Crow’s Nest 07/17/25
Clear Lake summers are never boring; there are events to attend every weekend it seems and this weekend is no exception! Downtown on Saturday is the Boat Show and on Sunday the annual Noon Lions Chicken BBQ. Don’t forget we resume Club racing this weekend and have our next Social Event… Never a dull moment!
This weekend’s Social Event will be held at the Marcus and Julie Lundberg residence (3507b North Shore Dr, Clear Lake), Saturday, July 19th @ 6:30pm. Parking will be available along Woodlane Dr and 3 parking spots will be left open in the driveway for those who are unable to make the short walk from Woodlane Dr. Please remember this is a 21+ event. MC and C sailors, you’re responsible for bringing sharable dishes to this event; we know you won’t disappoint! Should foul weather be an issue, our backup location is Yacht Club Headquarters. We will give you advanced notice if that looks to be necessary.
The welcoming faces of volunteers, a vibrant weekly festival, the promise of great racing, it was all lined up in style – but nothing says “Welcome to Clear Lake” quite like a Tornado Warning triggered by intense rotation a couple hundred yards from the Regatta Headquarters! Thankfully the rotation never spawned it’s nasty underling and the worst part was heavy wind and heavier rain for a few minutes!
The ILYA E Scow Invitational went off mostly without a hitch… Mother Nature reared her ugly side on Friday with light winds and a train of storm systems but she was quite pleasant to all involved Saturday and Sunday! Our Regatta Committee – Mark Tesar, Stu Oltrogge, Margaret Oz, Andi Tisor and Emily Haugerud put together an amazing schedule and plan of events which was executed by the best volunteers on the planet! I can not begin to express my gratitude to the entire membership who stepped up and volunteered for yet another high profile event. You always answer the call and without you we simply can’t run events of this caliber in the amazing fashion we do.
For those who may be curious about responses from the sailors, I can tell you this: I didn’t hear a single negative comment. From the size of the lunches to the launching/retrieving procedures to the sailing, it was all raves! At first I thought folks were being nice, however, I had a completely random sailor pull me aside and tell me how fantastic Clear Lake is and how he wants to come down and race here more! A true testament to the efforts of our membership!
Four beautiful races were completed on Saturday and two Sunday morning. At the end it was Sam Rogers and his crack crew from Minnetonka who took home the Invitational Title for the third year in a row. The Clear Lake sailors may have had just a little rust build up due to their lack of racing this year; I mean come on, two races prior to this event is all they’ve had! Emily Haugerud and Team Loon were the top Clear Lake finishers, highlighted by a 5th place finish in Race 1. Every team had their moments of glory and their moments of despair, such is sailboat racing! At the end of the event, all agreed it was a fantastic event.
Photo credits to Melissa Summerfield.
Following the “week off,” Club Racing resumes Saturday morning with an 0930 warning for the Jack MacNider Regatta. All fleets should be prepared for back-to-back races on Saturday. Depending on weather conditions (and Charlie’s mood, hahaha), it’s possible we could have back-to-back racing both days. Only the first three races would count toward the regatta results.
E and C fleets – Sunday is one of the extra days of racing for you, hopefully we can get the number of Club races caught up to the number of regatta races! Fingers crossed for a solid weekend of racing for all!
Ready for a history lesson? The regatta namesake, Jack MacNider was Commodore of the CLYC in 1970, he sailed multiple classes including the C, Y and E; all of his boats named “White Label” with an edition number and all sailed under the Z-15; that number carried on by his son Charlie, grand daughter Kristin and great grand daughter Elle. After retiring from racing, we all knew him as a Race Officer who, weekend after weekend, took us on the lake and set some great courses for the rest of us to enjoy. After his passing in 2000 the “Past Commodore’s Regatta, formerly known as the Governor’s Day Regatta” was renamed in his name and honor. I won’t lie, I just got a few chills writing that and remembering Jack…
The ILYA regatta season is in full swing; the Minnetonka Yacht Club will be hosting the 1st edition of the “ILYA Dinghy Championships”, July 25th – August 2nd. This combines the Inland Championship for the Optimist, X boat and Melges 15 fleets into one event over the course of 7 days. It’s pretty brilliant actually; 3 events, one week, less travel, less time off work… It’s now in a very similar format to the Big Inland. Oliver Thompson and Alex Berding will be heading to the Annual Optimist Dinghy Championship. Good luck young men!
The X Boat Championship portion begins with registration on Sunday the 27th and racing Monday through Wednesday. We have six, that’s right, six, X boat teams heading to Minnetonka representing the Z! 4 teams will compete in the Senior Fleet, 2 in the Junior Fleet. In addition to the six teams, the parents will naturally be carting them there, plus 3 coaches, 2 coach boats, 3 spectator boats, multiple dogs, maybe some birds (reference the 2024 X Inland) and a buoy proof prop! Hopefully no dive teams will be called and the parent bloopers, which are inevitable, are kept to a minimum but not under wraps! Good luck to the Z3, Z4, Z5, Z7, Z12 and Z15 teams!
The final session of the “Dinghy Champs” belongs to the Melges 15’s. Finley Nyhus and Matt Doane are pulling the USA 618 up to Minnetonka to give the Inland’s best a shot! The fleet promises to be large with 48 boats already registered and almost two weeks until go time!
Speaking of ILYA Championships; the registration is open for the A, C, E and MC Championships. The A, C and E’s will be on Lake Winnebago – Oshkosh Yacht Club… Enjoy those waves. The MC’s will be down at Pewaukee and are expecting a big turn out. I’m not sure who’s planning to attend, but it would be a good idea to make your reservations now and get registered early.
Hey did you know that Past Commodore Brad Price recently raced half way across the Pacific Ocean…?! The 9 person team competed in the Annual Transpac Race – LA to Hawaii… On board the “Hula Girl” a Santa Cruz 50, they raced in Division 5 and finished in a real time of 12d 00:19:30 (yes that’s 12 days) and a corrected time of 11d 04:48:19, which was good enough for 41st overall in the Monohulls. 1st or 90th, I don’t care, that’s an amazing adventure right there. Congrats Brad!
I believe that’s all for now… Until next time friends…
Stay in the Clear Air
Dan Allen
Commodore – 2025
MC 2811 Relentless