive direction! A new Program Director, more training for our senior instructors and a new curriculum. It’s setting up to be a fantastic Summer at the Center. I’ve “introduced” Chloe Frank (Happy belated Birthday by the way) the new Program Director and CLYC social member….Now, how about the Lead instructors; what a great lineup they have this year!

• Brady Amble
• Elle Ebeling
• Leif Lundberg
• Finley Nyhus

The Clear Lake Sailing Center is really the first line to building a successful future of the Yacht Club itself.  Many kids from outside the generational membership enroll and want to be a part of something fun and unique!  As members of the YC our goal should be to see their success and welcome with open arms those families involved with the Center.  Growth through common interest and fostered relationships is achieved by many organizations, let’s see to it we all do our part!

The season opening Memorial Day Regatta will be upon us quickly. Break the boats out of winter jail, hit them with soap, water and wax; there’s no time to waste! I hope you’re all ready for a great year of racing!  Some additions and changes have been made to our Club Sailing Instructions, be aware of those; they can be found here – CLYC SI’s

It’s a new Olympic Quad and as such new rules, definitions, modifications, etc… Who better to explain them than the Nation’s, if not the World’s foremost authority on the rules and their practical implementation … On May 29th, the Okoboji Yacht Club is hosting Dave Perry for a rules webinar; they’ve invited CLYC members to attend, free of charge. You can access the flyer with all of the webinar information HERE. If you’re interested, please contact Pat Flood at pflood@pheblaw.com.

OYC Commodore Pat Flood reached out with the generous offer to CLYC members; it was spurred by our offer of assistance in 2024 during the massive flooding in NW Iowa. OYC’s offer shows how closely knit and how dedicated the sailing community, especially the sailing community of Iowa are to mutual success!

Regatta season is upon us; a few sailors will be packing their boats up for yet another trip to Wisconsin to wage early season war on the lakes.  Ok, so it’s not war yet….Merely tune-up skirmishes. Brad Price and team will be heading over to Lake Geneva for the Spring E Regatta while Mark Tesar and Dan Allen will be heading to Cedar Lake for the MC Spring Regatta. Good sized fleets and many races are on the docket for both events. Best of luck to everyone! Look for regatta results and write ups in the coming weeks.

Don’t forget about the regatta we’re hosting in July… The ILYA E Invitational will bring a strong fleet of sailors to compete on Clear Lake.  The ILYA is already calling for a Fighting Irish-esque, “Stirring of the Echoes” of the 2024 Championship.  The Regatta Committee is putting some finishing touches on prep work and then the real work happens.  Stay tuned for more details!

Did I remind you that registrations are due Saturday?  Yeah, I thought so…

Until next time friends!

Stay in the Clear Air

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