More from Mike Bloom in Baikal- Sounds like he is waking up a little bit…..

“First day.-

Nice breeze when I got up.

Having traveled through 13 times zone my body is so confused from jet lag I don’t know what time it is. So today, getting to ice very early was easy.

A few folks came down to empty the shipping containers so we could all set up.

The amount of gear in the containers was impressive. 35 hulls, masts, planks, sails and runners take up a ton of shoreline. Here’s a picture when we were about 1/2 way done.

The best part was watching the sailors get to the ice. It looked like Christmas morning as the sailors all picked out their gear.

Opening ceremony was at 11. Then wind died.

We’ll try again tomorrow.

Should be wind tomorrow!”

Minnesota DNer Mike Bloom checks in from the other side of the world in Baikal- He sounds a little worn out at the moment!

“All good here. Except I’m exhausted and sleep deprived. Jet lag is hitting me hard.
Arrived at Lake Baikal yesterday. All it took was an 8 hour flight to Amsterdam followed by a 4 hour flight to Moscow followed by an 8 Hour flight to Irkutsk followed by a 5 hour bus ride down a dirt road Lake Baikal.

Don’t want to say this place is in the middle of nowhere but the town is so small and so remote the locals haven’t even bothered to name it.

Lake Baikal it is literally half way around the world. There is a 12 hour time zone difference from Minnetonka to Baikal.

75 sailors are here. Upon arrival saw many familiar faces and meet many new ones. This place is so remote I’m not sure the locals have even heard of the coronavirus. Every Russian greets you with a big, full on, Russian Bear hug.

Today the fun begins. Must get boat out of shipping container. They containers were sere shipped via Semi from Germany via semi truck nearly a month ago. They arrived last week. They were brought down to the lake by Semi truck last night.

First order is to set up boat Opening ceremony at 11 then then it’s off to race course.

More later.

Mike Bloom”

Photo 1 is a DN on the roof of a car. With the plank on and the mast stepped. Something tells me this would be a bad idea anywhere but there!
Photo 2 The Road To Utopia
Photo 3 Looks like a lake ahead….
Photo 4 The Lake
Photo 5 A town on the way that Bloom claims is so small that no one has bothered to name it!

Hello All- I found these tags in the NEIYA regatta kit along with the starting blocks and number chips. Anyone have an idea of what they are and what they are for? Please email me at t_thieler@yahoo.com if you have any insights… Thanks, T

There are endless theories and discussions about runners- How long, what kind of steel, how much flat, 90 or 100 bevel, what should lead in and exhaust look like, how thick, and on and on….

There are still more endless discussions on how to get the perfect shape on them. I start by sending them to Duhamel and letting him work his magic…. He once wrote an essay about a bumper-mounted sharpening jig that would tune your runners up on the drive to the ice. You’d drive on different surfaces to shine it up to perfection- It was a source of great amusement to all! Happy to say he has an even better method in place at the shop.

Then there is the question of how to get the perfect surface- and what IS the perfect surface? Sharp edge or dull? Shiny and smooth as you can get them or leave a satin finish? What to use? Diamond stones? Blue or brown? Is sandpaper better? Which grits? What kind? And what kind of fluid? I’ve used everything from the proper Boride stuff to blue windshield wiper fluid (I’m convinced it’s the same stuff, just re-labled) to soapy water to Windex, WD-40 and even coffee.

Everyone has their own secret sauce as it were, and here we see world-class Polish sailor Robert Graczyk revealing his special formula…. I reckon if you speak Polish you’ll get a lot out of this but even if you don’t you’ll learn something!

Click and learn….

https://www.facebook.com/bojery/videos/vb.128091410578775/457466190974627/?type=2&theater

We all love how bendy rigs work on an iceboat, and the photos we all love usually have the boat loaded up and the mast popped way out…. Such a cool look!

Take a look at this photo collection and see some serious mast torture going on…. As Jeff Kent says it looks like a few people “voided the warranty” that day!

Click and take a look….

Bend It Like…a DN Mast – DN North America

James “T” Thieler

12 Channing St.

Newport, RI 02840

401 258 6230

t_thieler

There is a boat shop in Bristol RI called East Passage Boatwrights http://www.epbws.com/ that restores classic yachts and builds new ones out of wood.

The owner/proprietor is an interesting guy named Carter Richardson- When not making old boats seaworthy and beautiful again he does a podcast that covers all things sailing and yachting….

I was flattered that he asked me to sit down and be interviewed about ice boating and as I hate to miss a chance to pimp the sport (or talk with a captive audience) I gladly agreed. It was a lot of fun and hopefully entertaining for the listener!

For those of you who haven’t heard me go on and on enough about iceboating yet have a listen here:

https://aroundthebuoy.com/ep-41-hard-water-sailing/ The iceboat talk begins at about four minutes in. And trust me, it’s riveting!

Be sure to check out the other episodes as well- all interesting and informative!

Happy listening! Think ICE

John Bushy is a Minnesota DN sailor who, like most Iceboaters, has other unique interests in the off season…

One of his is making maple syrup! He says they made 15 gallons in a day last week. They just ordered 1000 bottles…. they must be on a roll!

He works with his sons Zane and Sam. Here they are keeping an eye on things

And here is the works- or whatever the proper name is…. John says they throw in “an armful of wood every three-four minutes!”

If you’re lucky he will fill one of these for you- I recommend it highly!

Lake Wentwork 3/8/20

We heard from the folks in Maine, the gang that crossed our Northern border to take the Canadian DN nationals. Way to go, T add one more notch. Bill Buchholz drew a good crowd for the Mille 100. If you haven’t read the write up on the CIBS’s site click here. What’s next? Time will tell and it may just be a very long time till we return to the ice.

Keep the faith maybe we will sail Moosehead Lake in Maine again and after that a postseason off ice gathering. More on that in the next few days.

Below is an account of Sundays sail on Lake Wentworth in NH by John Pepper. This is John’s first season and he sails Roger Livingston’s old boat.

Think Ice,

John
DN5023
john@neiya.org

John Pepper and Charlie Silfvenius AKA Charlie S. Lake Wentworth 4/8/20

It was a great day until ice got soft. 6 or 8 boats altogether. Gusts up to 20 at times made for some fast runs.

We had newcomer Marc Stipo and his 13-year-old boys, all summer sailors, show up. Marc took a DN out numerous times and declared ‘I am hooked’. It was too gusty to send the boys out alone on their first rides, but they each got a ride in the sidecar, and want to go again. Hitting 30 mph may have been the clincher.

We had an epic cell phone recovery at the end of the day. Finding a lost phone on a 3100 acre lake was a matter of waiting until wind slowed, starting downwind, and walking upwind, making calls on occasion. Cupped hands over the ears provided direction info. We first heard it from a half-mile away and closed in 100-yard increments. We got lucky. Charlie was the last boat off Wentworth yesterday, maybe for 2020?

Regards,
John P.

Mike Bloom is walking around Moscow and notes that you see cool stuff like this around every corner…. Look forward to more from him as he makes his way to Baikal!

Lee Spiller saw the photos of Valentine and Truesdell working on planks in the living room and couldn’t help but send his own along for us- He says:

“After your post showing the guys working in the living room I had to send you this. My living room right now! You could probably be sent a number of simular photos!
Lee Spiller

PS I partially tore off the bottom layer of glass on my gambit plank in a deep slushy shell ice pit while sailing Winni the long way a week ago.”

Looks like the fix is well under way…. Thanks Lee!

Karen Binder & David Frost at 2020 Canadian Nationals

Hi Everyone,

Last weekend’s 2020 Canadian Nationals had great sailors, great wind, and great ice for mid- March. The weekend also provided me with a lot of opportunity to reflect on how far I have come in a year’s time. Some of my posts have mentioned my hiccups last year. In my first ever regatta, I was lapped in several races and I got pulled around by my plank after a bad start. On a practice day in VT I flew out of my boat at the leeward mark and during another day of scratch racing in MA I was in a significant collision which resulted in my hull being shattered and painful whiplash and headaches for weeks.

Last year’s 2019 Canadian Nationals was about eight weeks after my collision. Those weeks were spent recuperating and working with T to get a new boat ready. When they called everyone to the line that morning I was overwhelmed with nervousness and I quickly decided I was going to sit out and watch the first race. I soon saw how on bigger ice with a big course the fleet spreads so by the second race I felt safe enough to join in for the rest of the regatta, but I finished in 21st place. Not great. But I had gotten back on the proverbial horse and that felt good.

I guess one would say I don’t give up easily on things and I am pretty sure my competitive nature started in third grade. My teacher held a "multiplication bee" for our classroom. It was single elimination and it came down to me and this very cute boy with brown curly hair and blue eyes. His name was Andrew Keegan. I’d liked him since Kindergarten. I literally asked myself, "Hmm, I like Andrew. Should I let him win?" Something took over and I won the multiplication bee on 12X9 and went home with a real Silver Dollar as my prize.

So, last winter during a very nice dinner in Augusta, Maine during the Easterns T, "Frosty"/David Frost, his lovely daughter, Audrey, and I were talking. I’d never met Frosty before. I asked the usual questions…where do you live?…what kind of work do you do?…when did you start ice boating?

We were all having a great time. THEN DAVID SAID IT…."It takes TEN years to get good at this sport."

I let Frosty’s statement sink in. It was my first regatta and I was clearly awful. Later that night I asked T in a shaky voice, "Is it really going to take me ten years?" I am positive he said something encouraging and supportive, but honestly I can’t remember it. I just kept hearing "Ten Years… Ten Years… Ten Years." I was 49 years old. At this point, who has ten years to get good at anything?

So, I came to a decision. It was not going to take me ten years. At the start of this season I used Frosty’s comments as a source of inspiration and motivation.

Last weekend, at the 2020 Canadian Nationals, in two different races I was third going into the windward mark. In one race I was rounding right behind Ron Sherry and T. Sure, I totally BLEW IT downwind, but I was behind Ron and T going around the first windward mark rounding in a race! And, then in another race Ron was behind me at the first windward mark rounding. He said at dinner, "Karen, I saw you up there at the windward mark with us. Griffin and I passed you to windward and leeward just as we were rounding, but you were THERE."

I gulped. That was a huge compliment in my book.

I have shared my progress and challenges this season as a way for me to process this difficult sport. I am still struggling downwind and at the leeward mark roundings, but with more practice I know those things will get better. I am breaking this sport into chunks and working on certain elements at a time. It seems to help.

When the final results were posted, I chuckled a bit and found it ironically funny that I tied with "Frosty" David Frost for 11th place at the 2020 Canadian Nationals. The guy that said the magic words that motivated me all season. He got me in the end, but well done, David!

Frosty, Eben, Me, and T (congrats on the win T!))

As we were saying our goodbyes on Sunday in the parking lot, I did mentioned to Frosty that his new nickname from me might be "Decade Dave." We laughed. I have sincerely appreciated his support, his good nature, and his encouragement this entire season. Thanks Dave!

Maybe one more weekend of ice ahead..Bill B has scouts looking at Moosehead Lake in Maine and South Twin in Millimocket. His words…"We’re on it like hawks."

Cheers again to Canada and to Frosty!

Karen Binder
DN 5630

Thanks to Eben Whitcomb for sending these in from the Canadian Champs last weekend- Champagne sailing!