iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

I raced in the DN North American Regatta for the first time this year. I thought I'd share the experience. Originally, this was a in a combination of forward and reverse time-sequence; I edited the pieces into chronological order.

For some more of my ramblings (and a few photos), check the web page created by Debbie Whitehorse (the 4-Lakes Ice Yacht Club's webmaster) from e-mailed reports and photos during the regatta:

http://iceboat.org/images/03-04/dnna/dnna.htm

(Thanks Debbie!)

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Rewind to November 2003:

First thought: The NAs notice of race is posted for the Central Lakes Region - that's a reasonable drive Let's do it.

Second thought: No way, I've only been doing this for a couple of years. I'd be flushed out the back of the pack...

[aside: I go out and sail my Laser on a beautiful 50 degree Nov. 30]

December 2003:

After a quick e-mail exchange with the ever-helpful Paul Goodwin I decide I probably wouldn't be the slowest boat there (I sure hope that's the case, so I send in my registration and insurance (where is that policy? It was around here last spring, somewhere...)

January 2004:
Holy cow, the Westerns are this weekend I'd better get up there and get acclimated to big fleets.

It turns out I can only sail Saturday. Another Madison sailor calls me at 8:00am as I'm driving through Rosendale ("Just the ticket) to tell me he's just arrived at the launch site. Cool Someone I know will be there Turns out, no worries; DN'ers are friendly, and I've met a lot of them at other races. 20+ kn winds early make it a bit tense setting up the boat. The racing is awesome I even beat some people. Wow.

The Northwest regatta barely happens the weekend of 23-25th. In light air and sticky conditions I do terribly. I knew this before, but no question now. At least I wasn't lapped by anybody (that I noticed...).

Snow on the 23rd looks bad, so the boat comes into the basement after the NIYA. Move the mast-step forward to get more bend out of the stick.

February 2004:

Ugh. More snow. No chance to tune the new geometry. Hope I'll get to sail before the NAs...

Feb 8: Shaved 1/16" off the top of my new plank. Now it bends almost 2" under my weight. A bit more than the recommended 1 3/4", but after sailing both the slightly too-stiff plank, and then my too-limber backup plank, I think I'm going to like this spring constant.

Feb 9: Epoxied the plank tonite. I was afraid the 5 year-old WEST I had in my basement would turn it purple. But, even though the mixed epoxy in the pot is almost opaque, spread out in a thin layer it's not much different than brand new stuff./p>

Feb 11: Found a set of insert runners in my price range The owner is willing to let me try them out at the NAs (thanks Andy. Way cool. Now I won't have any equipment excuses for sailing slow...

Saurday, Feb 14:[one week to go!] Got the insert runners yesterday; they're really nice. I'm told they're a bit flat and need some camber added. Take them to the shop today: 24+ inches of 0.008" flat Wow. Put the 36 grit belt on the big sander and go at it - an hour or so and a lot of sparks later we have 20" of nice smooth 0.008" camber and a 120 grit finish. A little honning with the stones and they'll be all set

Got out the runner-aligners and tweeked the alignment of the new plank. Both the inserts and plates look OK.

Started watching the weather for Detroit, Toledo, and Columbus. No snow in any forecasts, but some warm days ahead... Ugh Snow/Rain for Friday and Saturday Hopefully the forecast will change.

Sunday, Feb 15: More quality time in the shop this morning I aligned the chocks on my backup plank, calibrated my aligners, and checked/sharpened my plate runners... Whoa How did the crown get so flat Get out the coarse-grit belt again... The evening was spent with my Wife sewing covers and bags (I decided with all the rain in the forecast that I really needed a decent regatta cover).

Monday, Feb 16: Whoo-hoo! Hotline says Detroit and Sandusky are the primary sites. Only 6 1/2 hours drive.

Cough, sneeze... It looks like I picked up a bit of a cold from my wife... I'm going to take it easy this evening and try and get a good nights sleep.

Tuesday, Feb 17: This morning I woke up feeling much better I took my trailer over to "Boat Night" at Jim Nordhaus' shop to check it over for the trip. Everything looks good; tweeked one bearing nut just a bit. I borrowed Jim's DN regatta cover (thanks Jim so my wife can rest and not have to try and finish mine while she's sick). I also tested a new gateway between my cell-phone's text-messaging and e-mail. Hoepfully I can send some "on the ice" updates to the iceboat.org webmaster for posting during the day [no luck at the regatta - not the right kind of service].

All my gear (tools, parts, etc.) is now sitting together in the shop ready to be loaded into the car.

Wednesday, Feb 18: Spent some time today trying to find out what might happen on Friday and decide if I should drive out on Thursday or Friday.

The regatta is ON for Sandusky Bay

Even better, the weather is looking better and better. I'm all packed, I just need to load the car and trailer and "hit the road".

Thursday, Feb 19:
8:00am - Made reservations at the (much cheaper) alternate lodging: Sleep Inn & Suites Time to pack!

11:20am I'm off!

8:30pm What a day... I'm here, though - and I didn't get lost. Weather looks good (no rain, yet...). Temps were dropping from the mid 40's to about 35 as I was arriving. Great $30/night room I decided not to try and find the launch site in the dark, but first thing in the morning I'll be heading over there.

The Toledo MicroCast shows winds building through Friday into Saturday - 20-25 mph Saturday morning.. Yee-ha! Good news is the rain is predicted to be light.

Friday, Feb 20: The warm overnight temps softened much of the top surface of the bay. A few hardy souls went out sailing (including me - briefly). It was generally agreed to be pretty miserable. I sailed enough to see that the forward mast-step position is a big help and came in. At 2:00pm it started raining (pretty much right according to the forecast). Predictions are that we won't get too much rain, with colder temps Saturday night. It looks good for Sunday and after.

Saturday, Feb 21: No sailing today.

The wind peaked at 30 mph last night. This morning it was hovering between 20-25. Tomorrow and Monday are predicted to be lighter.

AM Too much wind, questionable ice. The primary site deteriorated; open water and very thin (1 1/2") ice were reported [after the regatta we find out that the regatta organizer, Dave Zoll, actually broke through the ice checking this morning]. The committee is scouting some local sites and Lake St. Clair in Detroit. Final notice before the 5:00pm annual meeting. Trailer is back at the hotel (it did make a brief trip onto the ice, but I pulled it off in case we move).

New venue is the far west portion of Sandusky Bay inside Cedar point. Same location as the "Welcome to Our Playground" photo:

http://www.sailingsource.com/ice/images/cp9501.jpg

Most boats are setup this afternoon, ready for the prompt 9:30am Bronze-fleet qualifier. Winds look to be light (9 mph dropping over the day).

SundayFeb 22: Light air. Bronze-fleet mini-qualifier was sailed with some running (more for some of us...). The RC decided to wait for more wind before starting the Silver fleet. I sailed back to the pits for water. I ended up having time to align my runners the help of Bob Gray; my aligners were terribly out of true, and Bob loaned me his aligners and helped - thanks Bob! The Sandusky Sailing Club put out a great spread for lunch and dinner. Those of us in the pits got to wait out the wind sitting in comfy chairs. Hard to beat that!

No wind, no more races.

Thanks again Sandusky Sailing Club!

Monday, Feb 23:

This morning the weather looked just like yesterday... After a black-flagged Gold fleet race things didn't look good. Then the wind shifted and picked up. The RC quickly moved the line and amazingly got off two Bronze fleet races and four races each for the Gold and Silver fleets. The SSC again hosted a great evening. I can't say enough about how nice they were.

We have a new DN North American Champion, the Western Region's own John Dennis!

Tuesday, Feb. 24: One the road again...

About 5 miles onto Rt. 80 I hit something in the road that punctures the sidewall of a rear tire! Great... Pull off to the side and dig out the mini-spare (under the runners, and duffle-bag). Change the tire. Call AAA for suggestions on where to go to get a new tire. Not much help (after 20 roaming-minutes on hold). Drive on (at 50 mph). Luckily, there's a service plaza just a few miles up the road. No "service", but the guys in the gas booth tell me there's a trukstop at the next exit (where AAA told me not to bother stopping!). I drive up there and two nice ladies at the cash-register tell me there are a number of tire places and a Sears just two exits up the road. Great! Opps... Road closed one exit up (it's Rt. 280 to Toledo where they had a big crane collapse last week). Exit. Pull into gas-station. Friendly customer gives me simple back-road route to Sears. Wow! Sears guy is terribly helpful, even calls around to see if he can find someone locally who stocks the OEM tires for my car. No luck. An hour later (at about 1:30) I drive off with a brand new pair of tires (the old ones needed replacing anyway). Get home at 7:30. Whew...