Crow’s Nest 07/24/25
How about that party at Marcus and Julie Lundberg’s?!?! Incredible hosts with an amazing location, plenty of food and more drinks than you could possibly desire! Lundberg’s in conjunction with VC Andi Tisor and beer extraordinaire Mark Tesar was a combo that knocked it out of the park! Thank you Marcus and Julie for hosting such a wonderful event!
Early notice for Fleet Parties – E Fleet: Casey recently sent out the invite, please save the date; Saturday, August 2nd. MC Fleet: Stu Schurtz has also already sent out an email invite to the fleet. Please save Saturday, August 16th on your calendars.
The next Yacht Club party should be very well attended as it’s at the historic Outing Club: Saturday, August 9th starting around 6:30. More details will come, but here’s the early notice!
Racing last weekend was challenging right away Saturday morning and impossible Saturday afternoon. The MC, M15 and X boat fleets managed to get one race in Saturday morning; the ever shifting wind decided to stop shifting and eventually turned it into a bit of a drag race around the buoys. Stu Oltrogge was the fastest off the line in the MC fleet and took line honors, it was Garret Summerfield in the X fleet and Dave Atkinson for the Melges 15s. I mentioned impossible racing Saturday afternoon… Once again, zero wind… It’s been such a shame to see the E’s and C’s sitting on lifts most of the summer; Merrit quipped at the party wondering if his boat would come off the lift or be stuck to it!
Sunday turned out to be a great day of sailing for all!!! While the breeze was shifty, which is typical for an Easterly wind, the velocity (with a few exceptions) was solid and made for some great tactical racing! Two races were held Sunday morning for the MC, M15 and X classes which filled the schedule for the Jack MacNider Regatta.
A huge CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Thea and Isla Sorensen for their first win in the X boat fleet!!!! Huge smiles and I’m told a victory dance performed following the amazing win! I’m sure it’s the first of many!!! Garrett and Wes had a fantastic Sunday, closing out the Jack Mac with a beautiful scoreline of 1, 2, 1. Congratulations guys, great sailing!
The Melges 15 fleet was dominated Sunday by Finley and Matt on the USA 618; they took line honors in both races by pretty wide margins and seem to be peaking at the right time for the ILYA Championships at Minnetonka. Despite those two wins, the Ebeling girls still managed to pull out the overall win in Great Grandpa’s regatta!
The MC racing was tight and nerve wracking; the lead changed on very few occasions and the leader for both races had huge distances between them and second place until all of a sudden they didn’t. Mark Tesar won the first race Sunday in a pretty clear blow out. Todd Tesar fell victim to scattered velocity at the end of the second race and had his massive lead taken away by Dan Allen and Stu Oltrogge who finished within 2-3 seconds of each other.
Can you believe it; the E and C fleets after being skunked most of the year had two incredible races on Sunday afternoon! Reports I got from both fleets included lots of passing and close racing, perhaps a rust influenced OCS by one team and a rust induced capsize by another. The two events could have also been caused by the wind building far beyond the light to moderate forecast. The Haugerud/Oltrogge team traded first and second with team Tesar and ultimately won the regatta on the tiebreaker.
Jack MacNider Regatta Results:
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X Boat:
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1st – Z-12 Garret Summerfield & Wes Gordon
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2nd – Z-7 Jude Sorensen & Alex Berding
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3rd – Z-15 Thea & Isla Sorensen
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4th – Z-3 Sofia Allbee & Xavier Prestholt
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5th – Z-4 Avery & Brynn Tidrick
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6th – Z-5 Alida Lundberg & Oliver Thompson
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7th – Z-8 Elliot Summerfield & Quinn Smith
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E boat:
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MC:
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1st – Z-23 Emily Haugerud
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1st – 2842 Stu Oltrogge
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2nd – Z-13 Mark Tesar
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2nd – 2811 Dan Allen
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3rd – Z-10 Ebeling/Callanan
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3rd – 2878 Mark Tesar
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4th – Z-94 Eric Protzman
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4th – 2790 Todd Tesar
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5th – Z-16 Jake Sorensen
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5th – 2340 Emily Haugerud
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Melges 15:
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C Boat:
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1st – USA 669 Elle & Georgia Ebeling
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1st – Z-34 Merritt Becker
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2nd – USA 618 Finley Nyhus & Matt Doane
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2nd – Z-2 Tom Birdsall
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3rd – USA 383 Brad & Mary Thompson
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3rd – Z-5 Marcus Lundberg
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4th – USA 110 Dave Atkinson
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The Second Series of Club racing continues this weekend; be ready for back-to-back racing both days if we have good conditions.
As I mentioned last week, we’re knocking on the door of Major Regatta Season:
Tomorrow is registration day for the ILYA Optimist Dinghy Championships – we have three young sailors participating this year: Alex Berding, Isla Sorensen and Oliver Thompson – good luck Opti sailors! We’re already proud of you!
On Tuesday it’s time for the X Boats; we have 6 X boats racing at Minnetonka. Sofia Allbee & Xavier Prestholt, Alida Lundberg & Oliver Thompson, Thea & Isla Sorensen, Jude Sorensen & Will Price, Garrett Summerfield & Wes Gordon and Avery Tidrick & Carter Krogh/Brynn Tidrick. Mark and Deb Tesar as well as Stu and Julie Oltrogge will also be on site working on the Race Committee across the two X boat courses.
The Dinghy Champs culminates with the Melges 15 fleet which promises to be the largest of the week; currently 70 boats are registered. Finley Nyhus and crew Matt Doane will be testing their new fast form against the best in the Inland.
Good luck to all the sailors, coaches, parents, siblings, dogs, cats, birds and any other manner of being which could potentially become involved!
The Sailing Center has been going strong all Summer long and their registration numbers continue to climb! Controlled chaos down at the Club with a multitude of happy youngsters learning our favorite craft. The adult classes have been very successful this year as well, 8 adults have participated in every session and are very enthusiastic about their futures in sailing! The hard work at the Clear Lake Sailing Center is certainly starting to pay off; the sky is the limit for the future!
You know it’s getting toward the end of the year when boats are being listed for sale…
For Sale: 2006 Melges X boat. Includes deck cover, envelop cover, boom cover, 2021 North Main and Jib, 2022 North Main and Jib and Melges trailer. Available after Labor Day – contact Jake Sorensen
Next week I’ll have a wrap up of the Opti Inland Championship, then the following week a wrap up of the X boat and Melges 15’s.
Until next week!
Stay in the Clear Air,
Dan Allen
Commodore -2025
MC 2811 – Relentless