5/2/2026
Hello BLYC Friends,
Yes, the ice is gone and once again, mother nature is teasing us with occasional spring-like weather and with summer just around the corner, it will soon be time to get out and enjoy the beautiful waters of Browns Lake. With lake dredging soon to restart, I feel like we’re on the brink of having what may seem like a new lake to enjoy with water clarity and conditions like we’ve never seen before.
In just 3 weeks, our sailing season will begin and yes, just one week later, we’ll all be gathering at the Rigging Party to officially kick off our summer. Speaking of parties, our social committee lead by Pat Impens and Dian Lynch have put together another exciting year of parties for us to look forward to. New parties, new locations, new food…, it will all make for some very exciting times to get together with all of your friends on the lake. We currently have 4 on-lake parties scheduled; I hope to see you at all of them!
Sailing- it looks like we should have 10 boats registered again this year. We are always looking for new sailing members, with or without experience. If you know of anyone interested, please give them a nudge to contact me or any one of our skippers and we’ll certainly do what we can to get you involved at whatever level you’re interested in. One of my goals for the summer is to develop a list of people willing to be “fill in” crew to be used if a skipper finds themselves needing a second or third person to go sailing. Experience is not necessary, but certainly welcome. You’ll find our skippers are willing to teach you everything you’ll need to know to get involved and have some fun on the water. Please let me know if you’re interested so I can get that list going!
Sailing School- I’ve been informed this summer’s sailing school has a full line up for the summer with Opti racing every Sunday morning at 9:00 starting in late June going through mid-August. Butterflies are back! Starting this summer, some of the more experienced sailing school participants will be out on the lake sailing 2 Butterfly sailboats. Although no longer a locally competitive class, the Butterfly is a mini version of a scow-class boat similar to the C-scows we sail in the yacht club. Many of today’s C-boat skippers grew up on Browns Lake sailing Butterflies back in the day and it’s great to see today’s kids further their skills in a new, larger boat. No matter what boat they’re sailing, if you see the kids on the water, please encourage them as it’s great to see kids of all age ranges involved in sailing!
We can always use more volunteers to assist on the judging and safety boats too. If you’re interested in helping out, please let me know.
In closing, I wish you all well and I look forward to seeing everyone out on the water!
Sincerely,
Tom Westenberger
BLYC Commodore
Browns Lake Yacht Club