Hey Folks- Ralph Hilbert checks in from LI with this bit of good news:

Joe Natale did a lot of work updating the LI club’s web site. It’s looking terrific.

Check it out at http://www.iceboatlongisland.com

Get back to him with any comments/suggestions at 66chevelle300

Thanks!

Ralph

From deep down in the bowels of the video vault, what is believed to be the only full video coverage of the 2003 DN Gold Cub and North Americans has surfaced.

We have added a few notes to the video. Can you find yourself or fellow competitors out there on the ice? If so leave a comment about where on the video and we will add a note for all to see. Any commentary is welcome. Jot em down now as yoyu will forget later.

UPDATE: Click here to read to read Rosemary Hamill’s story about 2003 North American Championship, “A Champion’s Cheering Section – Our View from the Race Pits“.

Full Regatta results here

Let’s not forget our annual meeting Saturday Novemeber 5th. The Meeting welcomes a new season and time to pay your dues.

Please pay your dues and lunch online today. Don’t worry you do not have to have PayPal, any credit/debit card will do. Lunch is a club subsidized $10 this year. Yes, the same low price as last year! Our treasurer Bob Haag would appreciate online payment or at least let him know (treasurer@neiya.org) you’re coming for an accurate head count. There will be plenty of Swedish meatballs.

Description	Price
2017 Membership	$30
2017 Membership and Lunch	$40
2017 Membership for one & Lunch x2	$50
Lunch Only	$10

If you have any extra gear be sure to list it in the classified section and drag it to the swap meet. Your old gear will make someone very happy.

Continuing with the wind assisted sled and cart topic, my dad checks in again with this little nugget….

T —

that is from an arctic robert e. peary expedition – not sure which one as he made many.

he would have used the sled with dogs and sails on all of them.

the wheel was a common measuring device on many explorations to measure distance for dead reckoning calculations.

not unlike the taffrail log you ocean navigators use to guess your speed/distance.

also may have been used by Scandinavian immigrants to help take some load off the horses pulling the wagon train headed to wisconsin with the first load of cheese culture.

Best, Ed

Want to see a bit of Lake Baikal but not interested in dragging an iceboat all the way there? Here is a minimalist way to do it- on foot! Yes, they have figured out the only thing more insane than sailing on a giant frozen lake- running a marathon on it! Paging Dan Hearn from Madison, I think he’s a distance runner type…
http://www.baikal-marathon.org/

And if you are looking for a different sort of long distance adventure on that little lake check this one out- Sounds kind of like doing Winni the hard way only it takes a month or something, so maybe it isn’t so different now that I think about it…
https://vimeo.com/166866282

Speaking of Lake Baikal it may not be too late to sign up for DN race over there this spring- click if you’re interested!
http://www.baikaliceyachtracing.eu/Baikal_Ice_Yacht_Racing/Home.html

THINK ICE!!

James “T” Thieler
12 Channing St.
Newport, RI 02840

401 258 6230
t_thieler

Seems like only yesterday Scott Valentine sent in a photo of his DN training ritual from a year or so ago. It showed him sitting in a Laz-E_Boy chair drinking a can of cheap beer with his helmet and spikes on.

This vid shows that he has stepped it up a bit! Shot on Columbus day, somewhere out on LI-

Thanks Scott! Looks like a good day and certainly will get some people thinking about the upcoming season…. Think ICE!

….Scott and the gang took advantage of the big breeze the other day to get this bad-boy out for a spin. Watch out for these guys this season, they’ve been in the zone and working on gear all summer….

Just as I thought the sailing sled topic had run it’s course this little photo was sent in from WI by Deb at the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club.

This is impressive- I get the dogs, the sails make sense, but what’s with the little wheel in back? Does it measure distance? Speed? Both?

Anyone know where, what and when? Leave a comment if you do-

Think Ice! T

Colin Duncan from Kingston, Ontario weighs in on the sailing sled photo with this tidbit-

I’m still amazed that no one has weighed in with a critique of sail trim and / or runner selection….

T,
The photo of the sleds suggests maybe a northern Canadian lake, such as Great Slave, even Winnipegosis (favourite name). The ice is so smooth (and flat) it is hard to believe it is an Arctic or Antarctic scene. My wife, an historian of Canada working on energy history, thinks she has seen the pic somewhere before. Last year flying out to the ASEH conference in Seattle I saw the frozen southern part of Lake Winnipeg, an almost perfect circle fragment in shape. Amazingly alluring but there seemed to be nobody at all using it.
Cheers, Colin

Hey Folks- You may have seen the photo I put up awhile ago of the guys hauling the sled with the square sail on it-

My father saw it and followed up with the email below- interesting stuff and a reminder to not get casual about cold-weather safety. Read on:

T —

See if anyone comes up with this.

I believe this may be the ill-fated Scott expedition setting out for the south pole. They all froze to death – the last of them not far from camp. c. 1910-1912-ish

The sleds are being man-hauled, typically British – they totally eschewed dogs as being beneath them – Amundson beat them to the pole with his dogs and skis by about a month – in fact for him the trip was a walk in the park and reported as quite uneventful. As planned, late in the trip, as he discarded useless stuff, he ate some of the dogs.

Scott did have dogs, ponys, and a kind of primitive snow-mobile, and they did have sails for when the wind was favorable.

The untested -except in England – snow-mobiles failed very rapidly in the frigid antarctic conditions – I think the oil solidified, all sorts of mechanical breakdowns, they fell into crevasses, etc.

They never practiced sledging with dogs, or skis – just loaded them on the boat figuring that educated English gentlemen could learn to do it in a few days after they got on the ice. They also found the unruly nature of the dogs to be tiresome.

The horses needed too much food – horsepower to pounds of hay ratio not good.

They did use all of these modalities to get started but they all turned back and the five doomed men started the trek south.

One of many fabulous stories of dramatically courageous, first rate, tragedies involving the adventure-hungry Brits.

Go wow your friends.

Ed Thieler

*As you may have gathered, my dad is wicked smahht!! Thanks Ed!

The winter sailing season is coming up fast! If you are interested in getting into iceboating find a swap meet and club meeting near you, pick up some gear and get ready to enjoy the fastest sailing on the planet! Make this the year….

Skeeter Iceboat Club 31st Annual Swap Meet

Sunday, October 30, 2016; 9 to noon, followed by raffle

Lucke’s Cantina, 220 N. Elkhorn Rd. (WI Hwy 67), Williams Bay, WI

For more information, email sailing19
This is the Grand-Daddy of all swap meets. More equipment changes hands at this swap meet than all others combined. There will be Skeeters, Renegades, Arrows, Nites, DN’s and who knows what else. Boat builders and hardware manufacturers will all set up displays. If you want to buy or sell something (or simply shoot the bull!) this is the place to be. All the big names of iceboating show up for this one.

Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club Saturday, November 5, 2016 10 AM – 3 PM Gull Lake Country Club, 9725 W Gull Lake Dr, Richland, MI 49083 For more information: https://www.facebook.com/groups/280198766052/

New England Ice Yacht Club Fall Meeting & Swap Meet

Saturday, November 5, 2016 9 AM – Noon

Knights of Columbus Hall, 17 Willow St, Westborough, MA 01581.

For more information: https://theneiya.org/

The swap meet starts at 9AM in the parking lot, lunch and meeting starts at noon in the hall. There will be great door prizes…. Put it on your calendars folks! Start digging out all the gear you want to sell or trade and start making a list of anything you’d like to bring up at the meeting.

Sailcrafters 8th Annual Iceboat Swap Meet

Saturday, November 5, 2016 10 AM- 1 PM

7450 Oxford Street, St. Louis Park, MN 55426

More information: Phone: 952-693-6089 E-Mail: tim
Tim Carlson of Sailcrafters is hosting again. This swap meet is popular with the Minnetonka, White Bear and Bald Eagle sailors. There promises to be lots of DN and Nite equipment along with several complete boats. We may even see a C-Skeeter courtesy of “Drifter.” Anyone looking to upgrade equipment or buy a complete boat is encouraged to attend. This is also the perfect opportunity to talk with Tim about hardware and rigging questions. And, it’s the right time to drop off that sail that needs repair. Email Tim at tim

Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club in Maine
Sunday, November 6, 2016
12 Chretien Rd, Biddeford, ME
For more information https://iceboat.me/
Great follow-up to the NEIYA meeting. Great variety of gear and food at this one!

Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Yacht Club Swap Meet

Saturday, December 10, 2016 1 – 4 pm

Weeks Yacht Yard, 10 Riverview Ct, Patchogue, NY 11772

More information: http://iceboatlongisland.com/
Food and drinks will be supplied by the club free of charge! What else could one ask for?

For more information about ice sailing:

North American DN Association http://na.idniyra.org/
Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club, Madison, WI http://iceboat.org/index.html

New England Ice Yachting Association https://theneiya.org/

The winter sailing season is coming up fast! If you are interested in getting into iceboating find a swap meet and club meeting near you, pick up some gear and get ready to enjoy the fastest sailing on the planet! Make this the year no matter where you are….

Skeeter Iceboat Club 31st Annual Swap Meet

Sunday, October 30, 2016; 9 to noon, followed by raffle

Lucke’s Cantina, 220 N. Elkhorn Rd. (WI Hwy 67), Williams Bay, WI

For more information, email sailing19
This is the Grand-Daddy of all swap meets. More equipment changes hands at this swap meet than all others combined. There will be Skeeters, Renegades, Arrows, Nites, DN’s and who knows what else. Boat builders and hardware manufacturers will all set up displays. If you want to buy or sell something (or simply shoot the bull!) this is the place to be. All the big names of iceboating show up for this one.

Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club
Saturday, November 5, 2016 10 AM – 3 PM
Gull Lake Country Club, 9725 W Gull Lake Dr, Richland, MI 49083
For more information: https://www.facebook.com/groups/280198766052/

New England Ice Yacht Club Fall Meeting & Swap Meet

Saturday, November 5, 2016 9 AM – Noon

Knights of Columbus Hall, 17 Willow St, Westborough, MA 01581.

For more information: https://theneiya.org/

The swap meet starts at 9AM in the parking lot, lunch and meeting starts at noon in the hall. There will be great door prizes…. Put it on your calendars folks! Start digging out all the gear you want to sell or trade and start making a list of anything you’d like to bring up at the meeting.

Sailcrafters 8th Annual Iceboat Swap Meet

Saturday, November 5, 2016 10 AM- 1 PM

7450 Oxford Street, St. Louis Park, MN 55426

More information: Phone: 952-693-6089 E-Mail: tim
Tim Carlson of Sailcrafters is hosting again. This swap meet is popular with the Minnetonka, White Bear and Bald Eagle sailors. There promises to be lots of DN and Nite equipment along with several complete boats. We may even see a C-Skeeter courtesy of “Drifter.” Anyone looking to upgrade equipment or buy a complete boat is encouraged to attend. This is also the perfect opportunity to talk with Tim about hardware and rigging questions. And, it’s the right time to drop off that sail that needs repair. Email Tim at tim

Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club in Maine
Sunday, November 6, 2016
12 Chretien Rd, Biddeford, ME
For more information https://iceboat.me/
Great follow-up to the NEIYA meeting. Great variety of gear and food at this one!

Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Yacht Club Swap Meet

Saturday, December 10, 2016 1 – 4 pm

Weeks Yacht Yard, 10 Riverview Ct, Patchogue, NY 11772

More information: http://iceboatlongisland.com/
Food and drinks will be supplied by the club free of charge! What else could one ask for?

For more information about ice sailing:

North American DN Association http://na.idniyra.org/
Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club, Madison, WI http://iceboat.org/index.html

New England Ice Yachting Association https://theneiya.org/