iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

Wally Hall (Iceflyer) & myself (Nite) had a great day of getting our rear ends kicked from no wind to gusts in the neighborhood of 30-40 mph on a lake that is 40 acres in size. Ice boating in Colorado this season with extremely shifty winds but we have to take what we can get lately. Was great to get out as we put on a show for everyone driving on I-70. Checked Dillon on the way home to Vail & if it blows like it did today Dillon will be the ticket tomorrow. Sail fast Konr

It sure ain't as nice as Wednesday...

I'm going to setup at the Allen / Pratt location in Cottagewood this afternoon and check out the main lake on Mtka. I have preliminary reports that conditions aren't bad. After I sail around I'll let everyone know what it's like. We could have a great day of sailing tomorrow on Mtka.

Later,
Will

The other posts for Elk Lake were getting so long it was getting hard to find the newest update...So This is the new report.
We have still been sailing every day. We got in 40 miles of sailing today before the winds died down. We also saw 2 DN's running around out there. I assume from the local club, but I am not sure because I was having too much fun to stop. Unfortunately when we went in for lunch the wind died down. It's early still so if it picks back up we'll head back out. Winds ranged from 6-10 most of the time, but we did have about a half an hour with frequent gusts to 13 mph. The wind meter shows 10 minute averages too, and when we came in it showed the averages to be 9mph a couple times and 10mph a couple times.

WONDERING IF ANY ICE JUST SOUTH OF THE TWIN CITIES PROFITTED FROM THIS MOST RECENT THAW? PEPIN , ALBERT LEA, OR PLACES JUST WEST OR EAST? TALKED TO AN IOWAN WHO SAID OKOBOJI AND CLEAR LAKE WERE BEYOND SAFE TRAVEL ,EVEN FOR A DESPERATE ICEBOATER.FORECAST THRU WEEKEND LOOKS PROMISING IF SOME DECENT ICE DOES EXIST.PLEASE GET OUT THE WORD IFYOU KNOW OF IT'S WHEREABOUTS. THANKS,DN904.

Sunday morning Byron Tetzlaff (US-5251) and I setup our DNs on Lake Mendota at Tenney Park (on the south-east shore). After waiting around with the kite-sailors for an hour or so, we were rewarded by the wind gods around 11:00am. Initially it was just a zephyr and we could barely keep going, but the wind built pretty quickly from the south-west and we were able to sail around the southern part of the lake for most of the day.

After a great day of kite skiing on Minnetonka yesterday in the warm weather the snow has been replaced with water. The drive off the lake yesterday in 3-4 inches of standing water was a little eerie but I knew a little cold weather would change all of that.

This morning when I drove through grays bay on hwy 101 the ice looked perfect for our other winter sport "Ice Boating". The ice was white in color and was smooth as far as the eye could see. Hopefully it was cold enough last night to freeze the standing water all the way through.

Surf is up on Lake Minnetonka!!!!!!

PS The ice is still 18-24 inches thick.

2000 Composite Solutions hull, plank, mast. 1D Speed sail, one set runners, cover, etc. Can also sell components seperately. Email T at t_thieler@yahoo.com for details.

I have received alot of emails requesting info on the building technique used on my new boat. The fuselage minus hardware goes about 60 lbs even though it is longer, stronger and faster than the J14. I have had some people interested in using this construction in their J14 and JX boats. This boat has been clocked at 87 mph with winds 12 gusting to 41 mph on snowy ice...and it is such a great boat it handled and sailed extremely well in these conditions.

GEOFF,
SINCE YOU ARE BACK THERE AND IF YOU WERE A BETTING MAN, WHERE WOULD YOU SUSPECT ISA TO BE HELD IF IT HAPPENS? AM IN VAIL COLORADO & WE ARE WAITING FOR 2 LARGER LAKES IN THE STATE TO SOUP OUT & GIVE US SOME WHAT OF A SPRING SEASON. IT HAS BEEN THE WORST EVER. KONR AKA SAILSMAN

We sailed and had a blast today, the wind picked up for a little while. The winds were between 5 and 7mph gusting to 10 or 11 most of the time. I posted some pictures in the photo gallery, we had 6 boats out here today and we were just going to get set up for the weekend. We didn't really expect to get to sail...what a great "bonus " day.

Ice is snow-free as of this moment, smooth, pebbly surface.
Sailing Friday, Saturday, Sunday as wife permits.
Wind predicted @ www.weather.com Zip 46567
Friday 7-10 mph, Saturday not posted yet.
Standard Ice Disclaimer applies, but fisherdudes report thin spots to be 4" thick, other areas more like 10"
Scott C

I don't know when you cease to become the "defending champion" and atain some higher plane, but since all the records of the NIYA I can find (in a minute of searching the Internet...) show JD as the winner of the Northwest DN class I guess some kind of congratulations are in order!

Cheers,

Geoff S.
US-5156

22 Great days of sailing.
We have some snow cover, but still some great sailing out there.
The conditions change daily with the wind direction.
Some days the north end of the lake has 90% snow cover 1/2" to 1 1/2" deep, then the very next day if we get a wind shift we have 60% cover with drift up to approx 2". On average most days we have about 80% cover and snow cover ranging from 1/2" to 2". All the snow is very light and fluffy, that's why it blows around and changes so easily. We've added some pictures to the photo gallery...even one ooops shot!

Left work early on Friday to setup my boat at the Allen/Pratt location in Cottagewood in hope of a sunset poach. After setting up the boat the wind came up and it was time to sail. Had a beautiful sunset cruise with the orange light glistening off the smooth ice.

Main Lake:
Condition good with some isolated rough spots. Not regatta conditions, but great recreational sailing. Ice is a little rough closer to Arcola bridge, but at the Northhome end of the lake the ice was good.

Big Island Slot to Excelsior:
Very rough from multiple car & snowmobile tracks. Not very fun in a little DN. I think I loosened a couple fillings.