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Pelican Lake Yacht Club has a new Burgee

The new burgee fits the criteria of a properly designed burgee, which means it views much better from a distance and should last much longer.  It incorporates a portion of the

 "P" signal flag  and a portion on the

"L" signal flag   in the shape of our lake.

The Burgees cost $25 (non-members $35).  To purchase one, contact Anne Peltier peltier@loretel.net    

Sailor and former student of PLYC Sailing school, David Schlossman

is studying abroad in Perth, Australia at Curtain University.  David has been taking advantage of the summer in Perth by teaching sailing on Wednesday evenings to children at the Perth Yacht Club and has been Kite Boarding in both Safety Bay and on the Indian Ocean on the West Coast of Australia

News from the 2008 Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association Mid-winters Conference in Chicago:

Nick Hovland (U of M) was named a 2008 MCSA All-District Sailor.

Nick had this to say about receiving the award … “It was definitely a big surprise receiving the award. I have no idea how they pick the all-district sailors or what it takes to be an all-district sailor, but I do know many others who deserve this award. I feel very lucky.”

Medora Sletten and Brandon Wilson (University of St. Thomas) also represented their sailing team at the MCSA Midwinter’s conference Feb 9-11 in Chicago where regattas for the 2008 Spring and Fall season are scheduled. Both the U of M and STT will be racing in their first regattas this spring the weekend of March 29-30. Brrrrr!!!!!

The other big news from these Pelican Lake college sailors is that Brandon Wilson is now one of the Co-captains of the St. Thomas sailing team and Medora Sletten is their new Commodore. Nick Hovland is the new Commodore for the University of Minnesota.

“It's pretty cool that Medora and I get to be the Commodores of our teams,” Nick said. “So far, it's been a lot of work aside from school, but I enjoy doing it.”

Congratulations to all!

PLYC Flotilla has Fabulous BVI Sailing Adventure

On February 2, 2008, fourteen members of the PLYC converged on Tortola to enjoy a week of sailing in the beautiful British Virgin Islands. We chartered three boats, “Snowbird”, a large cat that became known as the mothership. Its captain was Jeff and the crew included Anne, Sandy, Gary, Brad and Carol. “Revervie”, a sleek monohull, was captained by Rhonda, with Chip, Allyn and Lori as crew. “Delfino Bianco”, a monohull that had seen better days, had Dick as the captain, with Dan, Kim and Mark as crew. All three boats proudly flew PLYC burgees as we sailed and partied our way around the islands (Full story).  Many Thanks to Rhonda Loberg for organizing the event!!

PLYC Visits the Air National Guard!!

Yacht Club members held their “First Friday of the Month” get-together at the Air National Guard in December, courtesy of Colonel Bob Becklund.  Bob gave an excellent presentation of what’s going on at the base, including the new Predator and some of the great achievements by our ND unit.  The Auger Inn on the base was the venue and appetizers were brought in to go with wine and drinks at the cash bar.

 

Pelican Lake Yacht Club was well represented at the 60^th Timme’s held at the Chicago Yacht Club over Thanksgiving weekend.

 Though the Timme’s were won by the University of Vermont, Brandon Wilson and Medora Sletten, sailing  for the University of St. Thomas, took 6^th in the A fleet.   St. Thomas took 9^th overall in their first time qualifying for the Timme’s.  Nick Hovland is the skipper of the B fleet at the University of Minnesota.  The U of Minnesota sailing team placed 6^th overall. The Timme’s are known as, “the best competition you ever froze with.”  That was especially true this year where first day temperatures hovered around 34 degrees.  Consequently, all teams are required to wear dry suits during the competition.

Even with the cold weather the kids said, “It was a classy regatta” and a lot nicer than what we’re used to … from the housing arrangements to attending the Butter Ball. They also said it was the most expensive regatta they had attended due to out of pocket expenses for the trip and the cost of registration.   The college sailors said it was fun to sail against the teams from the east and schools other than the ones they usually sail against.  Another high point was to be competing against the top teams from the Midwest, including … John Carroll, Miami of Ohio, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern and Wisconsin.  All in all the sailors from both universities felt they had a really good Fall sailing season.  And believe it or not, soon they will be getting ready for their Spring season … sometimes going to practice before the ice thaws!

For a full link to the Timme’s go to:http://chicagoyachtclub.org/index.cfm?content=sailingevents_details&eventid=261

Congratulations to Nick Hovland (U of M), Brandon Wilson and Medora Sletten (STT), plus their respective teammates on qualifying for the Timme's. 

The Timme Angsten Regatta (theTimme’s) is the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association’s Fall Championship and takes place November 23-25 at Chicago Yacht Club’s Monroe Station, in Monroe Harbor. Only a select few qualify to participate, so this is quite an achievement.  

David Schlossman in the middle of a race at Southern Methodist in Texas.

   

Some of our PLYC collegiate alumni have sailed away and are now sailing for their respective schools.

Medora Sletten and Brandon Wilson sail for the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where they are both sophomores this year. Medora is the co-captain of the STT sailing team and has decided to pursue a degree in Communications and Public Relations. Brandon as yet is undecided.

Nick Hovland is also a sophomore and is attending the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He is going for a degree in recreational and leisure studies.

They practice together at the Wayzata Yacht Club on Lake Minnetonka and compete against each other in regattas on the weekends. Some of the regattas they travel to are in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan.

Another PLYC Alumni, Ben Burgum, is the Co-Coach for StThomas and the U of M, along with Cappy Capper.

STT has a new website. http://www.stthomas.edu/clubs/sailingteam/

Congratulations to the Crew of Pursuit!!

The crew of Nick Hovland, Brent Ostbye, Mike Ostbye, and Medora Sletten finished 1st in their division and 2nd overall at the annual Leech Lake Regatta.  You can click HERE to see all the results.

College and High school students get together for a College-style regatta

On Saturday, July 21st, four of our outstanding college students and four of our up-and-coming high school students got together for a promotional regatta.  A total of 6 short races were run with the average length being about 15 minutes.  The College students were Nick Hovland, David Schlossman, Medora Sletten, and Brandon Wilson. The High school students were Reed Deardorff, Jeremy Grindeland, Tom Stadum, and Kirstin Wilson.  The winds were strong, which made for exiting racing!! You can see more pictures on the Sailing School photo page.

"Brunch for a Bunch" was a wonderful way to start the season at PLYC as usual. 

    The food was great and it was wonderful to see so many old friends and new faces out on Sunday to share and reacquaint themselves with sailing friends after a long cold winter.  Pancake Queen Sandy Ostbye outdid herself with pancakes for all, and the quiches and bakes ranged from sausage to Mexican to salmon. What could be better. 
    The Social Committee, led by Carol Schlossman and Rhonda Loberg made the biggest mimosas anybody has ever seen.  The conversation and fellowship were a wonderful start to what will hopefully be a great sailing and social season.
    Unfortunately, a building wind  from the south southeast threatened at more than 20 mph, and gusted to more than 30 by the early afternoon, forcing cancellation of the Memorial Day Cup races.  Not the best of days for racing, but with the races canceled, those at the clubhouse got down to the serious business of a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and coffee, and by afternoon a few more boats were off the hard and on  their lifts.
    Next Sunday, races will begin at 11 sharp, and we are hoping for good winds and a warm day.  See you then and thanks for a great start to the season on Sunday.

Spring Report on our area College Sailors

With the semester nearing an end, Pelican sailors are making a big impact on local college sailing teams.  Brandon Wilson and Medora Sletten with the University of St. Thomas sailing team and Nick Hoveland with the University of Minnesota. Some highlights include:

 Brandon skippered for the first time in a college regatta at the Gopher Invite at Wayzata and sailed very well.  He did however learn the hard way how important being on the inside at a leeward mark rounding is, especially with 16 other boats.  Brandon also sailed in his first Midwest College Sailing Association (MCSA) Championships crewing for a senior on the team in the coed qualifiers in Madison, WI.

 Besides almost setting a record for practice participation Medora’s semester included a trip to Notre Dame to race against the best women in the Midwest at the MCSA Women’s National Qualifier and sailed very well placing 7th in the ‘A’ division and the team finished an impressive 6th overall. Medora also steered in the ‘A’ division at the coed qualifiers in Madison.

 Nick had a great finish to the spring semester sailing very well when it counted at the national qualifying regattas.  For the coed qualifiers Nick was sailing as a crew for the Gophers ‘A’ Skipper Jessica Haverstock when the ‘B’ Fleet skipper hurt his back.  Nick had to switch and steer the ‘B’ fleet for the last three races on Sunday.  Nick with finishes of 2, 2, and 3 was able to bring the team to a third place finish.  Nick also sailed great at the Team-Race qualifier in Ann Arbor, MI this last weekend where he also filled in as the #2 skipper for the Gophers.

 After finals it will be time for the college sailors to start a summer of cross-training in different boats hopefully back up at Pelican.

Our young area sailors continue to make an impact at their respective schools.

    Nick Hovland is a freshman at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN and is treasurer of their sailing team.  Medora Sletten is a freshman at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN and was recently elected co-captain of her team.  Both Nick and Dory just attended the Mid-winters in Toledo, Ohio where their individual teams selected the regattas they will sail in during the upcoming Spring and Fall seasons.

    Both the U of M and STT belong to the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association (MCSA).

Those of us in the Lakes area can watch them compete against each other, and other MCSA schools, at the Gopher Invite in Minneapolis on April 14-15 at the Wayzata Yacht Club.

    Ben Burgum (also a PLYC alum) will be the co-coach of the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas teams this coming Spring season.

    Medora says, even though they will be competing against each other at regattas, "St. Thomas will start practicing with Minnesota ... the day the ice goes out!"  She goes on to say, "I'm really excited to be with Minnesota again, now we are going to have much more competition at practice ...which will help an amazing amount."

    David Schlossman is in his 2^nd year at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and has been racing all over the SW this year.  He won a race in Galveston, TX recently.  Some of the locations he has been racing are: Lake Travis near Austin and Galveston Bay near the coast.  He is sailing against a very tough fields of sailors.  David is moving up in the pack and he was 4^th out of 12 in his division in Galveston.

David Schlossman finds a new way to use the wind.
David was home from school at Toad Lake and came up with a new way to use the wind.