No action photos from yesterday but here is one from the morning and one from the evening…

Light breeze today, keeping speed up in rough patches was the key! Take a look at results so far-

https://idniyra.eu/wc-2020-second-day-results/

At the current moment, there is not much to report. Bill in Maine has a report about Damariscotta on iceboat.me but doesn’t sound immediately promising. I do expect to see something over the next two days and will pass on when we get it.

The above letter was sent to me by Mike Acebo on Long Island, NY. I am reaching out to Joseph to see if we can help him out and encourage others to do the same. While we do not have much to offer at the moment, it would help to set up the communication channels and maybe help someone fulfill his dreams.

On a more serious note, some of you may have received a spam email solicitation that used my name but did not originate from me. Not exactly sure how they pieced the information together but likely scrapped our site for emails. It does not appear as though my email account was ever compromised but the password has been changed as a precaution. Sorry for the inconvenience but unfortunately there are those out there that seek to take advantage. Perhaps we can encourage this individual to go out and check ice, alone, for us.

Think Ice,

John
DN5023

All,

Below are a few items that T wanted to pass along but somehow didn’t make the 3700+ air miles journey.

And the word of the day was wet…

wet

Wet…

I am sure we will have more from Osla Lake tomorrow.

DN Worlds Results So Far

Check out how things are going in Sweden!

Wild conditions- light air, howling wind, everything in between, all in one race- being able to shift gears was key….

https://idniyra.eu/wc-2020-first-day-results/

Some shots of some boats on the wet ice in the pits….

Day one complete- awesome racing, breeze up and down and a little shifty, very smooth ice with anywhere from a film to ankle deep water on it- see photos!

Driving in Sweden…

The pub/restaurant at the campground in Orso.

Passed my rules test!

Have to come to Sweden to find this stuff

The little cabin- view from my bunk bed

More to come, stand by. Need to hang laundry to dry out!

Good karma for Dan Hearn!

https://www.idniyra.org/2020/02/06/daniel-hearn-honored-by-pzz-for-the-fair-play-gesture/

Bob Crinion sent this from Nova Scotia- sadly it was about two weeks ago and that gorgeous ice has been covered w snow. But must have been great while it lasted!

I was in a coffee place in CT a few months ago and this issue of “The Rudder” was on a table- thought everyone would enjoy the advertising….

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More from Sweden- Dideric was nice enough to let me use his shop, alignment jigs and shim tape to get my runners all true-ed up; see below

This is the stylish and well-groomed Dideric, in a nice restaurant with some disgusting American tourist.

The stairwell in the B&B. Scary but great to look at!

Sunrise on the Swedish highway

A typical Swedish rest stop. To American pot-heads and reggae fans (is that redundant?) this is a bit misleading… I’m sure some people were disappointed to learn that “Rasta” merely means “rest” in Swedish. Just as well, we have sailing to do!

We are headed to the site now, will set up later today and hopefully start races tomorrow. One way or another it will be an interesting week- will send reports as things develop- stay tuned!

Finally and most importantly many thanks to Dideric and Alex for hosting us and treating us better than family!

Still on the road in Sweden- getting there is easily half the fun when you are rolling with Jorg Bohn and his amazing entourage…

We left Germany the other day- Some of us driving his Sprinter while he and Sean flew his plane to Denmark for service. We survived one traffic jam (a neat, orderly, efficient German traffic jam) and several shockingly fast left lane drivers. Jorg and Sean survived fog, a near-icing situation, a snack shortage, and a possibly dodgy aircraft to meet us at an airfield in Denmark.

With the plane handed off we all piled in the Sprinter and headed north….

…at the north end of Denmark you drive into the ferry to Sweden. Takes about 30 minutes or so. This is leaving Denmark behind.

This is approaching Sweden….

Camper trailers are popular here. I guess when you have one holiday after another you need to be able to do them right!

We stayed at Dideric Van Ramsdic’s place w he and his wife Alexandra. This is their living room- The house is beautiful, big and spacious. It was once a restaurant so the kitchen is massive. Alexandra converted another building into a yoga and Pilates studio. They operate another house on the property as a B&B. They are out in the country. It is quiet. I am selling my home in RI and moving in with them whether they like it or not.
Here is the B&B Website
https://www.appelgarden.eu/ Make a reservation if you want to see them and relax for a spell!
And if yoga is your thing you can do classes with Alexandra- see her site here:
https://www.yogawithalex.eu/

Of course their hospitality was off the chart- they had a big meal waiting for us (see Ron and Deb digging in above) and another highlight was watching 16mm films that were shot by Wim Van Acker dating back to 1930! If you like vintage Iceboat footage make a pilgrimage to see these!

More to follow….