DN NA AND NATIONAL CHAMPS REPORT

Hey Folks! The troops are home and hopefully the dust has settled for everyone. More importantly, hope everyone is thawed out; It was a chilly week in Wisconsin!

The DN North American Champs went off in grand style out in Green Lake, WI. Head Honcho Tim Mower did a great job of managing the weather situation (a delicate balance of snow belts and extreme cold patches) and no doubt lots of opinions to land us at Green Lake. We took a long look at Lake Wawasee in northern Indiana but rough surfaces, a snow dump, and some open spots and other hazards that damaged at least one boat and one person convinced us that continuing to WI was the right call.

That said the hurry-up-and-wait at Wawasee wasn’t all bad. It gave everyone there plenty of time to catch up and talk smack and have some good food as well!

Once the call was made it was a short hop up to Green Lake. The surface was good, the breeze was up (except for one morning), and heat exhaustion was not a risk as temps stayed in the single digits for the whole event. Getting out of the warm van when we arrived to the launch site every morning took some willpower, let’s just say that…. BUT the racing was awesome. Seven races were run in three fleets, boat damage was minimal although Eben Whitcomb’s trusty WHARF RAT drew the short straw and split the hull and deck. Good news is Eben can build and/or fix anything and he had it glued and screwed and ready for action the next day.

At the pointy end of the Gold Fleet racing was tight with six different skippers winning a race (including a horizon job by John Curtis in race 4!) and only 7 points separating 1st from 5th places. Karol Jablonski kept it together to take the top spot followed by Struble, Sherry, Orlebeke and Thieler.

Top Canadian was Nicolas Mabboux in 7th, with Van Rossem, Curtis, Marzenski, and Druiven also making Canada proud! NE represented well also with Thieler and Roseberry doing well in the Gold and Chamberland, Demerest, Whitcomb, Silsby, Treusdell, Valentine making their presence known in the Silver. Bob Haag and Ben Shaevitz gave it their all in the Bronze!

Hats off to the gang that makes these events happen; Deb Whitehorse, Nina Fleming, Pat Heppart, the Foellers, Fred Stritt, Dave Ryan, Paul Hickman, Dan Williams, Maureen Bohleber, Greg Mullett, Dan Hearn, and probably some who I’ve forgotten. Big thanks to DN legend Joe Norton for showing us around his shop and letting us borrow a sweet 4-wheeler with a heated enclosure. If there was a week to have one of these this was it! If you think you know what goes in to running an event like this, trust me, you don’t. These people work their tails off to make these events happen and they take running them as seriously as we take competing in them!

For more details and results see the real report here: 2026 North American Championship – DN North America

Following race 7 the committee sent us right into race 1 of the National Champs but more on that later.

Stay Tuned!! T Thieler, DN US 5224

My apologies for the lack of action shots from on the ice; it was too cold for cameras or bare fingers! Here’s a few random shots though….