iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

Nites:

And something else...

There's a report by Madisonian Niter Greg Simon about the Nite Nationals posted on:
http://iceboat.org/

Cheers,

Geoff S.

It looks like the winds today may be a bit much:
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KFFM/2004/12/12/DailyHistory...

35 mph, gusting to 43!

Yesterday's winds looked much better. How was the sailing?

Cheers,

Geoff S.

I just bought an older DN with dull rusty runners. Any idea where I can get them sharpened? I live in Plymouth near Lake Minnetonka(West of Minneapolis).

The Nite Nationals are confirmed ON for Saturday and Sunday on Lake Christina. A few boats will be scrub racing Friday. Safety meeting at 9 AM Saturday on the ice. Five races Saturday, three Sunday. Race instructions available at the hotel and at the meeting.

JD Thanks for a good regatta as usual. Here is a link to a company I bought a drive wheel and Idler wheel from for a new sander .Nice turned aluminum. http://beaumontmetalworks.com/index.html
Also I found a company in MN a while back that made the idler tensioner
The ICKLER Co. Or Ikler ?

BOB Rast DN1313 Rastbob@aol.com

Epic First Weekend of Iceboating at the Western Challenge

I think everyone got their fill of iceboating this weekend. On both Saturday & Sunday we had strong winds and smooth ice. The ice got better on Sunday and the wind was more consistent then Saturday. We managed to get in 5 races for gold and 4 races for silver on Saturday, and then on Sunday we got in 3 races for gold and 4 for silver for a total of 8 races for each fleet. With 1 mile courses the skippers where able to achieve the top speeds of the modern DN.

Thanks to all who travelled so far to make this the biggest, best Western Challenge in recent history.

Thanks to JD for doing a great job as the Race Chairman and also thanks to the skippers who did race commitee while their fleet wasn't racing.

--click on the read more below for complete results--

The '04 Nite Nationals are called on for Lake Christina December 11/12. Lodging and directions to follow.

Many thanks to the ~ 50 competitors who joined the Minnesota Ice Sailing Association in "kicking off" the season this past weekend at MilePost 8, Lake Christina, Ashby, MN.

We appreciate the great distances some of you travelled, and hope you found both the ice suitable and enough sailing for one weekend.

Think ice!

4695

anyone know who won th echallenge?

Lake Christina, Saturday, December 4th, 2004

Friday practice session was a good day with significant surface melting at the end of the day. The sailor retired for the night with hopes of a hard freeze. Saturday morning arrived to morning temp 34 and 10 - 20 mph breeze from the North that chilled your bones. The morning sun shined off a beautiful smooth surface and the sailors eyed it with joy.

With the course set and the fleet divided into Gold (30 boats) and Silver (21 boats) the day began.

With a 16 - 18 and gusts of 26 mph the racing got underway. The first leeward rounding of the Gold Fleet provide for some interesting viewing for the silver fleet folks observing. With 6 spin outs on the first leeward rounding the tone was set for the rest of the day.

Sorry, no dramatic action shots (too cold, and 2-lap races don't leave much time to take photos). Here are two shots of the fleet. One in the morning, and one just before the last races:

Cheers,

Geoff S.
US-5156

Debbie Whitehorse is posting some notes and photos from the 2004 Western Challenge regatta:

http://iceboat.org/images/04-05/westernchallenge/westernchallenge.htm

Cheers,

Geoff S.

38 boats setup for a few scrub races on Friday.

Winds were variable, but picked up nicely at the end of the day.

Lake Christina, Ashby, MN 10:17 am local time

Driving North on MN 78, Pelican Lake shows plenty of open water on the main lake. There are 2 fish houses on the ice in the gap between the North arm and the Main Lake.

Mile Post 8, the Lake Christina Launch Site. The lake is completely frozen, there are no visible open spots, no migratory wildlife on the ice, and no visible cracks or heaves.

Drilling holes with the bit set at exactly 3", 10 holes drilled, walking out 100 yeards, No water found, all dry holes. Estimated ice thickness to be a total of 4 1/2 to 5"

The snow drifts remain, and are 1/4 - 1/2" deep and of moderate density, it may request thin runners but the drifts are thin enought that it may not slow at all except in drifting conditions.