CLSA Newsletter

April 2009

Hello Fellow CLSAers:

Well, I started this newsletter as the crocuses and daffodils were blooming, but already I see the lilacs are here, so time’s awastin’! Get your boat out to the lake, if you haven’t already, and start sailing!! Remember, the Open House is May 16 – bring your friends!— and the first club race is May 17. Check the website for details.

As you may have noticed, we did not produce a newsletter last year, thinking the website provided the same information. This year the board has decided to revive the newsletter and I have volunteered to write it. This will be a work in progress, since much of the information in this newsletter may also be found on the website. In any case, we’ll give this a try and see how it goes. As usual, if anyone has any photos or articles to contribute, please feel free to contact me. There’s nothing more boring that a newsletter that has news from only a few members: share your news so I don’t have to share mine! My email is: debaronson@nasw.org

And finally, I’m sure I’ve overlooked things that I should have mentioned. If you see something, let me know so I can put it in the next newsletter.

Table of Contents
New Website
Spring Banquet March 29
Ice Cream Social at Tolands
Work Day
Racing News
Volunteer Opportunities
Marina News

New Website
In case you haven’t gone to clsasailing.org lately, check it out. We have a new website that comes with the ability for all club members to contribute to it. That means everyone can add news, post photos, comment on photos or post something for sale. We are counting on all our members to keep the website up to date and informative. You should have gotten a login and password. If you didn’t, or you have other questions, contact Jim Westervelt, our Webmaster, at james.d.westervelt@usace.army.mil.

Spring Banquet
On March 29 we held the CLSA spring banquet at the Clinton Lake Marina restaurant. Bob and Carol Miller arranged the entire evening, which included a yummy barbecue meal catered by Hickory River, a silent auction of sailing-themed items, and a slide presentation of Bob and Carol’s trip with Bill and Sarah Freyman to the British Virgin Islands. There were several new members there, including the Yeagle family, who recently bought a boat from the Domagala family and another couple, Stephanie and Drew, who don’t have a boat yet but are happy to start sailing again.

It was a lovely evening —we broke even on it! — and it was a great chance to catch up with fellow club members before the sailing season started up.

Ice Cream Social
On April 19 Dave and Betty Toland hosted an Ice Cream Social, which was really a CLSA History party, at their house. More than 20 members came, many with paperwork from over the years. They had a really good time and a lot of paper was sorted that day and Dave Toland did the rest. He did such a good job that, after tossing out duplicate papers, he was able to fit everything in a single tub and he has it carefully filed. THANK YOU DAVE & BETTY!! Dave delivered the whole organized tub to Commodore Don Johnson at the May Board Meeting.

Work Day
On April 25 the club held its Work Day. Many people came out to help clean up the grounds, including the growth along the waterfront, get the club boats out from the pavilion, and put the committee boat in the water . A special big thank you to Vice Commodore Joe Budden, who took the initiative to replace that terrible white board in the pavilion that was ruined by permanent marker. So now we have a pristine white board and a new set of erasable markers. Keep those permanent markers away from that board!!

Also in April, Don Johnson and Joe Budden, together with Linda Budden, worked to fix the end of the dock, which had lost some of its hardware over the winter and was hanging on by a thread. Thank you Don, Joe and Linda!!

Racing News
The weekend of May 2&3 the club hosted the annual windsurfer regatta, which had six participants and good conditions. Wind conditions were moderate so the competitors used their longest boards and largest sails. Gerry Christman and Ken Moyer ran the races and set a course just off the marina in a westerly breeze. Ken’s daughter participated in her first-ever regatta and was able to start three of the five races. The other competitors were Reid Fillman, Frank Scotello, Hugh Robertson, Perry Biddle and Andy Pierson. There were several very close finishes including a three-way collision at the finish line to end race 3! After two hours of racing everyone retired to the pavilion to enjoy tacos provided by Frank and his family. You can see photos at:
windsurfillinois.com - http://windsurfillinois.com/viewtopic.php?t=787&f=22.

Also that weekend, Ben Williams and Deb Aronson drove to Lake Norman Yacht Club in Charlotte, NC, to participate in the Great 48 Regatta. There were 40 Flying Scots on the line and steady breeze about 10-12 knots. We enjoyed ourselves enormously, saw many friends and learned a few more tricks! Our best finish was 6th place in a very tough fleet and we finished 10th overall, so we were very pleased. Ryan Malmgren, winner of the 2007 Clinton Lake Glow Regatta, pulled it out the second day, winning both races, to win the regatta after a tough day Saturday.

Also in racing news, CLSA had two Flying Scots representing the club at the Chattanooga (TN) Choo Choo. Ben Williams, Don Johnson, Chris and Rick Wojnar all made the trip and had a great time. At one point in the first race the CLSA boats were in first and second position. Way to go, guys!

And finally, in March, CLSA had representatives at both the Thistle Mid-Winters and the Flying Scot Mid-Winters, both held in St. Petersburg, FL.

The weather for the Flying Scots was quite windy and conditions in Tampa Bay were very choppy. Nevertheless, skippers Don Johnson (Sunset) and Ben Williams (Suzie Q) got in six days of racing in tough conditions. The high point for Suzie Q was during the warm up regatta, two days of racing in Sarasota prior to the Mid Winters, when she led the first two legs of the race, coming in fourth, in that particular race

Gerry Christman, with his crew Craig Rost, in Little Synergy, also had a great time in St. Pete. Forty-three Thistles participated in nine races during a week that began with very heavy winds and tapered off to zero by the end of the regatta. The highlight for Little Synergy was to be leading the B division after the first day and finishing in 2nd place in the B division, their best-ever results.

Volunteer Opportunities
As an organization run entirely on volunteer steam, CLSA needs you. There are many opportunities throughout the season to pitch in and a spot on the website where you can see your choices and sign up. Two projects I happen to know about are on May 16 the club is holding its annual Open House. From 10-2 CLSA members give visitors rides on sailboats so visitors can see how much fun sailing is and what a friendly club we have. We can always use more sailors and boats, so contact Bill Vokac, at b.vokac@mchsi.com, if you are interested in giving rides or otherwise helping out. And on May 31 the committee boat needs to get pulled out in preparation for re-decking. That will be a several-day project that Dave Toland is spearheading. If you have any particular skills or just an interest in lending a hand let Dave know at datoland1@hotmail.com.

Marina News
Don Johnson and Deb Aronson attended the DeWitt County Board Meeting in March. At that meeting we heard about plans being made to repair one of the docks and replace the roof of the marina. No CLSA rep went to the April meeting, but we plan to attend the May one.