Crow’s Nest 05/22/25

Here we are…Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start of Clear Lake Summer 2025!

Begin the season of tourists everywhere in this quaint little town in search of an epic season by our beloved lake!  If you’re reading this with your morning coffee, be on the lookout this afternoon for visitors not familiar with traffic patterns, stop signs or crosswalks….This siege is about to begin!  Speaking of the siege, if you’re on the way to the lake or travelling around town Saturday morning, please be aware of the Tri Clear Lake; it’s going to create some road closures and extra traffic.

Racing this weekend begins with the X, M15 and MCs Saturday morning; as usual, the first warning is scheduled for 0930. E and C fleets, you’re set for Saturday afternoon with a normal 1400 warning!  All fleets should be prepared for back-to-back races right out of the gates! Those of us less limber folks may want to take a few extra minutes for a stretch…

I hope you’ve all read the new CLYC Sailing Instructions (Updated SI’s)  and the updates to the Racing Rules of Sailing… Some pretty big changes, especially to the RRS.  Speaking of those rules; don’t forget about the Dave Perry Rules Webinar hosted by Okoboji Yacht Club.  That is Tuesday, May 27th beginning at 7 pm.  You can find the flierHERE.  The flier includes the Zoom link for the webinar.

The first party of the year is Saturday, June 7th, starting at 6:30pm.  It will be held at CLYC headquarters in gorgeous downtown Clear Lake… Social Members, you’re up first for providing your culinary delights to the membership at this event.  We expect nothing but the finest delicacies at the first party!  Don’t forget to mark your calendar with all the Social Events:

• Saturday, June 7th @ CLYC Headquarters
• Friday, June 13th @ CLYC Headquarters – “Melges – Wizard of Zenda” documentary showing – Hosted by Stu and Julie Oltrogge
• Saturday, June 21st @ CLYC Headquarters
• Saturday, July 19th @ the Marcus and Julie Lundberg residence
• Saturday, August 9th @ the Outing Club
• Sunday, August 31st @ CLYC Headquarters – Awards and Passing of the Flag Ceremony

Melges 15 Fleet: I’m sure you’ve heard from Finley Nyhus, your 2025 Fleet Captain; an offer has been made by the ILYA to pay for a clinic administered by none other than Toby Southerland from White Bear.  Toby is one amazing sailor and has a tremendous amount of knowledge about the 15 to pass down. He’ll be in Clear Lake running a clinic for you the weekend of June 28-29. This will be a great tune up for those of you planning to travel to Minnetonka for what promises to be a fantastic ILYA Championship regatta!  Contact Finley Nyhus for more details!

The ILYA E Invitational is here in Clear Lake, July 10-13…registration is now live.  E sailors, if you’re planning to race, please go out and register Here.

Liska Johnson is in charge of gathering volunteers this year and volunteering is easier than ever! Everything is electronic, sign up Here or the link on our website. www.clyciowa.com None of the information you provide on the sign up is shared, you don’t have to create an account, you’ll get a reminder email 2 days prior to your shift and it can populate into your Google Calendar if you would like.  It’s a pretty slick system Liska is using!

Regatta shirts… I’m not sure how many I have but I can tell you it’s A LOT!  Some even go back to the 80’s! Thankfully, the shirts for the E Invitational far eclipse the quality and style of those 80’s rags.  Andi Tisor put together a great design and those shirts are available for purchase HERE .  If you’re not sailing and still want a shirt, go ahead and grab one.  You’ll be asked for your name, etc to customize… Just type in CLYC Social and your order will be on site during registration. Grab your piece of history now!

We do have another regatta very close to home.  The ILYA MC Invitational is being held at Okoboji; it would be great if our MC fleet could show support to our neighbor with a strong showing of participation at their event! Registration for that event can be found at Regattas – ILYA along with the rest of the ILYA Regattas for the year.

Despite the less than desirable weather, the Sailing Center had desirable results with their first Open House of 2025.  Board Members, Instructors, kids running around… They were all running around, not just the kids.  It must have been the never ending ice cream inducing sugar highs which I’m sure the parents were delighted with!  At the end of the event, registrations had been made, introductions were made and the results of a successful framework were realized.  Up next…?  A great summer of fun and learning for students at the Clear Lake Sailing Center! While the Center has a good number of qualified instructors, you’ll be interacting with the Program Director and Lead Instructors most.  Here are those folks!:

• Chloe Frank – Program Director
  • Elle Ebeling – Beginner classes and Junior Fleet X Racers
  • Leif Lundberg – Senior Fleet X Racers
  • Brady Amble – Intermediate Classes
  • Finley Nyhus – Adult Classes and Opti Racers

Mark Tesar and Dan Allen attended the Cedar Lake Spring Regatta a couple weeks ago.  10 races over two days, a stacked fleet and classic Cedar conditions (very shifty and very puffy). Both sailed a good event in difficult conditions; Mark ended up 7th and Dan finished 8th overall. A bunch of starts and crowded mark roundings; the perfect warmup for the season!

Lastly a reminder to the Board; the next Board Meeting is Monday, May 26th @ 11:00.  This meeting will be held at CLYC Headquarters; you should be receiving the agenda and other docs soon.

I hope to see many of you on the water this weekend!  Until then folks…

Stay in the Clear Air,

Dan Allen
MC 2811 – Relentless
dsallen@cltel.net
641-430-8847
www.clyciowa.com
www.clearlakesailingcenter.com