iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

Scott Brown of Upper Minnetonka continued his dominance of the Nite class winning his 4th straight Nite National Championship this past weekend in Gladstone Mi. All the big names of the fleet were there but not even the likes of Perrigo, Prange ,Frautschi , Wilfert, Hayashi or Sandford could match Scott's consistency over two days of racing. Very impressive, indeed. Congratulations Scott!

Ice conditions today: Waconia still has a relatively consistent 8-10 inches of solid ice (except the open water), but it is way too rough for any iceboat to survive. It has gotten much worse since I last sailed it. I seriously had trouble just walking. Constant 1"-2" bumps on the entire surface. Trust me, I will sail anything, and this simply just isn't possible or smart. Swede Lake has a little less ice, but still about 6"-7" in all the spots I checked. Swede is also un-sailable with the same rough texture as Waconia.

Minnesota was well represented at the 2017 ISA regatta. JD placed second in A skeeters, Scott Brown won in Nites, Pat Heppert won in C skeeters, Mike Miller had an impressive 4th for his first Nite ISA, and Jim McDonagh in the B skeeter was going fast as heck, right before the mast blew up after the first lap of the first race. Ice was rough, even for skeeters. Too much wind on Friday for the ice conditions, great day Saturday racing, then about 4 inches of snow Saturday night. Great times!!

Don't believe everything the Hammer puts on the internet. Tonka ice from harry's to excelsior is far from excellent. Way too rough for a DN. No scrub racing occurred today.

DN scrub racing is on for tomorrow and Sunday. Launch at the Cottagewood firelane. The ice looks excellent!
US 4975

Yep, there's snow on the way, but it's forecast to stay south of Battle Lake, the site of this year's ISA Championship. JD sailed the lake just this morning and said it's smooth and slick. Tonka may be mushy, but it's another world north of Ashby.

Battle Lake hosted a Western Challenge a few years back, and drew nearly 90 boats. Hoping to muster up a bunch of Nites from the Twin Cities. Name the last time the ISA Regatta was this close to home. I think the answer is, "NEVER!!!!"

Details for launching and hotel stuff can be found at iceboat.org on the ISA page.

Deteriorating ice forced the end of the Euro Champs after 2 days and 8 races. The Pols dominated and King Karol reigned supreme.

Pos Num Name Points Pos
1 P- 36 Jablonski, Karol 2 1 1 3 4 4 1 [5] 16,00 1
2 P- 114 Burczynski, Michal 1 [13] 2 2 1 2 8 1 17,00 2
3 P- 155 Zakrzewski, Lukasz 4 6 9 4 [14] 11 4 3 41,00 3
4T P- 13 Kardas, Darek 53/DSQ] 3 8 7 16 8 2 2 46,00T 4T
4T O- 31 Alvikis, Madars 7 7 12 6 7 1 [29] 6 46,00T 4T
15T US- 5166 Berger, Chris [35] 30 18 13 33 5 11 11 121,00T 15T
19T US- 5224 Thieler, James 9 [35] 6 23 29 26 17 30 140,00T 19T

anyone willing to part with a good used nite hull with springboard ...I have all other parts

This warn weather has many of us thinking about everything except iceboating, but, it "ain't over yet!"
For the DN's, the Central Regional Champs have yet to be sailed. For other fleets, the Nite nationals, the ISAs and the Northwestern's are still looking for venues.
Keep your runners sharp as any one of these major events could still be called on. Think Ice.

The 4LIYC says racing is called ON for the weekend of Feb. 11-12!
Launching at Mendota County Park. They report 12" of ice at the landing.
I am not aware of any Tonka DN sailors making the trip down.

(click for full report) What's the difference between fun, craziness, and stupidity? Ask someone else, because I have no idea. Today was an awesome high wind day on Waconia. Started out the day by breaking the false halyard rope while raising the sail, which was really a pain to get it fished out. Then proceeded with sailing in 20+ MPH winds, and I hit 80 MPH like nothing. With the rough ice, and sailing alone, speeds like that are not good, so I sat it out for a couple hours.

What is the best bet for sailing this weekend? Unsure how the Monday snow affected the lakes, hope none of it turned into the dreaded styrofoam. Kiters report 2" fell on WBL. I have nothing in my yard in Belle Plaine, so I would be willing to bet Waconia might still be great. Any reports from Tonka? Since no regattas this weekend, any local plans??

More great photos. This time from the NA's. Looks like races 6 and 7 from day 2. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fxjzdb9d9jlspnv/AACPQAphCz0XNI2AWs1VrhgIa?dl=0

Professional Photographer Gretchen Dorian was at the DN Worlds last week. She posted some of her pictures here:

https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Zfd2Kx

Sailed Waconia Saturday on the windsurfer-iceboard. Snow was 0-1" deep, no resistance, with a very occasional 3" drift that seemed to cause catapults. Ice is not perfect, still bumpy, but plenty good for the iceboard so any iceboat will not be an issue. I was all alone on a 2 mile x 2 mile great surface with few icefishermen on the main area. Sailed Bald Eagle lake on Sunday again on the iceboard. Snow was 0-1" deep, and also no real snow resistance. Ice was much more bumpy than Waconia. Counted 4 nites and 2 DN's. A great day.