This weekend brought more of the same and some surprises of a pleasant variety for a change. People traveling to race and scout ice on distant ice and a small lake in CT, Bantam, that will just not give up her ice.

As previously reported we had a great showing at the Canadian Championships with Commodore Thieler and Race Chairman Moore taking first and second.  Way to go guys!  Looking like T and Oliver figured out how to harness the wind off the turbines

Bantam in CT has kept her ice and maintained reasonable access with planks. The plate was sailed on both Saturday and Sunday in stiff breezes till the surface mushed over. A good turn out of NEIYA members including your secretary on Saturday and Bob Haag, Paul Zucco, Dave Burnham and Matt Brennan from NJ.   How about some pictures next time guys.  Always amazes me how the southern NE state of CT turns out so many ice boaters. Something in the water?

Doing my part by introducing a couple young guys to the sport. No they are not mine!

Paul Delnero has reported that Lake Attitash’s plate has broken in two and he has move onto some great sailing on Lake Massabesic Manchester NH. They had a good crowd and are likely sailing there today as I type this (lucky them). Let’s hope it survives the coming weather. Paul, where are the pictures? prying eyes what to see.

Some members have slipped off in the night and boarded a plane for the hard fast Ivanpah playa in NV and the America’s Land Sailing Cup.  Who can blame them. It’s warm, the wind usually blows stink, the weather is reasonably predictable and it’s right next to Las Vegas.

Good luck over the next four days of racing to Bob Schumacher, Greg Cornelius and Paul Gervais!  Show the dirt boat guys how we race in New England.

Photos and results pinched from Facebook land sailing page FB sign in required (sorry just the way it’s set up).

I have not been out in a number of years but highly recommend it to anyone looking to extend the thrills of their ice boating season or just for the hell of it.  If you love ice boating you will love sailing in the dirt.  The North American Land Sailing Association is holding a huge international event in mid July Info at http://nalsa.org

I am getting that super powerful feeling of Deja vu.  It’s the beginning of the week and all eyes are on yet another weather system plowing up the coast.  Barring disastrous impact the New England DN championships and the NEIYA “Spring Fling” will take place on a nice big plate of ice.  Run whatever you bring.  You know the drill, location TBD but lots of eyes are on Maine.

As T has already stated don’t put away your gear just yet and keep the car packed.  The NEIYA “Hell on Wheels” will be arriving at a nearby lake this weekend for racing and Spring Fling celebration of #lastice2014.

See you on the ice,

John Stanton
NEIYA Secretary
DN5023
#lastice2014

OK folks, the Fat Lady isn’t even warming up her throat yet!!

We are hoping to get the New England DN champs in, and with a little luck we can run it in conjunction with a full-on gathering of the ice-addicts of all stripes from the whole region- I’m having visions of a Winni-Frolic kind of a thing….

We’ve had a ton of great sailing this year and are hoping to get yet more under our belts before spring rears it’s ugly head and wrecks all the fun.

There is an interesting bit of weather on the way but with a little luck there will be some sail-able ice around once it’s gone by- Keep your eyes peeled for sailable ice- if you see something, say something!

Clear your calendar, cancel your dates, and keep the boats loaded and ready! Hope we can wind up the season on a high note-

Looking forward to seeing everyone- Stay tuned to this site for details.

Think Ice! T

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

401 258 6230
t_thieler

Good recap of the weekends racing from our host John Curtis along with some pics and a video from some of the Queen’s university Sailing team members who were awesome enough to run the races. Got to love the new techniques.

Hi Andre,

It turned out that Saturday was the better day. Good lesson in trying to predict ice conditions.

We had 7 races. Final results were

1st James Thieler
2nd Oliver Moore
3rd Peter Van Rossem (1st Canadian)

I left the score sheets at home but the two US boats, fresh back from the Worlds in Estonia seemed to have an extra top end gear and they were very polished in the transitions at the start and whenever the wind died.

Saturday was looking grim at 8 am We had 5 cm of fresh snow, but the lake was quite wind blown so not much coverage out there. The temperature had gone down to -5 C overnight and frozen up all the remaining puddles on the ice left over from a rain on Wednesday.

We did 4 races on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. The ice got soft about 3 pm on Saturday so we decided to wait for Sunday to finish the regatta.

The wind on Saturday was 8-10 kts but the ice was a little soft so it was time to power up. The best combination for the day seemed to be an FO1 with inserts on the side and a Persian slipper in the front. Despite this, T seemed to make the flater ABSS go well and just squeaked ahead of Oliver in the overall results for the day despite Oliver having a slight edge in speed. It may have been different if Oliver had used the same set up for all the races. He started with snow runners in the first race but just did not have enough grip upwind.

Sunday was challenging with a north east wind that was quite light and eventually shifted to the North West and then later to the south west after racing finished.

Sunday saw the two US boats extend their lead but Peter VanRossem also had a second in race 6, beating Oliver by almost a full lap. Peter demonstrated his strategic prowess in Kingston Harbor by always going the right way and gave the US boats a run for their money in every race. With his new boat almost done, he will be a force to be reckoned with next season. Great to see the Kingston fleet pushing each other so hard.

Big thank you to all the volunteers who helped run the regatta and especially the Queen’s University Sailing Team who provided 6 people to help run races.

This event also spurred the Kingston fleet to improve their race marks and start line marks.

T and Oliver, please add anything you can think of. I will send a few pictures.

Cheers

John

Canadian champs are in the books- Three races today in interesting breeze- Big puffs and lulls and holes- And of course big shifts….

The race committe did a great job and good races were run in spite of it all-

John Curtis and his gang ran a great regatta- Thanks to all! He also grabbed fourth place- Top Canadian was Pete Van Rossem in third, Oliver Moore claimed second and your author had to work his tail off to take first.

Spirits are high up there- The Kingston gang is psyched for one more weekend- We are hoping to get the New England Champs in this coming weekend- If you have ice let us know-

This season ain’t over…. Don’t mothball the boats yet!

Stay tuned…..

James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840

401 258 6230
t_thieler

As I said, the Kingston YC gang is hosting a very cool event- Check out the clubhouse- a major step up from the parking lots we are used to!

I think the pile of snow under the flagpole looks like Mt. Everest. Coincidence?

James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840

401 258 6230
t_thieler

Four races yesterday on some soft ice that had, shall we say, a bit of texture to it…. Enough breeze to keep speeds high and power through it! Some sore but happy people walking around this morning….

Yours truly and Oliver Moore are having a real battle for first with me currently leading by a nose. Local favorite John Curtis has a good grip on third. We have sailed a few races within a few boat lengths of each other the entire way around the track. Very cool!

More racing today, will see how things go-

Breeze, sun, ice, and great Canadian hosts- Can’t ask for more than that!

Put this one on your list for next year folks, it’s a good one!

Stay tuned, T

James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840

401 258 6230
t_thieler

Arrived at Kingston Yacht club around 4AM…. Snapped this photo of the inventory in the back of the van- Runner boxes, sail bags, unconscious human being, gear bags….

Looks like we have breeze and ice! Stay tuned….

James “T” Thieler12 Channing St.
Newport, RI. 02840

401 258 6230
t_thieler

Hello Everyone,

Looks like there is ice up yonder!

Kingston, Ontario is prepared to host the Canadian Championships this weekend. If you haven’t sailed out of this club before now is your chance! Great clubhouse, tons of cool photos and a fun town to boot- A few of us made it up that way last year and we had a great time- Dig out the passport and gas up the car and get a move on!!

Kingston Yacht Club will be the launch site – 1 Maitland Street, Kingston, Ontario.

Current ice conditions:
There are scattered puddles from Wednesday night rain that have iced over but there is still about 1 cm of water below. We are breaking through but believe they will freeze up tonight (low of -4).

Forecast:
The snow in the forecast looks minimal and given the wind should not accumulate above insert runner depth.

Saturday is still looking “iffy” due to temperature but Sunday through Wednesday will be superb. My instinct is that we will be able to sail on Saturday but its hard to be sure.

You can’t play if you don’t show up! See y’all up there- stay tuned to this site for updates-

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

401 258 6230
t_thieler

In keeping with the script for this winter Sebago was treated to 8″ of fresh snow last night. So there goes that option.

The next option would be Damariscotta lake which saw rain instead of snow. But with a questionable forecast for the weekend and not enough time to get a good sense of the new situation I am hesitant to call a regatta on. There is a chance there will be sailing but not enough for me to make the call. So we will post pone out attempt at the New England’s till next weekend.

As an alternative there are rumors in the wind that our neighbors to the north are going to run their national championships in Kingston, ON. Looks like they have a good shot at some epic sailing so some of us at planning on packing the passports and making a run for the border.

So no club racing this weekend but let’s go give the Canucks hell.

Till next time.

Oliver Moore

Still looking like Sebago for the weekend. There is a weather event going through tonight which is supposed to be snow followed by rain so we should be ok but to be sure we wont make an official call till we take a look tomorrow. So unless something weird happens we will call the New Englands on for this weekend on Sebago tomorrow night. Also in the mix is the Sebago cup. If we can get the New Englands in on Saturday we will try to get a second regatta in on Sunday. But lets not et ahead of ourselves…

Stay tuned!

Oliver Moore
NEIYA Regatta Chairman
USA 5469

It is that time of year again, #lastice2014.  Ice is out on many of our favorites and all eyes are watching the melt down and nightly resurfacing on others.  In my backyard Holly Pond, a brackish mill pond opening up to the Long Island Sound, was skimmed over shore to shore at 7:00 am this morning.  I’d like to think otherwise but  know it’s done for the next 10 months.

Bantam lake in CT was sailed on Saturday and Sunday. Things were a bit mushy on Saturday and the better day was certainly Sunday.  We will have to see how long this lasts.  As we near the end, be especially careful.

Webster lake was the place to be for St. Patrick’s Day. No green ice but seven boats sailed in a good breeze of 10-15 in the morning, moderate mid-day, and lightening toward late afternoon.  Ice was hard snow ice, somewhat rough, but fast enough with a breeze to be fun. It was cold, 20 degrees, and the ice was tight to the the shore in the launch area. It is expected to be cold through Tuesday. This may not be the last of Webster. Stay tuned and be extra cautious.

As you have no doubt already read on the CIBC site the snow melted and people are sailing once again.  Looking like there may be a couple more road trips in the near future.

We will continue till #lastice2014.  Keep the faith there is more sailing to be had and the New England’s to run.  With the return of T and Oliver, competition will be at it’s peak for the season!

John Stanton
NEIYA Secretary
DN5023

P.S. I know I am missing something out there in New England.  Please don’t keep it to yourself.
P.P.S. Maybe an occupational hazard or some other strange affliction but the NEIYA speaks hashtag.  #lastice2014 use it…

The season isn’t over!

We are aiming to host the New England Championships this weekend.

My best guess right now would be Lake Sebago, sailed last weekend, plenty of ice and the extended forecast has no major issues in it, but there are other options.

As we enter the tail end of the season the window of opportunities for sailable ice gets narrower for each lake so please call in your ice reports!

Or you can contact me directly:
moore.oliver.j

Oliver Moore
NEIYA Regatta Chairman
USA 5469