09/02/2026
A Big Win Sailing on Lewis and Clark Lake near Yankton, SD
By Ellen Beck
Tony Rasmussen of Aurora, South Dakota has only been sailing his sailboat named River Dance for a few years, but that didn’t stop him from entering the 2026 Gavin’s Point Yacht Club Regatta Bash race on Saturday, August 29th. His boat is a 32 ft. Catalina 320 sail boat which his mom Bernadette Rasmussen said is a nice sailboat, but not a boat she expected he would ever enter in a sailboat race.
When he called her to tell her he and his crew won the race, she didn’t believe him until he sent her photos, including photos with the big trophy.
It was his first time racing in a sailboat race at Lewis and Clark; he went up against some much better, faster and pricier boats on the Lewis and Clark Resevoir near Yankton South Dakota. The race was a 17 mile race. The lake is 18 miles wide by 25 miles long and is called Lewis and Clark Lake.
Tony has only had the boat for a few years. He and his family, brothers, brothers-in law, wife and children go boating and sailing on the weekends. They have a slip down at Yankton, SD for the boat. The boat has two bunks and two bedrooms, so they can even stay overnight on the boat.
They only race from time to time, but this was a first at the Regatta Bash.
The results are not official, but Tony said for sure they took first place in the entire race and also first place in their class which they still cannot believe.
His brothers attribute the win to Tony’s famililarity with the boat and famililarity with the winds. He was able “to steal winds” to move from second to first place on the lake.
His brothers said his navigating skills are better than most people because he knows the lake, the boat and the winds very well.
On board with him were his nephew, William Rasmussen; his brother, Nick Rasmussen; his brother—in-law, Chris Bessler; and Braeden Clifford, his stepson. They were competing with 25 to 30 boats, but they managed to navigate into the lead right away.
“We were second place rounding the buoy on the upwind leg and then we gobbled them up on the downwind leg, finishing about 13-14 minutes ahead of the next boat,” Tony explained. “I don’t have the official results yet,” he added.
So all of the Rasmussens were cheering because they said, “ well the Rasmussens are the fastest boat on the lake!” Well they were the fastest boat for the Regatta bash anyway. It is actually the biggest annual race of the year on Lewis and Clark so Tony and his crew were very excited to take first place.
Not bad for a kid and family who came from the small town Ivanhoe, MN area. Tony’s brother Adam still lives in Ivanhoe and his mom and dad live in nearby Wilno, MN.
Tony is an Optimization Technologist at Solventum® in Brookings, SD.
He is married to Renae (Bessler) Rasmussen and they have two children, Liam, 8 years old and Ramsey who is 5 years old who just started kindergarten.
The Mission of the Gavins Point Yacht Club Bash at Yankton, SD is to promote fellowship among the boating community and to benefit Gavins Point Yacht Club Youth Sailing and Educational Programs.
Congratulations to Tony Rasmussen, family and crew!
From Gavin’s Point Yacht Club: “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
