Day 3 Report

We awoke to 3F, snow drifts on the lake, super hard ice, and a building wind. I am pretty sure I have not experienced such a set of changing ice conditions at a regatta before. Although, I am relatively new to this and the gentleman I sat across from at the restaurant has been racing ice boats for 50 years!

Each fleet had four races with each race involving a bit more wind than the previous one. Most sailors switched to their MS1 sails and either 95 degree or 100 degree runners. Despite the insane winds of yesterday, I found sailing today much more difficult. The hard ice makes the boat vibrate and bounce around and then "float a bit" when a big puff hits. You pretty much feel like your boat could completely spin out at almost any point. Every mark round is especially exhilarating…

T and I both had "big bummers" today. Mine was in the 2nd race of the morning after I switched to my flatter sail. I had trouble getting the foot of my sail into the boom as the bolt was stiff and frozen. I was rushing and had to get to the line. Once the flag dropped, I sprinted and eased into the boat. After sheeting in, I noticed the foot was bunching all up. I had forgotten to secure my outhaul. I had to stop my boat, get out, attach and tighten my outhaul. t. I debated withdrawing for a moment, but got back in my boat.

T’s big bummer was at the end of the day with being sandwiched between two boats. One boat avoiding a snow drift and one boat heading him up. Two boats bumped and his tiller broke. He is confident a quick morning fix will return him to the ice tomorrow.

The rest of Team NEIYA did a great job….here are the provisional results…

https://iceresults.org/dn/2024nas.html