Very well done photos from the Montana Extravaganza- click and take a look!

https://www.seanrheavey.com/2020_indiya_north_american_championship

Atkins, Thieler and Anderson- tired but psyched!

The DN North Americans are in the books! As always, it was an adventure but this one was out there; literally.

The big weather was difficult- finding a lake was nearly impossible but Tim Ogrinc scouted his home lake of Fort Peck, Montana in some bitterly cold temps, sent a good report to regatta chairman Dan Hearn, and the show was on!

It was a long trip for a lot of people but well worth it- the scenery out there is extraordinary and the sailing was good too-

Day one saw good breeze and soft ice with patches of snow. Resisting the urge to sheet in too hard and point too high upwind paid dividends and using 95 or 100 degree runners and a full sail seemed to work for the top sailors. Aggressively steering around the snow patches and working the mainsheet in the puffs was essential. It made for exciting sailing and a great workout!

At the end of the day in Gold Fleet Chad Atkins was in the lead with T Thieler in second and Ron Sherry in third. Only the Gold Qualifier race was run on day one for the Silver fleet so there was everything to play for on the next race day…

Warren Nethercoate of Halifax NS won the Gold qualifier with RI rookie Karen Binder hot on his heels in second. Well done!

Two days of no wind tested the fleet’s patience and nerves and finally the breeze filled in on Saturday. Cold temps had solidified the snow drifts and made for wild, rodeo style sailing! It was fast, furious and down to the wire…. Avoiding the big bumps and rough ice was key, almost as important as staying in the boat and keeping the boat in one piece! Thieler took the first race, Ron Sherry took the second and the committee wisely called racing off as the wind was building to unsafe speeds-

The math was tough (for iceboaters anyway) as the scores were close but when the tabulation was done for the Gold Fleet it was Atkins in 3rd w 11 points, Sherry in 2nd with 10, and Thieler hanging on by the skin of his teeth to take 1st with 9.

In Gold the Eastern Region put in a good showing ith four sailors in the top ten- Thieler in 1st, Atkins in 3rd, Eric Anderson in 9th and Peter Van Rossem in 10th. Well done!

In the silver fleet Bill Bucholz was top easterner in 5th, Mike Webber was next eastern sailor in 7th, Charlie Blair made a great return to the hard water world with a 10th, and Colin Duncan in 11th. Well done gang!

Thanks as always to the RC, the scorers, all the support personnel, and the competitors for making the trip!

As I said, it was memorable for all the right reasons. (I’ve already forgotten about the rain squall that turned the launch area into a mud pit just in time for the load-out). Great scenery, great racing, great group!

Results here:
http://dniceboat.org/2020/na.html

Look here for Day One and Two drone footage- you’ll be glad you did!
https://www.idniyra.org/

Its going on now. We are setting up boats on shore and talking it up.

Come on out join the fun and promote iceboating.

John

2020 DN NA Podium: Thieler, Sherry, and Atkins

I do not want to steal T’s thunder and he will fill in the details on the drive home but thBrie results are official. James “T” Thieler is this year’s DN North American Champion! Multiple World and NA Champion Ron Sherry. Chad Atkins who had been leading the regatta till the final day ended up third. Way to go New England! Congratulations to Karen Binder for earning her way into the Gold Fleet on her first attempt. She is a strong competitor and will have continued success at every attempt. Closet racer took Fifth in the Silver Fleet. Looks like Bill really caught the racing bug and as many know it is terminal. Look for other New England competitors here. http://dniceboat.org/2020/na.html  Looking forward to the details from those that were there.

Meanwhile, 2200 miles away 25+ sailors enjoyed a fourth day of sailing on Lake Winnipesaukee. Overnight temperatures hovered around freezing so the plate was softening up but the wind was up making it the fastest of the four days.

Brian’s daughter Bella was out sailing and I’m told she is outgrowing her boat. Good thing her father is a master builder… A couple boats returned to New England Ice with new owners. Returning to the ice were Hal Chamberlain’s Hicdic and Roger LIvingston’s Whiz. Way to keep their memory alive guys.

Heavy rain will put us in shape for next weekend. Stay tuned.

Till we sail,

John
DN5023
john@neiya.org

I came upon this ice formation near the leeward mark and it best describes yesterday (Friday 1/25) perfectly. 40 sailors gathered at the intersection of ice and Ice and Fun.

Blessed by ice

Sailors came from all over New England, Long Island NY, The Jersey Shore, and Andre’ Baby brought six Canadians down on his coattails two from far away Hamilton This almost invalidated thier participation in the Common Sense regatta but as we know ice draws us to the extreme. We were thrilled to host the MIT iceboating team with their four Buchholz build DNs. They were thrilled to take their first spin on an iceboat. Remember your first iceboat sail? Those smiles should remind you. We look forward to sailing with the MIT team again soon.

MIT Iceboating Team

The day started out with some light breeze as shown on the NEIYA burgee at the top of my mast (yes we reordered let me know if you want one). This a gave everyone a chance to familiarize themselves with the ice conditions. The wind speeds increased at about noon and the real fun began.

The NA orphans and many others gathered around the leeward mark and ran numerous scratch races to complete the Small Sky (common sense) Regatta. Racing continued till about 3:00 and we followed the dying breeze back into the pits.

Some views from the pit. We had a couple pro photographers out there shooting who promised to send us their pics so more to come. If you have some favorite shots send them my way.

We have a front moving in today and it could prep us for some great sailing in February. Winni again? We will see…

The NA’s in Montana are still going on with one more day of races. In the Gold Fleet, Chad and T are still first and second follow by Ron Sherry. Bill Bucholz is currently in 8th place with an impressive 2nd place yesterday in the Silver fleet. Wishing the NEIYA and all competitors the best of luck on this final day of competition and a smooth ride home. Preliminary results here http://dniceboat.org/2020/na.html

That’s all for now as the ice is calling…

See you on the ice,

John
DN5023
john@neiya.org

P.S. If you are not receiving posts in your email box please let me know.

Nature delivered the ice. Invites have gone out for days and today they came. Ellacoya was packed. Packed with 30 iceboats. Sailors came from all over New England, New Jersey, Long Island NY and four boats from Canada. People hit the ice but were unrewarded, the ice was smooth and fast and th wind never came up. As most of us know the next best thing to iceboating is talking about iceboating and of course, that is what we did. Remember not all iceboating stories happen on the ice.

Many in the crowd are NA orphans and in their honor, the NEIYA will hold the Small Sky (Common Sense) regatta in Ellacoya tomorrow. The wind forecast is favorable and with the current conditions, it will be fast. Remember races are open to any class that can put three boats on the line. Not racing? There is plenty of cruising space to wind up the fun meter.

See you on the ice tomorrow,

John
DN5023
john@neiya.org

P.S. How about Chad and T currently in 1st and 2nd place in MT NA’s with racing tomorrow. Way to go boys and huge kudos to Karen for earning her way into the Gold Fleet. All three of their ears must have been ringing today. I will let T and Karen elaborate further over the next few days.

The Ice Watchman

Ice Watchman on Lake Sunapee….

When it came to spotting lake Sunapee flashing over early this winter we got the jump on the local crowds. Through his living room window (the kind we iceboaters dream of) high on the southwest shoreline, NEIYA member Dr. Mark Friedman, was able to monitor the early freeze and it was through his communications we were the first to set blades on this seasons glorious sheet of perfect black ice. Unfortunately mother nature had plans of her own to limit the days of sailing but Mark was able to stretch the miles via skates and hand-sail to enjoy much of the lake with his two bladed friends. But WAIT!?!…

Somehow, somewhere, since then, the DN bug entered his system. Note the attached photo where his skate-sail was left in the barn and he is now ripping by the camera balanced like a true sailor gentleman. Can you recognize the hull?

NEIYA would like to give a big shout-out to Dr Friedman for being among the newest iceboaters in the Sunapee fold, for keeping a fresh and vigilant eye on a legendary NH iceboating lake and for his early reporting of green light sailing status. May we be lucky enough to enjoy many more years of Sunapee scouting! Thanks Mark!

If you are able to report sailable conditions anywhere in New England please help us all by sending current info to NEIYA’s ice report at:

ice@neiya.org

Bonus Fact: The beautiful hull seen in the photo is none other than “Yellow Ice”. A lightning bolt of sorts assembled in the secret basement laboratory of Steve Duhamel – Northwind Iceboats.

Sail New England!

Jay Whitehair

US3947

Some cool Montana drone vid from yesterday- Click and have a look!

https://www.idniyra.org/2020/01/23/20twenty-dn-north-american-video-from-day-1/

Setting up and ready to go out. Where are you? Come on up we will sail today and tomorrow and till the snow comes.

Questions drop me a note john@neiya.org

Think Ellacoya,

John

DN5023

Hey everybody,

I am sure everyone has seen the sail wave results, but here is the Rest of the Story…(Say it like Paul Harvey)

I am tired, so I am just going to write this in list style.

1. We got to the reservoir. It was snowing and breezy and the drifts were still out there and only getting more hidden by the new snow fall.
2. Yesterday, Joerg Boehn who had flown in from Germany that same day to some midwestern airport and then rented a car to drive to this place then decided to rent a small plane from the local airport and do recon mission to find better ice on the reservoir. He found a clean plate about 8 miles from the launch site.
3. At this morning’s skippers meeting the race committee announced it was debating whether to have us all either sail or be towed to the area Joerg had found. They had sent another group out to check the Joerg ice and we had to wait to get a better real time report.
4. The group came back from the ice investigation and the committee decided to instead stay put and try and get some races in closer to the launch location.
5. The committee set the course and many of us did our best to sail it. I personally dove through a very deep drift at the windward mark. Others found drifts and some large puddles.
6. The good new is the snow stopped, but then it started to sleet a bit which made the drifts super wet, heavy, and cement like.
7. Then the Montana blue sky starting taking over and the clouds were dissipating.
8. The lovely blue sky also stopped the wind from blowing.
9. We waited a long time for the breeze to fill.
10. The breeze eventually filled in very nicely about an hour and half later, but about a mile away from where we were and after a 90 degree wind shift. So, we all relocated.
11. At last the race committee, who worked incredibly hard all day to pull of races despite very shift conditions, called up the silver fleet.

Okay, the next list is going to be about me. Sorry, but I only have that perspective.

1. There were 36 racers on the line. I got assigned the #7 position on the line.
2. The night before there was a panel discussion with ten of the best sailors at the regatta. One question posed to the group was on starting and T said, "I learned that you don’t get in your boat until the guy to leeward gets in."
3. I was at the line and feeling very ready for the flag drop.
4. The flag dropped and I pushed and sprinted with all I had and didn’t get in until the guy to leeward got in.
5. I built speed really well, two blocked it, and just sailed fast.
6. I ducked one boat that tacked early and I decided to go right for the layline.
7. I tacked over and followed Ron Sherry’s advice from the night before to use my leeward knee to help push the boom over.
8. I was approaching the windward mark and I realized no one was close to me.
9. I rounded the windward mark IN FIRST PLACE in my first DN North American Race!
10. My speed was good around the windward mark, but then I choked and gybed in a snow drift and I lost tremendous speed. A guy from Kingston passed me and by the time I was at the leeward mark I was in second place. I did a conservative leeward mark rounding and then just focused on keeping my boat fast.
11. At the finish I was not sure where I placed, but T said I should head to the pits for measurements.
12. I didn’t really understand why.
13. Then one of the measurer’s looked at me and told me I had finished in 2nd Place!
14. 2nd place! I could not believe it.
15. Uh Oh..
16. The problem with 2nd place is that means you get moved up to the GOLD FLEET for the rest of the regatta.
17. Again due to shifting conditions, the race committee has to adjust the course and the starting line.
18. The called for the Gold Fleet to line up and I had to race again. I got a good start, but the guy to windward of me and leeward of me just got up to speed faster and I got caught in dirty air.
19. I was happy to keep my boat flat and just maintain control honestly. With the wind building, my plate runners were making noise and sliding a bit. I think I finished in 33 place.
20. The race committee called another gold fleet race. I switched my runners and I had a good start, but these folks in gold fleet are just wicked fast. I think I got 32 place.
21. Then the race committee called another gold fleet race because three races makes a regatta and if conditions deteriorate the regatta will be in the books.
22. I, unfortunately, was putting on my mitten when I saw everyone around me running. Oops. I didn’t look up and I didn’t hear the flag was up. Lesson learned.
23. I did get up to speed and I did end up beating a boat or two despite a really bad start.
24. Congratulations to Chad and T who are leading the regatta. Eric and Eben also felt pleased with their races.
25. I honestly had the best day of sailing in my life. I have never gone so fast while feeling in relative control. And, I also know my time in the boat and my 100 practice starts played a big role in my first race of the day.

Over and out,

Karen Binder, DN 5630.

They call this Big Sky country and that’s no exaggeration- Really something to behold. Of course the picture doesn’t do it justice but you get the idea-

And we see Atkins, grinning like a guy leading the regatta- which he is!

Stay tuned…