EASTERNS VIDEO, SPRING GET-TOGETHER
If you missed the Eastern Regionals you can get a taste of what went on by watching the following vid from Joe Meade- His GoPro camera rolling all weekend and his commentary on this clip is great- Thanks Joe!
Who knows, maybe we will get another shot at sailing before the ice goes out up north….
We are also thinking of doing another spring meeting / BBQ / awards / tune-up / shit-shooting event, possibly at Jeff Kent’s shop, some weekend in the spring if and when the ice goes out up north-
So that is all set- all we need to do is figure out where, when, and how and we’ll let everyone know- Hope we can get some people to come hang out and celebrate an interesting season!
James “T” Thieler
12 Channing St.
Newport, RI 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
Maine States ON For Sunday!
From Chicki Race Control:
The Maine State Championships will be held this coming Sunday on Lake Damariscotta!
Skippers meeting and start at ususal time. Don’t worry about the forecast; it’ll be just fine.
Keep an eye on the CIBC site for details!
T
EASTERN / NE Boat Set-Up
There has been a tradition in the New England clubs (and elsewhere I think) of making the top skipper for the weekend disclose the gear, setup, etc that did the trick- Seems like we have more people getting interested in racing these days so I am thinking we ought to start doing this again. So with that in mind here goes- I apologize if this is a bit much but I just polished off a big cup of coffee (I’m not addicted, I just like the taste) so this is gonna be a long one….
MAST- My whole program is built around the same CSI/Kent mast I’ve had since 2008. It’s a 4.1 model, great mast, in wide use, and has been a great constant as I fiddle with the other components of the boat.
HULL- A CSI hull, two years old. A very sexy piece of kit! Jeff has been refining the design and construction of these things for years and he hit the nail on the head with this one. It’s legal, I swear….
PLANK- I switched to a softer plank this season- the previous one bent 1 3/8″ (34mm )with my weight, which is 175 pounds (80kg) of pure muscle. Really…. The current one bends 1 3/4″ (44mm) with my weight. May not sound like much of a difference but this makes the boat much more forgiving to sail. This is about the same deflection all the hotshots have been recommending for years.
SAILS- I used a set of new 1D sails last weekend- Honestly can’t tell the difference between them and the North sails I’ve been using for the last several years. Used the flat one Saturday in the big breeze and the full one Sunday when the wind was down a little.
RUNNERS- All CSI carbon bodies, 440C steel. Used max thickness (1/4″) inserts sharpened to 90 degrees with a ton of flat (22″ maybe?) in the big breeze on Saturday and went to minimum thickness (3/16″) 100 degree short inserts (32″ long) with less flat in the softer breeze and softer ice on Sunday. These seemed to stay on top of the softer ice better than 90’s or thin T’s. My sharpening technique consists of dropping all my blades at Steve Duhamel’s shop every year- he makes them PERFECT.
SET-UP- I set the boat up to be more forgiving and sail-able than I have been for the past few years- mast step further forward, sidestays snug but not bar tight. Along with the softer plank this makes the boat much less work to sail (no easing the sheet and hiking out of the boat in the gusts) as the mast and plank do much more of the work. “Tune for effect!” as Jan Gougeon said. I’ve been sailing with the mast stood up fairly straight and the boom on the low side (12″ or so off back deck). Makes for a cramped office but the boat seems to like it! Maybe shrinking the gap between the boom and your legs makes a good end-plate effect? Food for thought…..
SAILING- As always you don’t want to sheet too hard off of the starting line and out of tacks and gybes. And in lulls. This seems really true with the softer setup. Less time fighting the boat means more time to look at tactics and laylines- big gains to be made here. Drag is the big enemy (esp. in big breeze) and I try to keep my toes pointed, knees bent, elbows in, and head tilted back as much as possible. Some experts gave me some good advice on tuning; Remember that half the race is downwind so when you are tuning before and between races don’t just race upwind and coast back to the pit- make sure your setup is soft enough for the downwind leg as well! Keeping the mast bent on the downwind leg is a big gain in speed and safety (bent mast=downforce=control).
MIND SET- I’m fortunate to travel with Chad Atkins (Holy Christ, did I just say that?) quite a bit and when the conversation isn’t completely in the gutter we talk boats (ours and other peoples), tuning and racing- this does wonders for getting your brain into iceboat mode- thinking about tuning, set up, tactical stuff, you name it- gets the surviving neurons firing. I’m also lucky to hang out with the CSI gang every Thursday and the brainstorming goes into high gear there as well- And of course at regattas a high percentage of conversations are about iceboat set up, construction, tuning…. An amazing learning opportunity- You can learn as much during dinner as you can on the ice! That’s why it’s good to attend….
PRACTICE- No substitute for time in the boat- Doesn’t have to be a big event- blowing out of work at lunch, setting up a pair of little marks and doing a bunch of laps on the local frog pond for a few hours against even one or two other boats can yield major results- No pressure, no scorekeeping, perfect time to experiment with different set ups and techniques- starts, tacks, gybes, mark roundings all get better. A good tuning partner is great to have- again, I’m lucky that Chad and I live a few miles apart and have similar gear and sailing styles- we beat each other up on the course and the post-mortems yield a lot of information. Our sparring sessions have sped us both up a lot. Plus it’s fun.
RECON- I am shameless when it comes to copying fast sailors and their setups and pestering them for go-fast tips. Scrutinizing photos on the web is a great tool as well. I’ve found many of the fastest sailors to be very forthcoming and have a notebook full of tips, tricks and rules of thumb- With that spirit in mind feel free to hit me with any questions you may have and we can all speed up and invent our own bag of tricks….
T Thieler US 5224
t_thieler
2015 New England DN Champs Report
Photo credit Doug Raymond
OK, Back to the action- Sunday dawned clear and calm, for awhile we wondered if there would be breeze enough to sail on ice that would surely soften in the sun later in the day…. Would we get the New England champs in on the heels of a good Easterns?
The Shelburne Days Inn staff saw several sore people limping into the breakfast area to down waffles, cereal, hard-boiled eggs and various combinations of meds to get through the day. Better livin’ through chemistry! The big breeze Saturday left pretty much everyone with at least some sore muscles but plenty of grins nonetheless.
Dressed and out the door and back to the launch site. Just about everyone who still had a functioning boat was there- only one or two people elected to end the season on a high note and hit the road early. Jim Hadley was one of them- normally we’d give him no end of grief for a stunt like this but he gets a pass for two reasons: First, he has a six month old baby at home (congrats, you big stud!) and second, he gave me the chicken salad sandwich he was saving for lunch later that day. He sailed great on Saturday and we look forward to seeing him and the rest of the NJ mafia next season! Chris Miller also hit the road after somehow ripping off two chocks and eviscerating a runner. A three-for-one breakage! A bummer as he made a heck of a big-course racing debut the previous day- watch out for him next season….
After a quick awards presentation for the Easterns we jumped right into the skippers meeting for the New England champs. Time was critical as the sun was getting higher in the sky and we wanted to get this one in the books ASAP-
There has been a bit of discussion over the years about how starting positions are picked- one wonders if it’s fair to start according to finish position, how to pick spots for the first race, etc. Think about it- fast guy wins first race, right side of the course happens to be really favored, fast guy starts heading that way every race and the boats that start heading to the left are pretty well screwed for the day- a full rich-get-richer scenario that even the most fervent right wing Republican Fox News viewer would have an issue with.
In order to have a more fair distribution of wealth (in terms of starting positions) the fleet elected to pick starting spots from the hat for every single race instead. We also had a long discussion about universal health care, fair practices, and whether or not evolution should be taught in public schools.
OK, maybe not but we did like the random starts for every race- It was an interesting experiment and I think a successful one- as (I think) Kent Baker said “A good sailor should be able to win a race from anywhere on the line.” So maybe it’s more equitable to arrange starts this way? Any statisticians in the group care to chime in here?
Back on the ice the course was set and boats lined up fast- Maryland’s own Rambin’ Roger volunteered to be starter/scorer and not only did the fleet a huge favor but also sacrificed an awesome sailing day to do it- AND this on a Sunday when we couldn’t even ply him with drinks and dinner to show our appreciation. This is either a rookie mistake on his part or he is just that good of a guy…. Let’s say it’s the latter. Put it on our tab for the fall Roger! We owe you big-time. Many thanks to him and the people that assisted him- Henry Capotosto et al…. Thanks also to Loretta Rehe and Deb Whitehorse who once again tallied up the scores from 3,000 miles away in Las Vegas. They have so far as far as we know avoided jail and the ER out there. For now…. Thanks ladies!
Less breeze (5-10 kts?) and slightly softer ice than Saturday meant some re-tuning and different runner choices were in order. Eric Anderson chose wisely (100 degree T’s if I recall) and took race 1. I scored this one with Roger and was thrilled to see a bunch of close mark roundings all through the fleet!
This turned out to be the order of the day as the fleet enjoyed close racing over the course of another seven races- the breeze was strong enough to bend rigs and maybe lift a runner once in awhile but most importantly the ice didn’t start to soften up until the very end of the day- if you avoided the white patches you could maintain speed-
At the end of the day we had 24 boats complete at least one race- well done to the guys with older boats and/or trying the racing thing for the first time- Nice job gang- Looking forward to seeing y’all on the line next year!
-Warren Nethercote made the trek from a mythical land to the north called “Nova Scotia” and showed good speed and smart sailing to take fifth.
-Eric Anderson kept the power on to take a solid fourth. We may see some fresh gear on his boat next year so watch out….
-Peter Van Rossem sailed a good series to take the tie-breaker from Eric to claim third- Peter is relatively new to the class and his obsessive quest for speed is paying big already-
-Chad Atkins did some hunting and pecking to find the right set-up and was going faster and faster as the day went on to take second.
-Your author was fortunate enough to have a good setup and was able to stay ahead this day-
Every sailor in the fleet enjoyed champagne sailing- sun, not too cold, decent breeze, a stunning backdrop of mountains in the distance, and a great fleet! I hope we can build on this next season- seems like people are getting charged up about sailing in New England and beyond- keep everyone pumped, drag people to the regattas and lets keep the party humming! Wonder if we can get 40 boats for Easterns and New Englands next year?!? Let’s make it a goal!!
Thanks to everyone who made this one happen- as always it was a cast of thousands (more or less) and most of all thanks to everyone who showed up to race- sailing is a bit more of a gamble than usual this time of year and we are all psyched that everyone took the risk!
Results and photos below- thanks to Doug Raymond for being the shutterbug all weekend- There are two shots of the start line, one of a visit from a big helicopter that gave us a close fly-by and fortunately didn’t blow any boats over, two exhausted sailors driving back to RI, and Chad Atkins getting coffee-ed up for the drive home…. Why sip when you can guzzle?
T. Thieler, US 5224
2015 New England Championship - March 29, 2015 Lake Champlain Shelburne, Vermont Gold fleet ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Points ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 US 5224 THIELER, JAMES (DNS) 1 1 1 1 1 1 6.00 2 US 4487 ATKINS, CHAD 2 2 (DNS) 5 2 2 2 15.00 3 KC 2766 Van Rossem, Peter (S) 3 3 4 ( 6) 3 5 3 21.00 4 US 5193 ANDERSON, ERIC 1 (DNS) 3 2 4 6 5 21.00 5 KC 3786 NETHERCOTE, Warren 6 6 6 ( 19) 7 4 4 33.00 6 US 4775 WHITCOMB III, EBEN (S) 9 ( 11) 5 3 8 3 8 36.00 7 US 4638 LOVEJOY, GUY ( 8) 7 7 7 6 7 6 40.00 8 KC 4360 BABY, ANDRE (GM) 5 5 2 4 5 (DNS) DNS 46.00 9 US 637 Meade, Joe 7 4 11 ( 13) 10 8 12 52.00 10 US 3186 Ericson, Jack 12 10 8 9 ( 17) 14 9 62.00 11 US 5482 Merrill, Doug ( 14) 12 12 10 11 10 7 62.00 12 US 4272 RAYMOND, DOUG 11 13 10 12 ( 13) 9 10 65.00 13 US 5478 Goritski, Jack 10 14 13 ( 14) 14 11 11 73.00 14 US 4626 Gervais, Paul (S) 15 8 9 11 9 (DNS) DNS 77.00 15 US 5023 Stanton, John 17 ( 17) 15 16 15 13 13 89.00 16 US 4596 Mayer, Chris 16 15 19 ( 20) 16 12 15 93.00 17 US 5512 Steinbaum, Fred 18 16 17 17 (DNS) 15 14 97.00 18 US 4110 MILBANK, JOHN (S) 13 9 14 15 (DNF) DNS DNS 101.00 19 US 1085 Discenzo, Art 19 21 16 18 12 16 (DNS) 102.00 20 US 4032 Bouchard, Ron 22 18 DNS 8 (DNS) DNS DNS 123.00 21 US 4009 BRUSH, DON (M) 4 20 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 124.00 22 US 480 Capotosto, Henry 20 19 18 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 132.00 23 US 3758 Tropea, Paul 21 22 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 143.00 24 US 4138 Doe, John 23 DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 148.00 Scoring system: IDNIYRA Worlds The long ride home for a couple tired sailors
Saturday Video
Chris Mayer sent us this vid of a mark rounding in the breeze on Saturday-
Great racing this day! Check it out!
T
2015 DN EASTERNS REPORT AND RESULTS
Photo credit Doug Raymond
Ok Folks, the regatta is in the books and it was a beauty! Big ice, big breeze, and a big fleet all combined to make this the best Easterns in quite awhile. At one point I counted at least two dozen boats on the line- easily the best turnout we’ve had in ages. So a big round of applause to all who showed up! We had a lot of familiar faces, some returning class veterans and some new racers in the group as well- Well done to these guys for jumping in at the deep end-
It’s kind of a blur but I’ll do my best here….
The place was Shelburne, VT- found and scouted with great expertise and detail by the one and only Paul Gervais and his loyal dog Sailor, the biggest, coolest lab ever. Thanks to Paul for that and for not going ballistic the next day when the authorities told him that Sailor couldn’t hang out at the launch site. The ice had a bit of texture due to late season weather stuff but was safe enough once you crossed a pretty impressive pressure ridge. No planks needed, a good omen.
Yes, we had breeze- plenty, easily into the 20+ knot range. The first race brought some drama as there was one pirouette executed by Jack Goritsky that left him with a bloody nose and a bruised arm. His rig was temporarily fixed with a pair of Vise-Grips that he keeps in his boat and he was good to go-
Ron Bouchard and Andre Baby, along with John Zimmerman later in the day ran races and kept score- The flags are stranded in the back of Steve Madden’s car so we used a genuine burlap sack donated by Chris Miller for a checkered flag. Possibly the first DN racing in history that can call lap three the “burlap lap”.
Anyway the racing was fast and furious- Jim Hadley is getting back into DN racing after a hectic few years of hurricanes and fatherhood- hasn’t slowed him down a bit as he was fast and fearless in the breeze as ever! Great to see him back on the course. He and your author had several close races- as I said at the time we passed the lead back and forth like a doobie at a Grateful Dead concert!
Not a day for the faint of heart or people with any degree of common sense so a few sailors decided to err on the side of caution and keep boats and bodies intact for Sunday.
When the dust settled and the seventh- yes the seventh!- race was done we had the luxury of getting the scores done from a world away- Loretta Rehe and Deb Whitehorse are out in the
Nevada desert near Vegas scoring a land sailing regatta and said to send photos of the score sheets and they would do the tally- Have to love A) them for making the offer and B) smart-phones for making this possible. How these two could possibly be bored enough in Vegas to do this is beyond me (pretty much everything short of outright murder is legal there) but we are very grateful that they took a break from gambling and God knows what other distractions that town has to offer to let us know what happened with our little regatta on the other side of the continent…. Thanks ladies! Hope you are staying more or less out of trouble….
Speaking of results….
Not yet. Also have to thank Eben Whitcomb and Chad Atkins for motivating this one- they sorted the bulk of the details along with a slew of people too numerous to list here- you know who you are and thanks one and all!
-NEIYA Vice Commodore John Stanton finished enough races to take 14th before his boat decided to race off without him- apparently it jumped the pressure ridge with no problem and ended up basically in the woods miles away- not bad! Of course this begged the question of whether or not his boat was faster with him not actually in it…
-Chris MAyer (US 4596) was just ahead in lucky 13th
-John Millbank and Fred Steinbaum took 12th and 11th (close regatta, only a few points apart)
-Warren Nethercote showed serious cajones for a lightweight and took tenth-
-Chris Miller showed up in a slick new CSI boat and got dialed in enough to take 9th- watch out for this guy over the next few seasons, he’s gonna be going real fast real soon- as soon as he gets his chocks glued back on!
-Joe Meade sailed well to take 8th- he’s a big guy and I’m sure this didn’t hurt this day! HE had a Go-Pro camera rigged up, hope to see some footage from that bad-boy soon-
-Peter Van Rossem was 7th- he was top Canuck sailing an Atkins-built hull he picked up a few years ago- he’s another one getting faster and faster-
-Don Brush used his experience and guile to take 6th-
-Guy Lovejoy is returning to the class and I guess his practicing with Joe Meade is paying off as he won the tiebreaker with Don to take 5th spot-
-Chad Atkins hasn’t been able to sail much this season but ripped up the course in his very nice new home built boat and took fourth.
-Eric Anderson was a red blur as he was able to edge out Atkins for third-
-Jim Hadley pushed hard and as I said earlier he was fast and fearless as ever- he is going to be back to his old form next year and will be on the podium a lot- great to see him back- He has a tuna stickers on his boat and having him on your tail makes you feel like a baitfish!
-Your author finally listened to a bunch of experts (including three -yes, three- World DN Champs) who have been telling me for years that my boat is set up too stiff- so I set it up for a more user-friendly mode and it worked well enough to get out front- lots of close finishes and an awesome day had by all I think! Complete results below-
2015 Eastern Regional Championship - March 28 - 29, 2015 Lake Champlain Shelburne, Vermont Gold fleet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Points -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 US 5224 THIELER, JAMES 1 1 ( 1) 1 1 1 1 6.00 2 US 1188 Hadley, James 2 2 2 2 2 2 ( 4) 12.00 3 US 5193 ANDERSON, ERIC 4 4 (DNS) 3 3 3 2 19.00 4 US 4487 ATKINS, CHAD (DNS) 3 3 4 4 4 5 23.00 5 US 4638 LOVEJOY, GUY 5 ( 10) 4 5 5 6 8 33.00 6 US 4009 BRUSH, DON (M) 3 6 5 6 6 ( 7) 7 33.00 7 KC 2766 Van Rossem, Peter (S) 7 5 7 8 ( 8) 5 3 35.00 8 US 637 Meade, Joe 6 8 6 7 7 ( 9) 6 40.00 9 US 5415 Miller, Chris 8 7 8 10 ( 10) 8 10 51.00 10 KC 3786 NETHERCOTE, Warren 9 9 9 9 9 ( 10) 9 54.00 11 US 5512 Steinbaum, Fred 11 12 11 12 13 12 (DNS) 71.00 12 US 4110 Millbank, John 10 11 10 11 11 (DNS) DNS 74.00 13 US 4596 Doe, John DNF 13 (DNS) 14 12 11 DNS 92.00 14 US 5023 Stanton, John (DNS) 14 12 13 14 DNS DNS 95.00 15T US 5482 Merrill, Doug DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS DNS 126.00 16T US 5476 Haag, Robert DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS DNS 126.00 17T US 4272 RAYMOND, DOUG DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS DNS 126.00 18T US 5478 Goritski, Jack DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS DNS 126.00 19T US 4626 GERVAIS, PAUL (S) DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS DNS 126.00 20T KC 4360 BABY, ANDRE (GM) DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS DNS 126.00 Scoring system: IDNIYRA Worlds
The post race party started at Buono’s, a good Italian joint across the street- the party raged into the wee hours and may or may not have involved excessive drinking, certain illicit chemicals, one fight, and some very nice women who were either local pros or waitresses with really terrific attitudes. The cops were also very professional and everyone was bailed out by morning.
Aw, who the hell am I kidding? Dinner was great and I don’t think anyone stayed up beyond about 9:30 and the drugs of choice were one or two beers and/or Advil. We were a tired crew!
Thanks to all for making the trip- great to see everyone! New England report tomorrow- Thanks to Doug Raymond for the photos-
T
New England DN champs tomorrow
Check NEIYA website for details- we are looking to hold the New England DN champs tomorrow at the same place we had the EASTERNS today-
Come one come all! Any DN eligible, and also recall that we will have a start for any class that has three or more boats on the start line ready to go-
See NEIYA site and IDNIYRA site for directions, lodging etc-
Hope to see y’all!
T
James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
DN Eastern Regionals DONE!
The EASTERNS are done! Great day- big breeze, good ice, and a great turnout- at one point I counted at least 24 boats on the line- not bad!
Seven races plus a one lap practice race- thanks to The scorekeepers for firing off the races fast and furious!
Want to know results? So do we! You’ll have to be patient- We are still tabulating and dinner is at Bono’s, an Italian joint across from the hotel in twenty minutes. Gotta run!
New England champs tomorrow- same place- if you can get here in time get a move on!! Tomorrow looks like a good day- directions etc are on this site and the IDNIYRA bulletin board-
Stay tuned for full results and report. See you tomorrow!
T
James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
EASTERNS ARE ON!!
The Eastern’s are ON for this Saturday and Sunday- BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!
Still looking for a scorer so if you or someone you know is interested contact T. Thieler at 401 258 6230
**The DN Eastern Regional Championship will be a 7 Race series**
Launch Site:
Shelburne Town Beach
Beach Rd.
Shelburne, VT 05482
Off of Rt. 7
Bostwick rd
Beach rd
Ends at access
Race Headquarters
Days Inn
3229 Shelburne Road
Shelburne, VT 05482 US
802 985 3334
Ask for DN Easterns Rate $69/night double
Bono’s Italian Restaurant is across the street for dinner Saturday night
Back up is the Quality Inn Shelburne
Ask for DN Eastern Rate as well
See you on the ice,
Chad Atkins
Scorers/RC Needed
Hello All-
Seems like things may just fall into place for the Eastern Regional DN champs this weekend-
Which means we need a starter/scorekeeper!
If you’d like to generate some good karma points and the everlasting gratitude of the sailors plus (of course) free dinner and drinks give me a shout!
Bring a friend! Feel free to pass this along as well- this could be a good event and we’d like to run it well-
Look forward to hearing from everyone!
Contact info is below-
James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
EASTERN REGIONALS!!!
Heads Up Gang….
Things are looking pretty good for the Eastern Regional DN Champs!
May possibly run New England Champs as well but EASTERNS is the priority….
The scouts are still out and about but northern Champlain is looking good- Final call later this week-
Check IDNIYRA bulletin board and NEIYA site for info-
Load ‘Em up! Let’s get a good fleet in the line for this one- spring will be here soon and you don’t want to regret missing a good one all summer….
James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
2015 DOC FELLOWS, IN-DEPTH….
The place: Sebago Lake.
The Date: Last Saturday.
The Event: The Doc Fellows Regatta.
Now imagine how cool that would sound if Howard Cosell said it!
The Doc was pretty cool this year- light breeze in the morning, faded to nothing mid-day for awhile, built nicely in the afternoon- Was nice to have a break to nap and/or socialize on the ice for awhile-
Ice was good in AM and softened as the sun rose and temps went up-
Harry Richardson and Eben Whitcomb had close racing- seemed like they match raced pretty much every lap- Harry pipped Eben to take third.
Chad Atkins and your author had a bit of match race going as well- Chad spent the light air part of the day going around the course and staying in the zone and it paid off after the breeze filled back in- heading into the last race, winner-take-all finale’ he was able to get his nose out front and extend around the course for a convincing win. He gets style points for doing it in his new boat, home built last fall- if you see this craft you will be impressed!
I think he was using full-length, 100 degree runners which stayed on top of the soft ice better than my short 100’s. Maybe I should have tried my full length 90 degree runners or even 90 degree max inserts- those work well in soft ice sometimes. Chad said the extra length no doubt was a little painful in tacks and gybes but it certainly didn’t hurt when he was going in a straight line! We both used Kent (CSI) 4.1 rigs and Chad had a North F-01 sail while I had a 1D Power Gold. Wish I could say what the difference is but to my eye they look pretty darn similar…. Anyway he sailed well and gets his name on a very cool-looking trophy!
We had a few older boats out racing- John Hayes and Richard Gluckman had a little battle of their own going on as well- Brett Reis, Ramblin’ Roger and a few other sailors also had a good day cruising the lake-
Following an awesome fireworks display at the launch ramp dinner was at the Run Of The Mill on the Saco River. 22 oz prime rib. Rare. Phenomenal. Yeah, I slept like a rock that night- thanks to Dave Fortier for letting us all crash at his house and also for keeping score! And thanks to Kelly Klicker for the wrap-around photo of the launch area-
All in all a good day! This season is far from over- the ice is thick and the snow is melting- reports from up north sounding good- We are still hoping to get the Easterns, New Englands and Canadian champs in the books- Stay tuned to this site and don’t mothball your gear yet!
Scores, as best as we can tell…
2015 DOC FELLOWS REGATTA
Chad “Chazzz” Atkins US 4487 1 (S) 2 1 1 5
James “Irving” Thieler US 5224 (S) 1 1 2 2 6
Harry “Divider” Richardson US 5148 2 2 3 3 (3) 10
Eben “Nice Guy” Whitcomb US 4775 3 3 4 4 (4) 14
Dave “WHO?!?” Fortier US 4690 4, 5, S S S
John “Authority Figure” Stanton US 5023 6, 6, ?????
John Hayes and Richard Gluckman had some good racing here but the scores get a bit fuzzy at this point- sorry guys, we will try to do better next time and will work on some nick-names for you both!
Think Ice! T
2015 Euro DN video
Bob Crinion found this cool aerial video from the European DN champs- Check it out! Some good leeward mark rounding footage and a good view of a start- watch the guy with the red helmet- wish I had starts like that all week! Happy viewing…. T
Doc Fellows DONE! New England Champs Sunday
Sebago came through! An elite fleet did a five race series to get the 2015 Doc Fellows regatta in the books- Pretty sure Chad Atkins is the winner with your author as runner up- complete results and report later- For now congrats to Chad and thanks to all who sailed and Dave Fortier for scoring-
New England champs on tap for tomorrow- Should be breeze and the ice ain’t bad- Get your bad selves up here and let’s a have a good turnout for the NE’s!
Launch from Nason’s Beach and Campground- drive on the ice! Sweeeet….
See y’all tomorrow- Skipper meeting 0930 at launch.
T
James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
Sebago Cruising / Racing / Scorer Needed
Hello Folks-
The good news is out about Sebago- Lord knows what the weather will do but you can’t play if you don’t show up…
Scouts advise us that there is plenty of room for cruising / touring- should be plenty of that going on as it sounds like several people will be showing up to do just that; I expect to see the usual mix of exotic craft at the launch area- Bring your own creation and join the fun!
There will be a race course as well for the DN regattas- Hopefully this will be away from where the cruising is going on but keep an eye out for it either way. Remember Oliver Moore’s promise to have a start for any class that shows up with three or more boats- food for thought gang! Give it a whirl or watch the action for a bit- Would be fun to see some different boats rounding the marks!
By the way we will be needing a scorer for the races- if you’d like to volunteer send me an email or find me on the ice- DN US 5224 And if anyone wants to fly a drone and take pictures as well as keep score that would be killah- calling Jeff Kent….
See y’all this weekend!!
Commodore T.
James “T” Thieler
12 Channing St.
Newport, RI 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
Racing This Weekend!!!
Good news Folks! Sebago has been scouted; None other than Lloyd Roberts himself informs us:
“Its in. Nason’s Beach is open. Lake was sailed today, Thursday, all way across and around Frye Island. Plenty of ice for regatta.
Graded at 5-6 by Fortier and Buchholz.
Raymond beach and Jordan Bay not so good, major snow field out in Bay.”
And so we ARE ON!! Will be attempting two regattas in one weekend unless anyone (including Mother Nature) objects- Most likely Doc Fellows Saturday and New Englands Sunday if we can- This time of year we have to scramble to get the regattas in the books. Usual rules apply- insurance, safe sailing, etc…
Stay tuned to this site for details-
Nason’s is the place to launch- some cars have driven onto the ice, do so at your own risk and discretion.
Spread the word and let’s make the most of the season we have left-
Think Ice!
James “T” Thieler
12 Channing St.
Newport, RI 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
Racing This Weekend?
Hey Folks-
We have a good feeling about conditions up north for the weekend- Too windy to scout Sebago today but the guys will be scoping out there and elsewhere to see if we can get our regattas in the books-
Stay tuned to this site for details! Will do our best to get some kind of announcement out by tomorrow afternoon-
Start loading them up- think positive!! T
James “T” Thieler
12 Channing St.
Newport, RI 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
Europe Pics And Videos
Some video and photos from the EC in case anyone is interested….
Video from French TV-
http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-20h/2015/ice-sailing-de-la-voile-sur-la-glace-8576416.html
Race start, first day
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=657054887736654&set=vb.100002964452621&type=3&permPage=1
And a few photos- The opening ceremony, Day One start in the rain, giving Karol Jablonksi some pointers (you can see he is having a “Why didn’t I think of that?!?” moment), Tartu architecture, Hotel where we stayed (awesome breakfast included, 68 Euros per night, cheaper than the Hilton Garden), awards ceremony, three stowaways on ferry to Kiel (Diderec, Peter and Joerg) and lastly, genuflecting to the coffee maker at Joerg’s house. Yes, I have a coffee addiction.
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- opening cermony
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- start
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- pointers
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- tartu estonia
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- lodging
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- awards
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- stowaways
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- coffee maker
Volvo Ocean Race Leg Start
Greetings Sports Fans-
Just a heads up that the Volvo Ocean Race Leg Start is at 4PM Eastern time (1 hr from now). Check it out on line at the VOR site, on the You Tube channel, or maybe at SailingAnarchy.com.
What does this have to do with iceboats?
First, the boats are kinda high performance so that’s one thing.
Second, the skipper of Alvimedica is a former housemate of our one and only Oliver Moore, and that pretty much seals it- Happy viewing!!
T
James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
Spring Sailing, Spring Clinic and Euro Update
Hey Folks-
The weather is breaking and spring will be upon us all too soon but don’t forget we have sailing to do and races to run! When we finally get the thaw and re-freeze we need we will do our damnedest to get our regattas in the books! Doc Fellows, New England’s, and Eastern Champs among others- Plus rumors of the Central Region champs being called on for this weekend if you are a DN sailor- And our neighbors to the north are keen to get the Canadian Champs in before spring….
Speaking of Canada the Nova Scotia gang had a regatta that I’m sorry I missed- Bob Crinion won the Canadian Maritimes Champs- I think his worst finish was a second- Congrats Bob and send us a write up on what you used and how you did it- Congrats also to whoever was the only person to take a race off Bob!
The ice is THICK up north so this could be one of those years where we do quite a bit of sailing in April- I say we make the most of it! Stay tuned for more info and if you have ice, let us know…. Get those slush runners tuned up.
And a quick reminder that we are planning another spring clinic/get together at Jeff Kent’s shop in Hingham, MA. Haven’t nailed the date down yet as we don’t want to conflict with any spring sailing but the last one we did was well attended and a good time was had by all so we hope to go bigger and better this year! Check this site for updates-
Lastly the European Champs are done, sort of…. We were able to get five races in despite deteriorating ice and warm weather. It was pretty rad- the first four were on the first day in breeze, soft ice and rain- I was glad to be in a bright yellow boat, let’s just say that.
Warm rain that night totaled that course so we moved down the lake to a different area and were able to get one more race in as the breeze was fading (weather now alternating between snow showers and bright sunshine). Bit of controversy in this one as a few boats skipped the Darling mark and rounded a similar looking flag that was marking a hazard between the Darling mark and the weather mark. Easy mistake to make and it did shave a little distance of the course for the boats that cut the corner. Did it affect the results of the race? I don’t know, I didn’t actually see the incident. Complicating matters is the possible fact that some of the offending boats may have been DSQ’d before the race even started for sailing on the course while the “C” (Bronze) fleet was racing…. The plot is thick indeed!
I do know that the race is currently disallowed as it is under protest- the issue has been kicked upstairs to the powers-that-be and eventually we will get a verdict on whether it will count or not. If it’s reinstated that’s good for yours truly, I get to count a 4th and throw out an 18th and move up a place or two overall- but the chips will fall where they fall- I had a blast either way.
Kind of a drag that the event has this little cloud over it but on the sunny side the whole trip was a thrill once again- Joerg Bohn does an UNBELIEVABLE job of making this event happen and running the whole show over there and on top of that is the most gracious and generous host you can imagine. Thanks to him and Torsten Siems who also opened his home and shop to us. It was great to meet and hang out with all the DN enthusiasts from all around Europe.
Joerg says he wants at least 15 US sailors over there for the GC/EC next year!!! Put it on the calendar, start planning NOW! Contact me with any questions about how to pull this off- Trust me, you won’t regret it. Great times, nice people, great racing at all levels (three fleets deep) and if the dollar is still strong against the Euro you won’t have to borrow against the house to do it.
That’s all for now- Think ICE!!
Commodore T.
James “T” Thieler
12 Channing St.
Newport, RI 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
The only and bestest to be found
Ice reports followers, no doubt, have been following the exploits from Lake Wentworth in NH. Seems its the only game in town or throughout the region.
Paul along with two other locals sailed for a good part of the day. Conditions don’t sound great but they were out there and I was staring at a computer screen all day. Who do you think had a better time regardless of conditions?
Paul’s assessment of the day:
“Still grade 5. Shell Ice about the same but the skim ice has firmed up solid. Still some funny (since I wasn’t wound up when I encountered it) hazards to be found. The one I am referring to was shell ice dropping abruptly into plank deep slush. Quick stop but plank intact. Gonna try tomorrow A.M. but forecast rain to snow on Saturday“
Paul, thanks for venturing out and bring back your report.
Am I on the road and typing at the same time or loading my gear? No, think I will wait for things to smooth out just a bit. Info on Wentworth is posted below.
Let’s see what the next rain and thaw cycle brings. Winnipesaukee, Somewhere in Maine perhaps?
Stay tuned there will be more sailing,
John Stanton
NEIYA Vice Commodore
The Thaw, Freeze and Sail…
We all knew it would happen, though this snow has been a bit discouraging. There has been chatter of snow melting to slush all over the Northeast. The time is near. But don’t jump too quickly. Safety is paramount. Use caution and patience.
Paul Delnero in NH sailed Lake Wentworth today and reported into the NEIYA ice reports email group. No doubt most of you have already read it and are thinking of putting Wentworth in your plans for the Weekend. The lake has not been thoroughly scouted yet and is not ready for the masses.
However there will be a scouting party out tomorrow morning sometime after 10. If your around Join in and help scout. There are risks and this is not an endorsement of conditions just passing on some info
There will be an update tomorrow evening.
Sail Safe, Sail Fast and have fun,
John Stanton
NEIYA Vice Commodore
Controversy….
Rumors afoot that Race 5 has been chucked…. Bummer…. Stay tuned….
James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840
401 258 6230
t_thieler
New England Ice Yacht Association 