Clinton Lake Sailing Association

Fall Banquet and Business Meeting Registration

If you plan to use our dock and boat ramps from now until early spring, please be advised that the lake level is very low and it may be challenging to get your boat on/off your trailer. 

The Glow in the Dark Regatta is expecting 40+ Flying Scots. If you plan to sail this weekend, please keep clear of the dock and ramp area while racing boats are leaving and returning. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

If you are not racing and would like to help out at the event, please register as a volunteer. Volunteers will get free food all weekend, including the Saturday dinner. We could use a hand on the dock and at the ramp helping to get boats in/out faster.   

Our sailing season is coming to an end at CLSA, but we hope you'll consider continuing your training and develop during the offseason. Here are some options: 

1. US Sailing Basic Race Management Seminar. Race committee training is offered through US Sailing via Zoom. The seminar consists of three 2.5-hour Zoom sessions. Course fee $40. Seminars start Nov. 7 and Dec. 5 and are expected to be offered throughout the winter months. 

2. Mid Illini Classes. The Mid Illini Sail and Power Squadron offers in-person classes. Fall class offerings include Weather and Boat Handling. Course fee is $165 for non-members (includes a single membership fee).  Fall classes started Sept. 26 and more spring classes will be announced. Keep watching their webpage.  

3. America's Boating Club Online Learning. America's Boating Club offers a great selection of online boating courses. Learn at your own pace. 

4. Backyard Meteorology. A self-paced online learning weather course offered through Harvard University. This course is free to audit for 30 days and the fee is $99 if you would like to continue.  

5. US Sailing Certification Courses and ASA Certification Courses offer hands-on training and are offered through certified sailing schools. Several CLSA members have earned keelboat certifications and recommend them.  

6. Performance Race Week in Florida. If you like sailboat racing and are looking to indulge in a sailing getaway, consider Performance Race Week at the Offshore Sailing School. Performance Race Week® 2022 will be held Jan. 30 -- Feb. 4, with an exciting new team of Sail-Race Experts. You and your crewmates spend each day learning tactics, tweaking your sails and crew for efficient racing on all points of sail, practicing many starts, and pushing hard to get to the first mark, and the finish line in a regatta on the last day!

CLSA members:

Please visit our website at clsasailing.org and check out the information under our new tab "GET INVOLVED" on our homepage. You will find opportunities to volunteer and share your talents or skills with CLSA for ongoing projects that make our club better.

Contact clintonlakesailing@gmail.com if you'd like to help with a project or committee described below.

Current Projects

Rigging area drainage: to address ongoing pooling of water.

Shoreline committee: to help oversee and provide input as to how to best manage our shoreline by preserving and preventing erosion while maintaining its beauty.

Signage for our docks and shoreline: contribute toward designing our signage at each end of dock and along shoreline to communicate and represent our club to visitors.

Master plan committee: to determine what our club goals are and how we will achieve them over the next five years.

Insurance committee: help our membership determine how to manage our insurance responsibilities.

Dredging committee: Our cove was last dredged in 2011 and is long overdue for another as our cove gets more shallow.

Volunteers are still needed for our Glow regatta this weekend, Oct. 1-2. Also, our fall banquet is Nov. 13, and our board of directors is seeking people interested in leadership roles as vice commodore, social chair, membership chair, race committee chair and publicity chair. If you are interested or would like to nominate someone, please contact us today!

Fair winds,

Commodore Paul

Join us as we remember Craig and celebrate all the love he brought into our lives!

Save the date:

When: Sat., Nov. 5, 4:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: Siebel Center for Design, 1208 S. Fourth St., Champaign

Hosted by the Rost family, 217-493-1332

Event schedule:

4 p.m.: Fourth Street doors (west side) open

4:30-5:30 p.m.: Informal meet-and-greet with the family at the Fourth Street doors; tour the Siebel Center

5:30-6:30 p.m.: Reflections about Craig

6:30-8:30 p.m.: Dance and laugh together to Le Travaillant, a Cajun zydeco band

Casual dress

Wine, beer and soft drinks served with fun and COVID-friendly food from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Heads up! This is an Illinois game day and the game time has not yet been announced. Please plan ahead to carpool, ride your bike, walk or be dropped off.

Feel free to come for all or part of this celebration of Craig's life. Please RSVP so the family can plan for food, seating, etc.

If you are at the lake and take a picture worth sharing on our Facebook page, please email the picture to clintonlakesailing@gmail.com. We are a very active sailing club and showing different aspects of the club from more vantage points is what we want to do. Thank you to members and guests who have submitted pictures for our social media posts!    

It's been a great season so far, and we are asking for your support to ensure we finish strong! We have a number of fun volunteer opportunities and we appreciate your help. If you are interested in any of the following volunteer openings, please email us at clintonlakesailing@gmail.com. 

1. Lawn Mowing: Weeks of Sept. 5, Sept. 12, Oct. 3, Oct. 10, Oct. 17, Oct. 24. Volunteers help save our club $300 each mow, and that money helps pay for docks and other capital improvements. You'll coordinate with Harbormaster Tim and help keep our property looking warm and inviting.    

2. Trimming Party: Saturday, Sept. 24 at 9:30 a.m. Bring your string trimmer or weed whacker and help us clean up under the sailboats. We need to do this a couple of times per year to keep our property looking respectable. Tim Montague has volunteered to be team captain for this effort. Pizza will be provided for lunch.  

3. Social Committee: Flying Scot Glow Regatta Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. We're expecting 40 boats and it's going to be a huge party, with guests coming from all over the country! You'll work with Jodi Heckel and help with food setup and distribution and show guests what CLSA hospitality is all about. Volunteers enjoy free food (steak dinner) and beverages all weekend.  

4. Race Committee: Thistle Painkiller Regatta Sept. 10 – 11, Vicki Cup Sept. 24 – 25, Flying Scot Glow Regatta Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. Enjoy front row seats to the racing action! No racing experience is necessary. Race Committee Chair Chales Suggs is looking to fill some race committee openings so let us know if you are interested in watching some exciting racing. Glow and Painkiller volunteers enjoy free food (steak or veggie dinner) all weekend long.

5. Photographers/Drone Operators: Thistle Painkiller Regatta Sept. 10 – 11, Flying Scot Glow Regatta Oct. 1 – 2. We are looking for photographers and drone operators to capture racing footage. Our regatta chairs (Gerry and Eric) will follow up and help coordinate. 

This racing season CLSA's race committee chair, Charles Suggs, will be keeping tallies of finishes for our club races and will award trophies based on these tallies at the Fall Banquet. We have 11 races remaining on this year's calendar that qualify for season awards, including today's Thistle Sponsored Open Racing. Charles will track one design standings and, for mixed fleet races, Portsmouth Handicap scores.

Come out and race with us this season and vie for some trophies!

A link to the Notice of Race for the 2022 season can also be found at the top of the Racing page. CLSA aims to have the season's standings to-date posted this week, which you'll be able to find by clicking Racing Results at the top of the Racing page, and will update them as the season progresses.

If you still haven't signed up for a race committee volunteer shift, get in touch. Volunteering for race committee is a great way to learn about race management and we'll make it easy and fun. We can't race without race committee.

Good luck, sail fast, hike hard, and have fun

We have 4 races coming up in June for which we still have opportunities to serve on the race committee. It's fun and easy, and we'll make sure you have what you need and are paired with someone experienced. If there's a race you don't plan to sail in, please consider joining the race committee for that race.

Sign up soon and choose which weekend this year you do your race committee shift.

These are the June dates, with open positions listed. There are still open shifts for later this season too, so get in touch!

• 6/5 — Thistle Club Racing (3 open positions)
  - 2 boat operators and 1 deck hand
  
  
• 6/12 — Thistle Club Racing (4 open positions)
  - 2 boat operators
  - 2 deck hands
  - 1 PRO (a boat operator or deck hand can be the PRO)
  

• 6/18 — Flying Scot Club Racing (3 open positions)
  - 1 boat operator
  - 2 deck hands
  - 1 PRO (a boat operator or deck hand can be the PRO)
  
  
• 6/25 - 6/26 — Thistle Hike Out Regatta (6 open positions)
  - 3 boat operators
  - 3 deck hands
  - 1 PRO (a boat operator or deck hand can be the PRO)

Thanks,

Charles Suggs, CLSA Race Committee Chair