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Usual Suspects (2 of 3) from the Converse Archives (3)

“But wait there’s more…”

Still more pictures from the Converse Archives. We are always in need of more content. Anyone have pictures from the 80’s, 70’s or older that can be scanned for web distribution? Please let me know.

If you have not already, please register for next season and secure your lunch reservation
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Posted by  |  10/19/2013 | Categories: Pictures | Comments Off on Usual Suspects (2 of 3) from the Converse Archives (3)

Usual Suspects (1 of 3) from the Converse Archives (2)

“Round up the usual suspects”

Assorted pictures from the Converse Archives to help you get through this warm weekend and ready for next week’s swap meet and annual meeting.

If you have not already, please register for next season and secure your lunch reservation
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Posted by  |  10/18/2013 | Categories: Pictures | Comments Off on Usual Suspects (1 of 3) from the Converse Archives (2)

From the Converse Archives (1)

To help everyone get ready for the upcoming season Bill Converse has opened his photo archives for our enjoyment.

Note, the Maserati Birdcage style BDX.

Pictures are from January 2009 South Watuppa Pond Fall River, MA.

More archive pictures to come…

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Posted by  |  10/15/2013 | Categories: Events | Comments Off on From the Converse Archives (1)

Register for the Annual Meeting & Membership Today

It’s that time of year again.  Post Labor Day, Baseball playoffs, football is in full swing, it’s getting colder and of course the NEIYA annual meeting, Swap Meet and Luncheon.

It’s time to renew your membership and come to the annual meeting, swap meet and lunch.   We have streamlined the process just click on the appropriate button below.

Description Price
2014 Membership and Lunch $50
2014 Membership for one and Lunch for two $70
2014 Membership $30
Lunch Only $20

We urge you to signup for membership and lunch via the appropriate links above or at http://www.neiya.org/?=email1 .  Of course, we will still accept mailed in applications and checks but please help us streamline this process.

Paper Membership Form or copy and past below URL
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K1DMmUbkDB6v5FVkGTfDrFUuV-ENV-TgF3Fej3A7YSY/edit?usp=sharing

Annual Meeting Agenda

Saturday October 26th

Knights of Columbus Hall, 17 Willow Street, Westborough, MA 01581 Directions

9am to 11:30am–Swap Meet If you have anything to sell please list it in the classified section communicate with interested parties and bring it to the Swap Meet.  Listings are free for NEIYA members in good standing.

11:30am–Buffet lunch in the K of C hall, followed by the annual meeting. The hearty spread will appeal to all and we have been promised more Swedish meatballs.

Please register today our treasurer and the caterer will be much happier.

Looking forward to seeing everybody again and prepare for the upcoming season.

Think Ice!

John Stanton
NEIYA Communications

Posted by  |  10/09/2013 | Categories: 2014 Season, Current News, Events | Comments Off on Register for the Annual Meeting & Membership Today

Swap Meet Countdown

With peak foliage spreading across all of our winter haunts, it’s time to dig through your old ice boat gear and find things to bring to the swap meet.

Fall_foliage
Help someone enter the sport or go faster than last season.  Remember your old worn out stuff is new to someone.

Only 22 days or two weekends till the swap meet.  Time to figure out what you need to get rid of today.

Post gear available at the Swap meet here. submit for sale item pictures via email here neiyaweb.sailfast@picasaweb.com Pictures will be featured on the home page for all to see.

The Swap meet and annual meeting are in 21 days.

DATE: Saturday October 26th, 2013
PLACE: Same as last year Knights of Columbus Hall, 17 Willow Street, Westborough, MA 01581 Map

TIME: Swap Meet 9:00 am with Luncheon at 11:30 and Annual Meeting to follow as usual.

Posted by  |  10/05/2013 | Categories: Current News | Comments Off on Swap Meet Countdown

Congratulations Oracle Team USA!

Absolutely unbelievable comeback! The defenders have left their mark on sporting history.

Mandatory ice boat content: Won’t be long till we are sailing at 40knts and more again.

Think Ice
John Stanton
NEIYA Digital Communications

Posted by  |  09/25/2013 | Categories: Current News | Comments Off on Congratulations Oracle Team USA!

SUMMERTIME BLUES….

The song says there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues- especially if you are an ice addict!That said, I hope everyone is making it through this rainy season and keeping amused even though we are all stuck with soft-water activities for the time being.The clock is ticking down to first ice…. Six months or so to go…. Maybe the chilly spring is foreshadowing an early fall and an early freeze- Cross fingers….

Keep ticking those items off the iceboat to-do lists and be ready for the fall! Don’t delay getting your boat fixed up- easier now while it’s warm out!

Personally I’ve modified my tiller to (hopefully) break away in a crash plus some other little details… Built some cool little batten adjusters (don’t need to take mittens off to adjust batten tension with these) and there are still plenty of items left to take care of in order to hit the line fully prepped this fall. Starting to think about travel plans for the winter (Worlds, NA’s, all the regional and local stuff) and of course trying to spread the gospel to the uninitiated masses and grow the fleet a little.

If you are interested in hearing more about iceboating and/or joining the club keep an eye on this page, contact me at t_thieler, and plan on attending our annual fall meeting in (I think) November.

Hope all are well and having a good summer- take care, be safe and stay tuned.

Think Ice!

James “T” Thieler DN US 5224
Newport, RI
t_thieler@yahoo.com

Posted by  |  06/16/2013 | Categories: Current News | Comments Off on SUMMERTIME BLUES….

WOODS HOLE MODEL BOAT SHOW

Hello All-Spring has sprung I think and iceboating might just be done for the season- Unless of course some of the truly hard-core have found a sailable ice cube still floating in Moosehead or up in Nova Scotia somewhere….

This being the case I thought I’d share some pics and stories from the model boat show at Woods Hole- all remotely iceboat-related…. Fun show, there were more ship models to gawk over than you can shake a stick at and a few racing in the pond as well- check it out when it comes back in 2015!

First of all NEIYA sailor Don Stearns was there with his giant model of the frigate United States- very impressive- his being dressed as the captain really set him apart! Great to see him and the boat. He suggests a Moosehead the Hard Way for next season….

Ed Thieler (father of yours truly and a veteran of several high-speed laps around South Watuppa Pond a few winters back) had a few of his Chesapeake Bay workboat models on display- NEIYA members Katie Bradford and Eben Whitcomb were enthralled!

Katie Bradford knows pretty much everyone in the world. You know the type…. One of her friends that she caught up with on Sunday just happens to be one of the main people in charge of building and maintaining the ALVIN submersible. His name is Bob and he rounded up our little group and took us on a quick tour of the boat- they are just finishing up a re-fit that includes a new titanium pressure sphere…. Very cool! Neat to see the robotic arms and all that up close- note the boxing glove on the far one in the pic. Note also that both arms are different- one is big and brutal and the other is smaller and has greater dexterity. And they are all able to be jettisoned in case they get tangled in a line or jammed on something. Guess they got the idea from studying lobsters all the time!

Then it was off to the machine shops where they build parts and gizmos in-house.

This shop would make even Jeff Kent and Steve Duhamel envious…. Lathes, presses, benders, milling machines, CNC milling machines, a big water-jet cutter, and to top it all off a 3D printing machine that makes molds and parts in 3 dimensions. I can’t even describe this thing. Too freaking cool.

Did you know they make their own special non-compressible foam floatation? They use good-ol’ WEST system epoxy mixed with a special uncompressible filler.

Even with all these resources they still outsource some stuff- some of the hull panels and / or the orange sail on the ALVIN were made by Guck Inc., of Bristol RI where NEIYA member Chad Atkins builds and repairs everything imaginable. Wonder if he was involved with these panels?

All in all a good way to spend a day- Enjoy the pics and I’ll look forward to seeingeveryone in the fall or maybe sooner

Think Ice!!

James “T” Thieler
DN US 5224
Newport, RI 02840

Posted by  |  04/15/2013 | Categories: Current News | Comments Off on WOODS HOLE MODEL BOAT SHOW

DN Trip To Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

While most of us (with a few notable exceptions) are packing up the iceboats and wiping the dust off our soft-water craft a few hearty souls are headed to Lake Baikal in Russia for the DN Pearl Cup.The American contingient includes sailors from Michigan, NJ, and of course that hotbed of DN activity, North Carolina.

This promises to be an adventure and you can follow along on the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club website- Check the site for updates- so far they’ve been pretty interesting and there should be more to come!

Go to http://www.iceboat.org/ and click on “DN Baikal Pearl Cup In Siberia” to see the reports as the come in-

Think Ice and wish them luck-

James “T” Thieler

Posted by  |  04/05/2013 | Categories: 2013 Season, Current News | Comments Off on DN Trip To Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

Meanwhile in Nova Scotia….

We are a little late with this but Warren Nethercote sends this report on the Snelly Cup (a.k.a. the Nova Scotia Champs) a little while ago on Sherbrook Lake, NS…. Read on to see what our neighbors to the North are up to!

Seven DNs came to Sherbrooke Lake today, including Doug Gaudet from PEI. We still hadn’t sailed the Snelly Cup, so the Fleet Captains decided that today’s number of entries warranted sailing for the trophy. Special thanks go to Terry Hayward for taking time away from sailing his Isabella to be our race officer.

Winds were right down the axis of the lake so we sailed 2 laps of a 1 1/2 mile course. We started sailing on hard ice that gradually softened over the course of six races, but most people were able to use 3/16th inserts until the very last race when a few changed over to 1/4 inserts. The wind started at about 6 to 7 knots and built to 10-12 as the morning wore on, so that we had adequate power to overcome the softening ice. But wind strength varied across the course, so taking a flier could make you a hero or a fool!

Doug Gaudet showed impressive speed upwind and down in the first two races, and led the series until the penultimate race, but as the wind built he lost his upwind speed margin – although he was blistering fast downwind all day. Going downwind was a challenge. It was easy to forget how sticky the ice was: gybing to too deep an angle would lead to near immediate stalling of the sail and loss of speed. There were lots of place changes, upwind and down.

Bob Crinion won the championship in the end with consistency all day. Although Bob had but a single win, against two for Art and Doug, he was the only boat able to discard a third. But he was only a point ahead of Art Samson, and another one ahead of Doug Gaudet. Tyler Garland got the bad luck award of the day, first breaking a forestay, and then having the hound fitting fail on his mast.

We had our 6 races in by 1PM, and then retired to Howard Garland’s deck to bask in the sun and tell lies. This spring iceboating is wonderful!

Warren

DN 3786

Posted by  |  04/02/2013 | Categories: 2013 Season, Current News | Comments Off on Meanwhile in Nova Scotia….

DN New England Champs DONE!

Those that survived the Damariscotta bumps on Saturday or just didn’t know any better showed up for the New England Champs on Sunday.The same bumpy ice coupled with much more breeze saw conditions that were right on the edge of safety and sanity- As the breeze built some gear failed, some gear was on the way, and some sailors (your author included- my head and heart just weren’t in it that day) decided to err on the side of caution and sat out.

The remaining sailors (who were either more brave or more dumb than the rest of us- “There is such a fine line between stupid and clever” Nigel Tufnel once noted…) proceeded with care and were able to complete three races with no mishaps and the regatta is in the books!

Thanks as always to everyone who made it happen and to Oliver’s brother’s girlfriend for keeping score.

Revised Official Results

James “T” Thieler

Posted by  |  03/21/2013 | Categories: 2013 Season, Current News, Racing | Comments Off on DN New England Champs DONE!

Maine State DN Champ Results!

The Maine State DN Champs were sailed in fine style last Saturday on Damariscotta Lake in Jefferson, ME. Good turnout in spite of a last-minute regatta call (spring in NE, what are ya gonna do?), great lodging, and gusty, shifty breeze made for a great day of sailing. The ice was re-frozen snow or something and the ride was BUMPY but that is part of the game, isn’t it? If you didn’t lose any parts from you boat or fillings from your teeth you are set for awhile….

Very physical sailing with puffs and lulls coming and going very abruptly- Big changes in direction also meant big sheet adjustments all day and lots of throwing weight around in the boat. And plenty of positions gained and lost!

Thanks to everyone who made it- Especially Bob Crinion who made the trip from Nova Scotia to sail with us and also Kristin Buckley for keeping score-

Can we squeeze one more weekend out of this season? Stay tuned….

RESULTS:
James “T” Thieler US 5224 1 1 1 1 (1) 4
Greg Cornelius US 1019 3 2 (3) 2 2 9
Bob Crinion KC 4536 4 3 2 3 (4) 12
Steve Madden US 4512 2 4 4 (5) 3 13
Doug Raymond US 4272 5 (6) 5 4 5 19
Dave Fortier US 4690 (DNF) 7 6 6 8 27
Dave Buckley US 4500 6 8 (8) 7 7 28
Richard Gluckman US 4334 7 (DNS) 7 8 6 28
Rick Bishop US 916 (DNF) DNS DNS DNS 5 32

James “T” Thieler

Posted by  |  03/21/2013 | Categories: 2013 Season, Current News | Comments Off on Maine State DN Champ Results!