iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

Minnesota Iceboating Assoc Founding Member and Western Region Sailor John Dennis, us4691, wins the 2004 North American DN Championship!

John Dennis, (aka JD), put his sights on the championship over 10 years ago when he first went to a North Americans, and after a few close calls he completed this outstanding goal.

The NA's turned out to be a one day shoot-out on Sandusky Bay, Ohio, home of the Sandusky Sailing Club. We waited on Friday (practice day), Saturday, and Sunday and finally on Monday racing began in earnest. Patience and Perseverance was what was needed to get through this regatta in Ohio.

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After getting in a early morning mini-qualifier for the silver fleet it looked like racing might actually start for the gold fleet. The gold fleet started their first race but had to abandon when on lap three the leaders failed to make the time limit and the black flag went up.

We had to wait till the afternoon when the wind kicked in with a true 5-10kts, After that the race commitee, with complete confidence, somehow managed to get in four gold races, three more silver, and two more bronze. i think

JD got off to a great start with a 1st place in the first race. The ice was hard and bumpy and going soft, so it was hard to get the boat setup correctly. JD got it right and after the first race his speed caused a few top skippers to take a close look at what he was running. After that nobody was more consistent then JD, taking 2nd place in each of the remaining three races to win the regatta.

Minnesota Iceboating Association will be hosting a big party to celebrate.

staytuned for more party info.. every iceboater in every region is invited and encouraged to come and celebrate with us and the current NA champ!!

A huge thanks to the all of those who made this such a great regatta. Thanks RC, SSC, and the IDNIYRA Officials and the Ice Checkers and the Regatta Organizers. It really takes a ton of people putting in a lot of time to make a regatta, we all really appreciate it.

  think ice,
  Minnesota Iceboating Association