Gull Lake provided good sailing and fun for - Inland Lake Yachting ...

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SCOW SLANTS
FALL/WINTER 2009
Commodore’s Corner
Observations from the 2009 sailing season
This year, 610 registered yachts
participated in ILYA regattas.
This was 25 boats higher
than the previous 5 years’ average.
The participation level is a
tribute to those clubs who hosted
the regattas—for providing the
social events, value for the dollar,
and excellent competition. In
addition, high quality race management
continues as the standard for ILYA events.
Many thanks to all the competitors and volunteers
who made our regatta schedule successful. And, of
course, thanks to you competitors who supported the
ILYA with your attendance.
Our volunteers
Please join me in thanking the volunteers who make
our sport possible. This list includes, but is not
limited to, club officers, race committees, and event
organizers at the local club level. Sailing school volunteers
of all types also improve the quality of our
sport. I believe that the amount of volunteer hours
spent rivals the hours spent competing.
Trophy presentations
The greatest joy of being commodore is handing out
trophies at youth regattas. Seeing the smiles and
sincere congratulations for the winners by their peers
is heartwarming. I particularly enjoy the different
Why not show your colors?
ILYA Burgees Now Available
If you have attended one
of our sanctioned events you
have seen these burgees. We are
now offering them for sale to our
membership. Fly them on your
powerboat or at the yacht club.
They are 8.5” high by 23” long.
We are selling them for $29.00
each (includes shipping). Don’t
miss this opportunity to show
your support for the ILYA.
To place your order, contact Jim
Smith at scowslants@aol.com or
262-203-7721.
approaches to speeches by the winners (some are
goaded into speaking by acclamation; others wrestle
the microphone out of my hands).
Youthful sportsmanship
I was also impressed with the skill level and sportsmanship
of our youthful sailors. The more skilled
our young sailors are, the more they can enjoy
competing with their peers, and the more likely they
will successfully transition to adult sailors. I had the
honor of working on Race Management at the Senior
ILYA X Championship. While recording roundings,
we noted many competitors that hit marks. We were
impressed that in every incident that we saw, the
competitors did their turns.
Youth survey
Twenty-four ILYA clubs responded to the youth
survey that was sent to each member club delegate.
The number of youthful sailors in ILYA clubs and
associated sailing schools is larger than I anticipated.
Respondents reported a total of 2000 sailing school
students training in just over 600 IODs, X boats and
420s. While certainly every student is not a future
scow competitor, the potential is obviously enormous.
In 2010 promoting the ILYA Youth champs
in August at Calhoun is a major focus. Participation
in this regatta should become a must for high school,
college, and beyond aged youth. The results of the
survey can be found at http://ilya.org/pdf/youthsurveysummaryresults.pdf.
The Winter Inland
Finally, I encourage you all to at-
tend the Winter Inland this February
at the Geneva Ridge Resort in Lake
Geneva on Saturday, February 13 th .
We have compressed the schedule,
moving the youth meetings into
Saturday time slots. The entire Saturday
schedule will be packed with
chances for interaction and information
sharing. Input from Saturday
really helps the ILYA Board (meeting
the following day) understand
the pulse of our members. See the
schedule published in this issue. See
you there.
--Mark Prange, Commodore