….Where was I? Oh yeah. so we are tired, sore, more or less broke, and way behind on every to-do list we have. Balance that against the mental snapshots of flying arounf the top mark neck-and-neck with some of the top DN sailors in the world, breeze cranking, boatspeed around 60+mph or more, rigs bent so far they are almost horizontal at the base…. ripping upwind at 50+ with the boat glued down on the ice and hauling ass…. blazing downwind fully wicked-up, on the edge of a major spinout while going so fast the passing scenery looks like stop-action photography… looking ahead to see the two lead boats fly around the leeward mark side-by side in the setting sun….

Hell yes, it’s worth it.

Team RI out.

Award ceremony yesterday afternoon at regatta HQ. Well done, all trophies handed out and as a bonus two pretty sweet items were raffled off; a North F-01 sail and a Composite Concepts front runner. The drawing was certainly fixed as the runner was won by Hal Bowman’s wife (who doesn’t sail or even own a boat) and Deb Whitehorse won the sail (I don’t think she owns a DN either). Obviously somebody rigged it but until we have proof we’ll let the so-called winners keep the booty. Hal has already started calculating how many nice dinners it’ll take until he gets his paws on his wife’s sweet new runner….

Good times indeed. Dinner for a group of about 20 at the Republic Steakhouse and back to the hotel where, in a surprising development, a bunch of sailors (who may or may not have been from Toledo) were holding court at the bar. I’ll spare ya’ll the gory details but pranks were pranked, jokes were joked, stories were told, chops were busted, and a great time was had by all.

Bedtime was late and wake-up call was earlyyyy… hit the highway at 4AM with a full tank of gas, snow and sleet coming down, a vicious crosswind, and Chad’s nearly lifeless body in the passenger seat. Tied up in traffic near Chicago for awhile but clicking off the miles ever since.

Wind still honkin’… postponed until 11AM. Time to put the feet on the dash, crank the heat and grab a little shuteye…. windows are cracked and the Deep Tracks channel is on the satellite radio- great old Hendrix tune called “Belly-Button Window” is playing. Look it up, it’s cool.

Team RI standing by

Check the horizontal telltale on the headstay….

Matt Struble drove here from San Diego. We chuckled at the sight of a van with California tags with iceboats on the roof. Probably not the strangest thing to be seen in California but ’round these parts it’s another story…

Sitting in the van on the ice- the van is shaking in the wind and I think we’ve blown sideways about three feet since we parked 15 minutes ago. Yes folks, it’s honkin’!

Team RI Standing By

Good morning from Green Bay. It is freaking windy this AM, a truck went through the ice at the launchsite, and it’s supposed to snow- a lot- Tuesday night.

Good fun at registration- we have 40 boats in gold and about 36 in silver

Stay tuned-

Chilly and really windy today- went to launch site to find lots of people setting up and taking down….

We decided that sailing today would risk damage to boats and skippers so we went back to the hotel to rest up and stone runners.

Opening ceremony today and registration tonight- other than that not much news.

First race tomorrow- stay tuned!
Team RI