2012 Western Regional is ON --- Like Donkey KONG
from the dnamerica.org/forum
http://dnamerica.org/forum/index.php?topic=1252.0
Julie J our Regional Rear Commodore says...
2012 Western Regional is on for Green Lake, MN. for Jan 7 & 8. Launch site is downtown city of Spicer. Venue was sail-checked Wednesday by racers and reported in top condition and no snow.
Friday: 8-10 pm. Registration at headquarters
Saturday: 8-9 am. Registration on ice.
9:30 am.Skippers' Meeting (registration closes after meeting)
10 am. Optis first races
11 am. DN first race
Hotel Info: Willmar Hotels (10 miles from ice) ASK FOR ICEBOATERS' SPECIAL RATE at each hotel listed:
Holiday Inn (HEADQUARTERS) 320-235-6060 $89/ $99 (wrong on google map...is actually next to Comfort Inn)
Comfort Inn 320-231-2601 $70 (Owned by above with passes to H.I. pool)
Days Inn 320-231-1275 $50
AmericInn 320-232-1962 $72
Downtown Spicer: Northern Inn 800-941-0423 $79 and up
So we are going racing again in Minnesota... Spicer, Mn is about 2hrs west of the twin cites..
Looks like the wind of on Friday is going to be the best day.. like all minnesota regatta's, I guess.. and Saturday looks like a great day too.
The Minnesota gang will make sure all our friends (that have driven to the western edge of the region) will have a great time.
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Final Results
Final Results Posted
But I didn't put in the silver fleet names.. more to do.. probably later tonight...
And Sunday was great too
On Sunday morning, it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. But then, just as forecasted the wind came on at around 11:00, stabilized out.. and we got in two more races for both the gold and silver fleet.
We packed up and headed across the street to the Awards Ceremony at the American Legion.
Ron Sherry, us44 won the Gold Fleet and has some more confidence in the light air.
Hal Bowman, us1277, had a great regatta and took home the Dick Hatfield Silver Skate Trophy.
That was a nice regatta.
Perfect ice!
All Americans (and Joergi) have such a big advantage of training! Hope Ron and Leon show you the way to Germany to sail the worlds – we will find black ice at the end of January :-)
JD and the Doctor - you hear the message?
Enjoy sailing and put some nice pictures into the web for the unlucky guys in Europe...wish I would be there.
Black ice + sail fast in 2012!
Jost
G.936
Joergi made it special
It was really nice that Joergi was at our Regional Regatta. With him sailing with us, it made the regatta seem a bit more special.
So a big Thank You to Jorg for taking the time and effort to come back to Minnesota to sail on some hard fast ice.
Saturday was a great day of Racing!
We had over 50 boats racing in two fleets. Plus the junior program raced in opti's and DN's.
There was a light shifty wind that kept the sailors busy all day long. We got in 5 races in each DN fleet and 4 in the Juniors.
Ron was on fire with five wins. JD and the Doctor are tied with JD sitting in second on the tie breaker.
Jim Glueck is the top PISS sailor in fourth place followed by the rest of the Pewaukee gang.
Hopefully we will have enough breeze for a couple of races tomorrow.
Some GPS tracks...
Here are my tracks for all five silver fleet races: http://geoff-s.net/tracks/DN-2012-Westerns-Saturday.html
I was surprised by the speeds, especially in the early races where is shows bursts of 45 mph down-wind. I'm skeptical... It didn't feel that fast.
Similar speeds here
I only set my GPS for 3 of the races and had to end speeds of 34.7, 43.4 and 38.1. I think the fast ice and big courses allowed for the burst of speed at the top mark. I tested mine against the car speedo and it is accurate.
We need the wind gods to respond this morning as my NOAA shows 2-4 till noon.
Sunday Tracks
I only recorded the second Silver race on Sunday: http://geoff-s.net/tracks/DN-2012-Westerns-Sun-Race-2.html
I also recorded the track on the sail back to the pits. You can see exactly where we were sailing from: http://geoff-s.net/tracks/DN-2012-Westerns-Sun-Sail-In.html
What a great regatta!
I can't remember the last time I had as much fun out on the ice.
Many thanks to all the Minnesota sailors who found/scouted the ice last week; Julie and the Pewaukee guys for the administration and running the scoring program; and Deb, Dan, Mercedes, and everyone who helped out on the ice to get the races run and scored.
Friday was pretty cool
We had 15-20 boats out sailing today on Friday. Scrub racing on a 1.25 mile (verified by gps) course. The wind was blowing hard and the ice was nice and smooth. The sun was out. It was a great day.
Ron, Jorg and JD had the speed today.. Me (5214) and 5219 (KB) had some nice battles --door-handle-to-door-handle-- racing...
Jorg was going very fast.. not completely uneventful
Our Canadian friend's headstay toggle failed.. when he was 2 miles downwind of the launch site.. Ron ended up pulling him back to the launch site..
There was a mast failure and a plank failure.. it was a day where if you had some weakness in your rig, it was going to be found.. smooth and fast and windy!
And we will see what tomorrow brings..
I think we are sharing the lake tomorrow morning with a fishing derby (maybe 300 fisherman)...
Twine Ball
Carp thanks for pointing out the Twine Ball. I am a 60 year old that grew up in Darwin. But only you would bring it up. You are unique!
Jenny1
Directions?
Do you recommend coming straight through the Twin Cities on I-94/394 and across on Rt-12, or staying on I-94 to St. Cloud and then cutting down on Rt-23?
Spicer MN
If going directly to Spicer, Google maps says Hwy 12 route is 13 minutes faster and 16 miles closer than up I94 to St Cloud. You might make up the time due to fewer small towns that 12 has. More travel on freeway is good to. I would avoid both routes if arriving between 3-6PM Fri! I94 and 394 thru cities is no big deal unless during rush hour. If going directly to Hotels in Willmar, then 12 is the best route for sure.
HIGHWAY 12!
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2128
World's Largest Twine Ball is on your right, can't miss it.
twine ball
hay Carp!,i could not help but take in this magnificant Landmark as I was stuck behind a box truckheading west on highway 12....on the more scenic part of this trip,what a worth while destination!and by the way the sailing today was just as exhilarating!!!got here at 1345,sailed some tune up races and limbered up the ol' neck!,i should have procured some twine to fabricate me a geezer-strap!
horse a piece
The St. Cloud route is probably quicker and easier because you'd bypass the cities via 694 to the north. But if you're writing a travel blog, the Hwy. 12 route would take you through the heart of St. Paul and Minneapolis, plus a bunch of small towns to the west.
The Tonka guys will just head out on Hwy. 12, while the White Bear guys probably take I-94.
Have Fun!!
All you guys have fun this weekend.
I wish I was there.
No ice here in Europe, so enjoy.
Think Ice
Dideric H467
Molly the racer
Molly must have run 20 miles chasing Meyer around the course!
tells us more about the ICE!
you know we want some more info.
How long of a course can we set?
Recently posted on DN site!
Re: 2012 Western Regional is On
« Reply #1 on: Today at 09:13:04 PM » Quote Modify Remove
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http://www.iceboating.net/node/3608 Both on ther Minnesota iceboating.net site under photos-library images
http://www.iceboating.net/node/3607
Here are a couple of photos of the Green Lake ice at Spicer, MN only 85 miles west of Minneapolis. It is a 3 mile X 5 mile lake with excellent ice conditions. Ice at 2 fish shacks in the middle was 8-9 inches thick. Meyer says it is a 9.5 today and maybe a perfect 10 by Saturday due to expected 46F temps on Thursday and 42 temps on Friday. NO SNOW in the forecast either. Today there was a slight pebble texture, but fast and smooth. Below freezing for all the upcoming nights and 35F for Sat with 10-15 winds! Most of the fish shanties are in small areas leaving at least a 2 mile X 2 mile sailing area with no hazards seen by the 3 of us sailing the entire area.
The 4 lane launch ramp right in downtown Spicer was perfect to drive our trailer on the ice at 11AM. Plenty of parking space in 2 seperate lots right on the waterfront. I believe one is a MN DNR ramp and lot. The sand beach, volleyball courts and lot is the City of Spicer. By 4PM it heaved up 2 feet!! We then backed up in the sand volleyball courts 200 yards to the South and no problem. We did see 2 small pickup trucks driving to fish houses before the one seam on the lake, so must be a foot of ice. The seam runs the entire width of the lake about a quarter mile from Spicer. We easily spotted a crossing that was flat and healed up with at least 4 inches of ice. We sailed across it and also walked across it. I expect to mark this crossing on Friday by noon with 2 orange cones. Plan to sail between them one at a time. You may find other equally as good crossings too. Look due east to the 3-4 fish houses on the right side and it is sort of behind them.
Thanks to Mark Christenson, US 4824 for spotting this great sheet of ice on Jan 2. He walked it and we got to sail it.
Mike Miller 5369 Tom Meyer 602 Paul Larson 5445
And a big Thank You to Julie Jankowski for getting the rest of the stuff sorted out.