iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

“…and one of us will win!” The softer side of hardwater racing.
Parts of this date from 1992 and I cannot speak to the prior evolution of the sport locally; these are my observations.

John Dennis and Jimmy Gluek suckered me into test sailing a DN Iceboat on Medicine Lake Minnesota in the spring of 1991, it was a great spring day, blowing 10-15 mph. I tried it once and owned a boat that very day and have every day since then. What a hoot, it still is.

I did my first real regatta sailing in ‘92 at a Western Regional Regatta on Lake Winnebago, 50 boats a fleet and two full fleets, maybe 7 guys from Minnesota went; JD, Meyer, Dick Hatfield, the Doctor, and Bruce Smith & Myself. It blew and we all had a riot. Of course I recall we all pretty much got our asses kicked by the Michigan & Wisconsin guys.

Thru the early 90’s we had a single group of generally scow based soft water sailors who hung out winters. Additionally there were then and are now, an equal number of iceboat sailors in the out-state region who generally just love going ripping when the ice is nice in their neighborhood, Rochester, Lake City, St. Cloud, Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Detroit Lakes, Pelican Rapids, Duluth, and goodness knows where else, there’s 500 lakes big enough for a world championship regatta in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Ice Sailing Association is a loosely knit information-sharing group, as of today, we're truly a virtual organization, as we have no members, no formal organization, no dues, no assets...nothing. We’re just a bunch of sailors trying to win world championships, who recognize that it’s not about me and you, it’s all about us, if we work together, one of us is sure to win, and we’ll all play a part in making it happen. To date; one of us has reached the summit, winning a Continental Championship.

All we do is compile and distribute what we believe to be accurate information about iceboating and ice conditions in our back yards.

o Where the ice is good
o When we’re sailing
o Current and contemplated projects and how to get involved
o How to make the boats safer or faster
o Some occasional race results, photo content, etc.

Iceboating has popped up and waned out in maybe 6 iterations in Minnesota, small groups have formed, made runs at the big regatta’s and died out.

The Minnesota Ice Sailing Association continues growing at rates in excess of 25% annually across all Key Performance Indicators, except revenue, which we do not generate, and is one of the fastest growing organizations in sailing.

o 650+ Registered users on the website http://www.iceboating.net , 50% y/y growth

o Over 150K hits per week on the website, (no y/y metrics available)
o 15+ New DN’s this season on the line, ~ 30%+ Growth
o Regular 60+ boat regatta fleets + 20% Compound Annual growth for 10 years, I think we'll see triple digit boat counts on the ice this fall for the Big Event in Minnesota.

The real beginning of the Minnesota Ice Sailing Association, as we exist today was an epic 27 hour van ride home from Montreal in 1995. The Turning Point: Dave 4602, JD 4691 & I hooked up to do the 1995 DN Worlds, “We’re going to the regatta, if we have to drive to Ireland”. 27 hours in a car, each way… three competitive guys, looking to win… well, the dialog occasionally landed directly on the stated purpose of the trip, winning. What’s important to win? We went, we tried, and we got beat. We tried talking to lots of “funny talking” iceboaters, took lots of pictures, learned lots about equipment, and had a great time. They’re great events.

We spend the entire trip looking at each element, each major and minor system, and the competitive field and reached a consensus has become our truth. The key element we developed on that trip was the collegial dialog, setting a common vision it’s the foundation for all great collaborative groups. (According to both Peter Senge and Warren Bennis) “…and one of us will win!” This vision remains unchanged.

Dawn thirty, Sunday Morning, 550 miles down, 400 to go… OK guys what do we really need to win. Dave, JD & I took a hard look at what we needed to expect to have a reasonable chance of winning the DN World Championships.
1. Boats with top rung speed
2. Drivers with the confidence that comes from experience.

Pretty simple. Just how do we go about getting that?

Well let’s see… what attributes to the winners have?

1. They’re fast, They sail smart
2. They do a lot of sailing and a lot of racing; we keep seeing the same guys.
3. Their equipment choices are robust
a. They seem to have a lot of runners

What do we have to do to win the World Championships? We know there’s room at the top… that our top sailors, on softwater are on a par with top sailors from other regions.

The Key Elements - Overarching Systems and Mega Trends.

Suitable Ice is a key element, it provides tiller time opportunities, which in turn attract competitors seeking to win, and the competition develops talent (including ice reporting skills) which led to increased ice reports, more tiller time opportunities, attracting more competitors. As such, Suitable ice options are The Primary Imperative.

Fresh frozen ice, in addition to the big fun of a very low coefficient of friction, is thin; hence some element of real danger exists. A decision to sail may lead to multiple sailors involved in a cold water immersion event. We’re comfortable on thin ice; this profoundly expands the numbers of sailing opportunities. We’ve developed a pretty accurate assessment process for ice suitability. We estimate the group has now put over 5,000 souls on thin ice, to date; three ice checkers have been involved in cold water immersions, one with minor injuries. 0.06% of the time, somebody gets cold and wet.

This sailing begets sailing “system” is limited by Cost including Time and Risk; Lack of pertinent information; and Change issues. Cost includes the initial acquisition cost, Cost of Participation, Cost of regular equipment enhancements, Risk of loss of time, risk of injury or damage to equipment, risk of not sailing. A perfectly frozen venue is worthless if sailors don’t know, and this knowledge is pertinent to ice sailors. Some things we won’t be able to change.

We grow in both numbers and skill by eliminating barriers to growth… increasing the sources, stream volume, and accuracy of ice condition reports… pertinent information in deciding if sailing is possible…

Among the initiatives we’ve pursued which attempt to lower barriers are:

o We developed a telephone calling network, ice hotline recording, an iceboater database and a newsletter (rubberneck racing news) which has given way to the internet.

o We changed the rules. Several of our sailors led an initiative, successfully changing the rules for the regional rotation and schedule for the Annual Regatta, Placing the North American Championships in our Region every 3rd year from the legacy every 5th year expectation, substantially reducing the distance cost to attend Big Events. (I had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS) ; )
o One of our sailors Jim, US 5214 donated server space and set up the iceboating.net website. (key growth infrastructure)
o Our sailors populate the site with content. If it’s pertinent to iceboating, it belongs on the site.
o 6 or 7 sailors pooled to buy a runner sharpener. Compelling development of a runner sharpening knowledge base and refined sharpening process. (key growth infrastructure)
o 8 sailors pooled to buy a mast mold, enabling local production of composite spars; and have iteratively refined lay up schedules to match commercially available spars, reducing cost to participate, strategic skills and infrastructure for future experiments in spar innovation.
o 20 or so DN’s have been collaboratively built, in groups of 2 – 5 sailors, reducing cost of participation, creating hundreds of hours of knowledge sharing, design innovations and technical knowledge gains.
o 8 Sailors pooled knowledge on runner profile and alignment processes.
o 20 sailors regularly walk on thin ice, find and check the ice and post sailing / ice assessments on our website; reducing the risk of not sailing, dealing with the change issue: “the season’s too short!” Providing the key element options for suitable ice.
o Two of our sailors have served in the International Governance of the Sport, representing our interests at the policy level. In doing so, have had the political influence to bring 3 North American Championships to Minnesota since 2000.
o We compete against the best at every opportunity. Good things come from this.

o The Season begins here! At the Great DN Western Challenge Regatta; sailing when we have a monopoly in ice… dealing with the change issues: e.g., “it’s too far to Minnesota” Building an inventory of pertinent information about sailing options, which extends into subsequent weeks, as a result Minnesota Ice Sailing Assoc. has sailed a minimum of 10 weeks each season for past decade, with a 12 week average season length, approximately doubling the ice time that the best rival group world wide have achieved. Today, and for the past 7 years, nobody in the world sails more than we do.
Key Event Drivers:

o We never postpone, it’s unacceptable, you can plan on coming, we’re going to the ice, and we will find it. Reducing barriers to participation, time and risk.

o Just show up, it’s free.

o We sail a lot, often 25 races over the weekend event.

Key facts about The Great DN Western Challenge Regatta:

o Sailing’s Indy 500. The Same weekend every year (the only iceboat regatta in the world that’s ever done it!)

o Explosive 500% + 10 year growth; Averaging 20% Y/Y

o A record 61 Sailors from 14 States, Europe, and Australia…

o Everybody worth beating, 6 former and the Current Continental and World Champions in the Field.

o 2006 Event Coverage: Currently exceeds 1.5 Million Exposures (Note; we have never solicited press coverage, have never issued a press release!)

o The Global Climate System: The tide’s coming in… it’ll float a lot of boats. They say theres some warming event occuring, changing the climate; Warming Minnesota in the winter. As this occurs we’re pretty sure the freeze thaw line will spend more time cycling over Minnesota in future Januaries than in the past… we may see less snow, we should see more melting what little snow we do get, increasing the chances there will be good ice on any given day in a Minnesota Winter.

o Weather and its forecasting systems and the Map: The forecast beyond 3 days is Chaos, we’re not “going there” today. We manage high success in sailing while others don’t with this: Our ice reporting system is more dynamic than the weather. E.g., 3 suitable lakes separated by 100 miles distance, each facing a 50% probability of being snowed out, leave us with a 87.5% probablilty that at least one of them will not be snowed out. Recognizing this underlying reality, and the network of sailors and robust ice assessment systems allows us to know where to look and where to go for the ice.

We start each season with arsenal of 300-500 possible ice sailing locations, and attempt to have 5 locations sourced in contemplation of each weekend’s sailing opportunities. Getting our odds of sailing each weekend up into the 98% + range.

We believe we will win - its part of the Shared Objective/Vision, if we work together on this, one of us will win, we’ll all win, and we will build an iceboating system that regularly produces World Class Contenders and Champions. A world class organization… One among us has already done so… once.

There are enough potentially world class sailors in our area, we have more competitive development opportunities than anybody in the world. Effort, Drive and the Strategic Advantage of Ice will tilt the odds in our favor. Since 1999 our top seven sailors have improved their world rankings on average by 13.5 positions.

Sailor 2007 1999
RANK RANK
Top 3 8
Second 9 26
Third 13 27
Fourth 22 29
Fifth 24 34
Sixth 29 35
Seventh 30 64

TotalRank
Points 130 223

Average Top
7 Minnesota
Rank 18.5 31.9

o Long Term Focus – It’s usually difficult to be the best in the world, in this sport it may indeed take a while, and we work on constantly improving. When I got in the van on the ride from Montreal, we allocated perhaps 10 years to win at the Continental Level. We as a group developed the systems and have seen one of us achieve the checkered flag within ten years since we got in van.

Learning:

o Effort and Experiments: Those involved in the winning effort program attempt to maximize their sailing opportunities. If there’s ice, we go to it. When we get there we set up and sail. Every trip to the "Speed Lab" should have action items and outcomes that lead to next step enhancements to individual systems.

o Transparency – There are no secrets, the information system is intended to be entirely transparent, recognizing that winning performances will require, in addition to world class equipment, desire and training, a real time tuning skill of virtuoso caliber.

o Openness; the MISA is open to sailors of all abilities, if people want to involve themselves they’re welcome; reducing barriers to participation, the rationale is this, engaging other ice sailors on the ice will keep the sport safer, reducing the risk of government involvement, restricting our sailing opportunities. Further, meeting other sailors on the ice enables standardization of ice assessment the process.

o Objectivity: Because boat speed is the critical element in DN Racing, the only objective test is real racing… We line them up and run them and live with, and learn from the results.

If you want to be involved in winning the World Championships, it’s Simple! We have but Three Rules:

1. Show up!

2. Don’t be a Dick! (A tribute to the late Minnesota DN Sailor, Dick Hatfield)

3. The first boat set up sets the first mark!

Ice Reports and prospective sailing locations are announced on www.iceboating.net every Thursday.

About me: Mark Kiefer, US 4695, “The IceMaker” I’ve been involved in this project since “the van ride” as: a competitor; content generator; builder of spars, boats, planks and runners; evangelist for the sport; Founder and Organizer of the Great DN Western Challenge Regatta; World Commodore, occasionally …strategic thought leader and maker of ice… “and one of us will win!”

I’m passionate about creating lasting value around worthwhile projects…Winning.

Contact me about your project at:
Worldiceracingcircuit(at)gmail.com

(c)2007-2011 mark kiefer, fergus falls, mn all rights reserved