News

The race committee and the club met on February 25th to kick off the new racing season. This included covering how races are run, how to start a race, how to finish and clean up a race, and what rules modifications we have to cover racing on Saylorville Lake. Our race committee also covered some useful apps that can help you ace your start.

Slides are available here ( https://saylorvilleyachtclub.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Racing/2023/SYC_Eace_Management_Prep_2023.pdf ).

The annual meeting was a great success. Around 45 folks showed up, ranging in age from 6 months to, well, we won't say /old/, but certainly up there.

New Board

The new board was voted in:

Mike Reyes - Commodore

Dick Leaders - Racing

Heather Reyes - Social

Bryant Alexander - Membership

Ashley Hardt - Secretary

Tim McConnell - Historian

Reid Wightman - Communications

Lois Dixon, Diane Beckman & Keith Kimsey - Sailing School

Business and Votes

The membership voted to merge the club and sailing school, which is a process that may take a few years to accomplish (yay legal hurdles).

Awards and Trophies

Trophies are why we sail, right?

Race results from last year's Wednesday Night Regatta series was also posted, and awards were given out at the meeting.

The overall winner was Mike Reyes on Nostalgia.

• Reid Wightman won the Spring Regatta, with Carson Downing finishing second
• Mike Reyes won the Summer Regatta, with Tim Olson finishing second
• Mike Reyes won the Fall Regatta, with Carson Downing finishing second

Rounding out the trophies:

Dick Hoffmann won our coveted Sportsman of the Year award for being the most helpful sailor on the lake. Dick loaned his boat for the sailing school, took new people sailing at every opportunity, and literally had new members scrambling for a spot on his boat during races so they could learn the ropes (er, lines) from a knowledgeable sailor.

Reid Wightman won the Most Improved Boat award, and if he wins it about 10 more times he might be an 'okay-ish' sailor (har har).

Upcoming Meetings

Our first race meeting will be February 25th (Saturday) at 9am at the Urbandale Library. See our Events page for details.

Newsletters

Got a Saylorville or Midwest sailing tip to share? Want to review a must-have item or a must-go-to regional event? Got a weird event you want to hatch plans for? If you want it included in our newsletter, please reach out: communications -at- saylorvilleyachtclub -dot- org.

https://saylorvilleyachtclub.wildapricot.org/event-4738766/Registration

We have decided to move our Annual Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony to Trostel's Greenbriar Restaurant at 5810 Merle Hay Road in Johnston, Iowa.

The date and time shall remain the same, April 23rd 2022 at 5:30 to 10:00 P.M.

This gala event will feature an awards ceremony for last year's Corn Coast Regatta, Buoy

Series and Long Distance Series, as well as music by The Salty Dogs!

We will also vote for new Board Members. We have candidates for Commodore, Sailing School

Director, Secretary, Race Director, Communications Director and Membership Director. We are

in need of candidates for Vice Commodore, Purser, Social Director(s) and Historian. While we

have candidates identified for some positions, All positions are open for further nominees until

the member's vote at the event.

We will also be providing dinner, so that everybody can just relax and enjoy a fine meal without

worrying about preparation or clean up! Choices will include ribeye steak, charbroiled shrimp,

citrus baked Alaskan cod, or garlic cream and three cheese linguini, with or without meat. A

cash bar will be available.

There will be presentations by the interim Board Members to communicate where we are as a

Club, where we want to go, and how we plan to get there. Our main goal this year is growing

our membership. We have some new and exciting ideas to share, and we want to invite our

entire club to participate!

We will have sign up sheets for volunteers for a variety of activities, as well as registration forms

for our Racing venues. Class sign up sheets will also be available.

If you already registered for the previous event, you are still registered for this event. If you still

haven't registered yet, please RSVP, ASAP. We need an accurate head count.

So come join us for a night of fine food, fun and camaradarie!

How Can You Help Grow the Club and School?

Invite interested guests, plan to attend Sailing events, volunteer to help with

upcoming socials, sailing school classes, Equipment Team, Mentoring

Program, and Administration Assistant.

Sign up sheets will be available for Sailing Classes: Adult Small Boat, Adult

Daysailor Class, Ladies Only Class, Teen, Youth and Pollywog Class and

Racing Rules Seminar.

Are you a boat owner who wants to race in our Wednesday Night Race series or other regattas but can't find enough people to comfortably crew on your boat?

Or are you a new sailor, or new to Central Iowa, and want to get out on a sailboat and learn a few things or enjoy the breeze?

Look no further than RailMeets, a spiffy, dead-simple website that lets you register your boat and register as crew. Once logged in, you can reach out to potential crew and boat owners, arrange to talk on the phone or meet up, and see if you're compatible for racing or cruising around the lake.

See also our RailMeets page with direct links to Iowa boat and crew listings.

Need a hand with getting set up? Contact our trusty communications director -- communication at saylorvilleyachtclub.org -- for a hand.