The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

committee there was strictly “by the book,” and members boarded the fifty-foot, club owned signal boat Splendid wearing yachting uniforms including neckties and yachtsman’s caps. Fairlie moved to Clearwater just when PC Chuck and Em Harris were making an effort to reestablish yacht racing at CYC. Together with PC Norbert Zebny, this small group grew into our race management team of today. In 2000, the US Sailing Association decided to completely reorganize its certification process for race officers, and early that year, Fairlie became one of only a few people across the country to become certified as a race management instructor. In 2003, after serving as PRO of US Sailing’s National Multihull Championship, the Hobe Alter Cup, he was certified as a Regional Race Officer. Past Commodore Dick Boblenz

Race Committee—sometimes it’s more fun than others. Top row: 1. Dick Crowl prepares to leave the dock; 2. Tina Fitzgerald with US Sailing Senior Judge Ann Newton. Second row: 1. Gene Fleming setting the finish line in very rough seas; 2. Hoyt Nichols on a beautiful day on the racecourse. Middle row: 1. Sandie Ramsden on another beautiful day; 2. Amanda Fleming with salt spray on her camera. Bottom row: 1. Tom Brusini looking chilly; 2. Scotty the regatta dog preparing to bark twice as each competitor crosses the finish line; and 3. Robert Poladian with Margo Curry on the bow of the signal boat getting ready for the start. CYC Archives.

PC Boblenz and his wife Connie began sailing when their children were small. They borrowed a sailboat for a vacation in the Lake Erie Islands and that was the beginning of their sailing adventures. In 1984 the Boblenz family moved to Clearwater and in 1985 purchased Flying Cloud , which raced through 1994 in the Gulf Coast events. Flying Cloud was then converted for cruising and Dick began helping out on the racecourses. When US Sailing began to require race management certification for the higher level regattas and US Sailing sent “their” PRO for our first Laser Midwinters East (LMWE), along with Fairlie, Dick took the required course and in 2003 qualified as a Certified Race Officer. Dick has since been the designated PRO for several Laser Midwinters East Regattas and has organized and run the club’s longest running regatta—the International Snipe Midwinters Championship for many years.

116 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011