Bill B investigated the ice and found styrofoam which is not good for sailing/racing. He said maybe after some rain on Monday conditions will improve.
I am really grateful to those doing ice checks this season. Thank you for time you spend traveling, etc.
Think better ice,
Karen DN 5630
Sent from my iPad
Last but not least- in Bad Zwischenahn there’s an OLD restaurant called Der Spieker… great place, awesome food including the local specialty, smoked eel. You have to eat at least one for luck! So I did…. not bad!
They have a local spirit here that they drink in big spoonfuls and also use to wash the eel oil off your hands at the table!
This is at Torsten Siems’ house/warehouse in Bad Zwischenahn. This is where we assemble boats and get ready for the trip- his generosity is extraordinary and much appreciated!
IDNIYRA Secretary Deb Whitehorse and Montana photographer/videographer Sean Heavey having coffee in Torsten’s warehouse/shop
Ron Sherry loading gear for the trip north to Sweden
Your author and Torsten Siems. He is forcing a smile even though we are trashing his nice neat shop!
Jorg Bohn, host and all around amazing guy, loading gear into his giant Sprinter van…
His garage after we cleaned it out of all the DN gear. As you can see he loves bikes too!
The big Sprinter. I drive big boats for a living and helming this thing is not all that different….
Some photos of yards and driveways. All nice and neat and orderly.
This is the waste pile at a construction site. Even this is neat, orderly and well kept.
Howdy All- just an update on the road to the DN World champs- Here’s the trip in photos so far:
Lufthansa flight from Boston. Don’t know why but I think the 747 is one of the coolest planes ever.
Flight very undercooked- nice to have a whole row of your own!
All of my gear safe and sound in Frankfurt. For what I paid they should have included a person to help haul it!
My rental car for the trip from Frankfurt to my host Jorg Bohn’s house in Oldenburg
A cool “stones in a cage” wall in Oldenburg
A local fave in Oldenburg- it’s a drink sold in pharmacies as a lineament for sick livestock. Last time I had a shot of this it was 2011 I think. I can still taste it!
More to come, stand by….
Hi everyone,
It was very fun last weekend and I am so glad we were able to get in a regatta with so many boats on the line. I did my best to interpret the score sheets I was handed…if a mistake please let me know and I will do my best to review/correct. My email is karenbinder@hotmail.com
RE: This Weekend – Snow did hit north of us and Bill B said he will check how the ice fared. Sunday will be the day if anything this weekend. Ill send an update when I know more!
Lake Sunapee 2/5/20 by Brian Langley
Two groups sailed today on Lake Sunapee and Newfound Lake in New Hampshire and passed on pictures and their first-hand accounts.
Brian Langley Reports from Sunapee
About 10 boats enjoyed sunny clear weather on Sunapee Lake today. Winds were around 8-10 with higher winds later in the day.
Ice was bumpy and rough on the lake. Combo of snow ice, windblown ice, and some refrozen windblown funky ice, that almost looked like open water? The lake is locked up solid. We found areas where the ice was glass. and other areas of smooth gray ice. There is one pressure ridge right from the river at the beach, all the way to the far shoreline. We managed to find a crossing and marked it with a cone I had brought out with me. Ice was a better grade of smooth gray running down the narrows to the island. We sailed up to the northern part of the lake where we found one pretty nasty pressure ridge with open water on the other side. We decided it could not be crossed. We sailed along the ridge down towards the mouth of Sunapee harbor to see if we could find a spot to cross and head up to George’s mills. But the ridge ran 90 degrees to the other and we could not safely go any further.
We did find a beautiful glass section up by the mouth to the bay and we all enjoyed sailing that glass-smooth plate for awhile. We headed back by late afternoon to make it through the narrows and the island. We all safely crossed at our return cone marking.
The wind had picked up nicely off the beach, and we all enjoyed some fast runs late in the day before breaking down at the beach.
Brian Langley
Next up, the report from Newfound Lake near Bridgewater, NH
Jay Whitehair and I sailed Newfound Lake today.
The ice was AWESOME with smooth expanses of gray ice and even some black ice in places. The wind was perfect (10mph or so). Beware the huge open lead at the north end of the lake. Also some wet pressure ridges and assorted other hazards, but all in all great ice from Wellington State Park north. The south end of the lake is only suitable for ice fishing.
Mark Friedman
Guys thanks for sharing your day with everyone. hopefully, we will get on either of these venues when the front passes. There was also activity on Winnipesaukee.
Stay tuned and keep your runners sharp and your powder dry,
John
DN5023
john@neiya.org
P.S. Please remember to share your experience and pictures with those who could not make it on to the ice.
Hi Sailors,
Our NEIYA race chairman, T, landed in Germany and is heading to Sweden for the DN Gold Cup within the next day or two. But, that does not mean we in New England can’t race and have a fun regatta. Maybe our friends from Canada will come down, too! The "Baby Rule" will still be in effect.
Unfortunately, the only ice is in NH and Maine at this time. Thanks to John Stanton for mapping it out above. So, I hope all will be okay to hold to Doc Fellows Regatta somewhere north of Massachusetts. I am very sure the regattas namesake Don "Doc" Fellow would approve. That said, get ready to saddle up. Some of our Winni regulars are on Sunapee today and another group is sailing Newfound Lake, which had some very promising reports. Could this be the third week for NH sailing, maybe? Maine is also up there and Sebago was sailed yesterday.
So pencil this weekend in and I will report back Friday when we know more about the ice…
Thanks,
Karen Binder
DN 5630
Good vid from last weekend- take a look!
….looks like this! Some interesting new perspectives and some great scenery here- click and enjoy!!
Lake Sunapee from Mt Sunapee
Bob S., Ron Buzzel and others will be sailing Sunapee tomorrow Wednesday 2/5/20.
Predictions look favorable with temperatures below freezing all day with winds @ 8 to 9 mph. Come on out, as there is weather coming in towards the end of the week and who knows how this will effect our ice.
Launching from the State Park https://goo.gl/maps/gzA4hdETHwc4rz1a6
Have fun if you can get out of work.
John
Hi…
More than 30 sailors arrived on Saturday with great anticipation given the great condition of the ice at Lake Winnipesaukee, but no sailing happened…Was the weekend going to be a repeat of windless Montana? Trust me, those of that did that road trip really hoped not.
We rigged and waited and waited…By 3:30 it was clear no racing was going to happen. Fortunately for all of us, John Eastman realized we’d all have an appetite to fill and he kindly found a place for us (about 35 people!) to gather and enjoy a nice dinner together. He even made sure the manager called in extra staff because well you know how sailors can be…John, thank you so much!
Sunday morning the breeze was up and T, Chris Miller, and Jacek Marzenski from Montreal went out early to set the course and the starting line BEFORE the skippers meeting at 9:30. Nicely done!
The scratch sheet had 22 racers signed up and in the pit one could see almost the complete history and evolution of the DN class on display with an early wooden mast model dating from 1964, Ed Demerest’s DN 1914 a $150 barn treasure, and several fully tricked out DNs with the most modern of materials that truly blaze across the ice at speeds of up to 50-60 mph. And even one with the funniest tiller any of us have seen…
Perfect wind, practically perfect ice and T, the race chairman, called for the racing to start at 10:30. When we picked out numbers from the bag T announced that during the previous night’s dinner a request was made by senior statesman for the DN class, Andre Baby, to consider having two starts…One for those over 70 and/or those with any artificial limb/artificial component and another start for everyone else.
There were some questions when this was announced…Do pacemakers count? What about Stents? In the end, an agreement was reached and the “Baby Rule” instituted. T went out with the flag and we lined up. Two arms were raised. When the first arm dropped, those that qualified for the “Baby Rule” started. When the 2nd hand dropped everyone else started.
The course was large…at least 7/10 of a mile possibly longer. That was very nice because everyone spread out and with experienced racers and some novices it made it safe and fun for everyone. Jeff Kent shared with me last year that large courses are much safer than small courses and its really true when you see it in action.
The battle for the lead began early with New England’s own Oliver Moore out on the course after a few years being away and a relatively new DN sailor Canadian Robin Lagraviere jockeying between the 1st and 2nd position throughout the day. Would the trophy stay in New England or leave us like the super bowl Vince Lombardi trophy?
The breeze was about 8-10 mph all day and the racing was fast with short breaks between. T was assisted in the scoring by a new guy to the DN scene "Mike" and Dave Fortier. In quick mark/course re-setting Eric Anderson jumped into help out. Thanks guys!
Also different in this regatta T, the race chair, had us just pick out of the bag new starting numbers for every race. This made it fun for those not accustomed to racing to start in "favored" position many times and it made those that were finishing in the top 5 often having to start as far down as the 20th position. That’s a good mental and sailing skill challenge to work through the fleet when you start in one of the less favored starting positions.
We got in 5 races by 12:30! The race chair quickly became known as Tyrant T, but in his benevolence, he gave us about 30 minutes to break for lunch. After lunch, and a course adjustment, racing began again.
The breeze picked up a bit more and some newer to racing headed in. The rest of us enjoyed two more great races. That means we did 7 races and I realized and remarked "We did more racing today than we did in Montana!"
Everyone headed back to the launch area and T tabulated the results…
And all of New England can now relax because the trophy stays in New England! Oliver Moore won the day with 9 points. (7 races/1 throw out). As an aside, did you know Oliver Moore co- owns Moore Brothers, a custom composite company and DN mast maker? Did you know 7 out of the 11 top finishers at the North Americans used Moore/Jeff Kent DN masts? 
2nd place and big congratulations goes to Robin Lagraviere from Montreal who placed 2nd with 11 points. He is fast, talented, and will do lots of great things in the DN fleet.
3rd place goes to another Canadian sailor Jacek Marzenski DN 5247 sailing a brand new boat. He finished with 20 points. His new boat is the coolest shade of blue I have seen on the ice.
4th place goes to Canadian Andre’ Baby with 24 points…(who shared at Saturday’s dinner that he is releasing his 3rd book very soon!)
5th place goes to Long Island’s Chris Miller with 30 points (Chris taught me a good lesson on Sunday. I will share that in another post and the title is going to be “don’t take your foot off the gas”).
6th place goes to New Hampshire’s Jay Whitehair (in addition to DN sailing he is an avid hang-glider too!)
7th place and beyond – I have to finish cross referencing some score sheets and re-tabulate. So, I will post ASAP.
VINTAGE AWARD – Goes to Dan Neri sailing DN 2172 built in 1964. 
Great and very fun day of racing…hopefully we will do more this season! So nice that Robin, Andre’ and his wife Louise, and Jacek came down from Montreal/Quebec to race with us. Thank you!
In closing, T headed out to Europe today to race in the DN Gold Cup. At least five other Americans from the mid-west are heading across the pond later this week.
Think More Ice,
Karen Binder, DN 5630, NEIYA Secretary
Please Pay Your Dues
| Dues Time | Price | |
| 2025-26 Membership | $30 |
 |
| 2025-26 Membership + Lunch | $45 |
|
| 2025-26 Membership + 2X Lunch | $60 |
|
| 2025 Lunch | $15 |
|
| Mail in Form We prefer you pay online - Thanks | ||
New England Ice Yacht Association 