Question from a newbie
My wife and I just finished cruising on our sailboat and I want to try this sport.
If you guys could pick any place in the country to live and ice boat for a winter, where would you live and what lake would you focus on.
We are thinking about driving up in Jan. and hanging out to sail with you guys.
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The Place!
$0.02
If I had to pick the perfect place to live and iceboat for the winter, there's only a couple options that make sense... and focusing on one lake isn't usually an option that makes sense. If you're going iceboating you're going to the ice.
1. Fergus Falls, Minnesota ... For DN Racing, 350 major regatta suitable venues within about 4 hours, it's almost impossible for us not to have nearby ice... a wonderful community, really close to the magic first ice (usually at Milepost 8). My home is here. Without trying too hard, from this base, I have opportunites to sail about 13 weekends each season. Of course it's a small town, (not much to see or do, but you sure do hear a lot) it can get cold, really cold up here, (When it's -40 degrees here, they're making perfect ice in southern Illinois.) ... and many of the iceboaters tend to live a little closer to their economic opportunities... e.g., Minneapolis 2 1/2 hours south.
2. Townsend, Montana For Big Boat Cruising, Located at the South end of Canyon Ferry Reservoir these guys can easily have 4-5 months of nonstop iceboating every winter. Winter in the mountains, if it dumps you can always take a couple days off, while you wait for the next Chinook wind to zamboni the ice and hit Bridger Bowl or Big Sky. It's a pretty good slice of life there. Canyon Ferry is about an hour north of Bozeman, MT, and I guess pretty close to Helena as well. Quite a few guys sailing there, really nice folks. The only drawback is you're in one of the biggest and driest places on the continent, there are not a lot of backup places to run to within 8 hours drive.
All you need is Ice!
4695
picking a place
Minneapolis had good seasons lately because the winters have been just a little warmer (global warming?). Historically MN would be snowed out early in the season and they would have to travel east and south to find sailable ice. I have often quipped about moving to Madison,WI. when I retire. They have a substantial and active iceboating community there and many good sized lakes to play on. Snow is somewhat less a factor there. Check out the the link to the four lakes ice yacht club. All classes of boats get on the ice when conditions are good. Make SURE you attend the Northwest regatta, you,ll see all the classes and get a good dose of the "culture". I sail/race a DN class iceboat; it is small and easy to travel with, which is important if I want to be where the ice and the people are. If you can find an Arrow class boat (fiberglass open two seater) it is great for cruising around with your honey on the cheap. It can be car topped if neccessary. Check out the "J" iceboat site, they are all about fun (cruising and hanging together).
Madison
I'm flattered to hear John speak so highly of Madison. The 4 Lakes Ice Yacht Club is quite active, with sailors in everything from DNs up to Class-A stern-steerers. More importantly, locally we have a number of good-sized lakes of varying depths (which means they freeze at different times, so there's less chance of getting completely snowed-out in the early season). Within an hour or so drive there are also a number of other very nice lakes with active iceboating groups (ex. Lake Winnebago and Lake Geneva), and for the more adventurous, we're almost equidistant from western Minnesota and the eastern Michigan, so there's a lot of possibilities for weekend trips (ex. regattas).
Some sites:
In the spirit of full disclosure, the past few years haven't been terribly good from an iceboating perspective here in Madison. We've had unusually warm winters and very badly timed snowfalls. Last season, I think I only sailed two weekends on local lakes. If the snows hold off, the Minneapolis area might be a better bet...
If you have more questions about Madison, feel free to drop me a line: geoff@geoff-s.net
Cheers,
Geoff S.
Northern Michigan
We run the J boat website and although we report for all areas in Michigan we live in Elk Rapids, MI.
Elk Rapids is in a "pocket" that just does not get as much snow as Traverse City (to the south of us) or Charlevoix (to the north of us). We are somewhat protected by the Leelanau Peninsula and Mission Peninsula. Traverse City and Charlevoix are often snowed out while we are sailing on clear ice. The 2005 season we sailed 51 days on Elk Lake. We didn't have to travel at all. We set up our boats once and left them on the ice all season. Now last year was unusual, it was warm, but we still sailed 20 days within 1 1/2 hrs from home. Most of the sailing was done within 1 mile of home. Keep and eye on our website and on Iceboat.org . Geoff posted the links above.
Jack Jacobs
Jack
Answers for a newbie
this will answer some of the basic questions about us, iceboating and where we're sailing. FAQ