European Championship. Wrap

[flyandice]

Strong winds today delayed racing until 2pm.  We launched when it got down to about 20k. 
All three fleets got in two races with lots of spins and broken parts.  Karl got a seventh after a 360 in one race and then won the other.  He is the over all champ.  The regatta was completed and awards presented tonight (Thursday).  The Poles won the team trophy.  The venue, ice and weather were extrodinary with 13 races completed in each fleet.  The organizers did a great job! --- Mercedes and I traveled from Raleigh to London to Hamburg, rented a car and drove to Jorg's town to pick up my boat.  We spent the night there then drove to Kiel to catch the ferry with a group of northern German iceboaters.  The ferry from Kiel to Klaipeda, Lithuania was overnight, about 18 hours (part of the trip through sea ice).  We then drove eight hours to Parnu, Estonia and spent the night there at Yacht Club with other iceboaters. From Parnu it's about two hours on to the town of Kuressaare on the island of Saaremaa.  We will leave in the morning and reverse the course flying out Hamburg early Monday arriving in Raleigh late in the afternoon. Iceboating in Europe is a great way to see some of the country tourists miss.  Oh, I finished 39 out of 51 in Silver-- HB

[Geoff Sobering]

Hal,

Thanks for the great reports! 
I hope you have an uneventful trip back.

Cheers,

Geoff S.

[sonic]

wow that sounds like an awsome trip! I'd love to travel just out west for a reggata. I use to travel the world in search of waves but now i'm settled down with 3 kids and a lot of bills. I did get 12 local days of sailing in so im stoked for that. Hope the future brings me more time to travel for this new hobby i'm crazing. Cheers and thanks for the updates.