DN NA Class

I don't know about you, but its Post-Iceboat-Depression time for me.  I am not driving to Minnesota for scratch-sailing, and have to unpack, sharpen runners and set everything aside for the summer.

Sniff.

My season recap is as follows:

Sailed three days in MN in Dec (Great Western Challenge)
Sailed one day on Lake Como (fun)
Sailed one day on Lake Kegonza (FIYC races, good Saturday, no wind Sunday)
Sailed one day on Green Lake (fun- missed chance for Westerns, good Saturday, rain Sunday)
Sailed one day on Lake Geneva (SIBC races)
Sailed one day on Gull Lake (fun and scratch races)
Sailed one day on Lake Balaton, Hungary (worlds tune-up scratch racing)
Sailed three days at Worlds, Austria (practice and Gold Cup)
Sailed two days in Austria (Euroopean Championships)
Sailed two days on Winnebago (Northwest Regatta)
Sailed three days at Thunder Bay Ontario (NAs  three days with no wind, three days sailing)
Sailed one day on Mendota (Well, sailed out and back, too rough!)

Total:  20 days sailing, aprox. 2800 miles driving, and a transcontinental flight

Runners used:  3/16 inserts (one set) 16 days, second 3/16 insert (more crown) 2 days, Plates (snow) two days.

Broke:  Steering chock, steering rod, plank stud plate, right fibula

How did you do?

Warren Zevon wrote the line:
1 day on Kegonsa
2 (awesome) days on Green Lake
1 day on the short-track in St. Paul
1 day on Monona (sailing my backup boat just for fun)
"Groundhog Day" in Thunder Bay (1 day?)

Mostly my fault.  Many missed opportunities.  I should have traveled more.  :-[

Two days at the Centrals Lake Charlivox
Four days at the NA's in thunder Bay on Lake Superior

45+/- days spent living vicariously through others and their adventures posted here!

And I spent TODAY on Teal Lake in Negaunee!  Really crappy ice but it was a blast.

I missed plenty of opportunities this year too.  I made too many other commitments on the "wrong" weekends.

I don't know if Teal will let me have another ride yet this year or not.  (fingers crossed)

Ayes

I have to add to my list!  I sailed Teal Lake in Negaunee Friday Saturday and Sunday.  The ice got worse each day but I still managed to get a few rides in.  Friday was awesome hard rough ice and 20+ mph breeze.

On Saturday I got three newbies out on the boat.  Good friends that saw me sailing and wanted to give it a try.  Sunday the ice was really soft and I was wishing that I had a set of slush runners in the quiver.  Pretty rough sledding.  There was about 14" of ice yesterday but the shoreline is deteriorating rapidly.

As fate would have it we had a hard freeeze last night and no wind today (and back to work).  The forecast for the week is for temps in the 50's and 60's so I am afraid that I will have to cash in my chips for the season.

Ayes

Bought boat from Don Williams at the N.A's.Since then have been out on it 5 days for a total of about 15 hrs.Haven't broken anything yet.I have since invested on tools for set up,a nice handy carpenter pouch for storing tools,new helmut and gogles, some lumber and accesories to convert my Laser trailor to carry the DN, joined the class,bought a book and am having travel covers made up.The ride is priceless.

Ayes:

Be careful out there!   This time of year, the ice is honeycombing.  It might be thick, but is not strong!  When living in Menominee, I went sailing one day on 14 inches of ice in the spring, and clunked a runner on the ice when breaking down.  The runner was vertical, and it broke through!  That night, wind broke the sheet up, and the lake was open water.

Honeycombing ice is melting into vertical pieces, joined at the surface, but not solid under water.

MMadge:

Welcome to the sport!  Keep recruiting and we'll need a new Western Canada region!  Or maybe adopt you into the western region....

Four great regatta weekends (three seconds and a bullet, can't complain about that!), two weekends of "goof-off" sailing where I got three newbies out, and the NA's, at which I guess we were on the ice 6 days or so?  It all kind of ran together after awhile but it was great fun-  Good to be back on the circuit after a minimal year last year.

Didn't break anything, although I did scare the caca out of myself by trying some stickum on the mittens-  this GLUED the sheet in the ratchet blocks!  On a small and gusty lake no less-  I learned the lesson, tucked my tail between my legs and went home...  By the way, anybody wanna buy a mainsheet?  Needs a little cleanup...

All in all a fun season, looking forward to next year already...  Thanks to everyone involved-

Cheers, T

Thanks for the concern Ken,
Safety first, I use a 5 foot long steel ice chopper with a 3" wide bit on the end to test the ice each day before I venture out.  It was still SOLID.  I have seen the honeycomb ice you are talking about on many occasions, and it is nothing I want to mess with.

Hey T,
Does that mainsheet come with a bottle of Oxyclean? ;-)  Must have been fun cleaning up your blocks too.

Ayes

2010 sailing
3 days on Quabog in MA  240 miles driving
1 day on Lake Wentworth NH  340 miles driving
2 days  on Sebago in ME  470 miles driving
5 Days on Lake Champlain  VT  900 miles
1 day on Pocatapog CT 30 miles driving
2 days on Webster MA  120 miles driving
2 Days on Winnipesauke NH  400 miles driving
5 days on Thunder Bay ON  2800 miles driving
1 day on Norton Reservoir MA 110 miles driving
1 day on Lake Sunapee NH  390 miles driving
Raced the Easterns, New England’s, Doc Fellows Regatta, Maine State championships and North Americans.
All in all a very good year, 23 days of sailing 16 of them on black ice,  in 5 states + Canada, not quite 6000 miles of driving.   I wore out one mainsheet, no breakages. 

Sail fast,
Next year

Eric US 5193