T Thieler US 5224
Newbie
Posts: 90
Of course I respect you...
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« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2008, 07:37:16 AM » |
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The article is headed for the bottom of the SailingAnarchy page pretty fast so I thought I'd put the text up here:
Cheers, T
Pro File
Our Tip
Congratulations to US Sailor Matt Struble from Michigan for winning the Triple Crown of DN Iceboat racing and becoming the Seahorse / Sailing Anarchy Sailor of the Month for February 2008. That would be great, except it didn't happen! Sure some of you voted for him, but the Poms, Frogs, Euros, and some of you dummies voted for the wrong guy. Whatever, it still warrants a profile on Matt, and anarchist Vegas did just that. Enjoy.
Matt's sailing career probably began shortly after his departure from the womb. Matt started off sailing on a crazy piece of water of Lake Huron known as Saginaw Bay. To find Saginaw Bay and subsequently Bay City, hold your left hand out in front of you and place your right index finger in the slot between your left thumb and trigger finger. Boom! There' Saginaw Bay. Being very shallow and having three land masses close by on three sides, SB gives rise to big wind and waves with limited notice; great training ground for any sailor.
Matt cut his teeth sailing Force 5's out of the Bay City Yacht Club at age 7. By Age 16 Matt was dominating the highly competitive Inter 20 Catamaran fleet. For the next decade, Matt would go on to win 10 National and 3 World Championships. In 2000 he and Randy Smythe won the Worrell1000. Matt holds a 3 consecutive year reign on the Hobie Alter Cup also.
Winters in Bay City can be brutally cold and windy. So when Mother Nature gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Matt started sailing DN iceboats at age 8 on Tobico Marsh while being mentored by Bay City DN racing legends, Jan and Meade Gougeon. Since then Matt has been rising up the ranks of the class and recently hit the DN Trifecta!
2008 DN North American Championship 1/14 - 1/15/08 - 96 Boats / 3 Fleets
In January of 2008 Matt defended his 2007 DN North American Championship admirably on Lake Pepin in Minnesota in his home built DN (US-183). With a series of "horizon-jobs", Matt was able to take 6 bullets in the regatta throwing out a 4th place finish to beat John Dennis by 12 points.
2008 DN World Championship 2/17 , 2/18/08 2/20/08 - 183 Boats / 4 Fleets
Each year the venue for the DN World Championships switched between North America and Europe. In 2007 Green Bay on Lake Michigan was the site where Matt went on to win the 7 race regatta with 2 bullets, 4 deuces and a 3rd throw -out.
This year Lake Lipno in the Czech Republic was where the good ice was found for the European hosted 2008 World Championships. Following tradition, the night of the opening ceremonies was filled with consumption of copious amounts German schnapps and smoked eel. I can only fathom what that hang over would feel like. Over the next three days, Matt would go on to defend his world title, after commanding a 10 point lead over Polish iceboater Lukasz Zakrzewski.
Lukasz had pinched Matt out in 2006 to take 2nd in the DN Worlds. Matt's got the big prize now. I'd say Matt is doing a great job keeping the DN World Championship Cup here in the US where the DN originated.
2008 DN European Championship 2/21/08 -2/22/08 - 176 Boats / 4 Fleets
When you've already committed to dragging your boat half way around the world to kick some ass, the only logical thing to do is to stick around another couple of days and continue to kick ass. That's exactly what Matt Struble did. After the DN Worlds concluded the DN European Championships kicked off the next day. Matt was able to edge out a 6 point lead over long time friend, mentor, and 4 time World Champion Ron Sherry.
Winning the DN Triple Crown places Matt at the same podium with such Sailing Greats as DN's Ron Sherry and, AC Helmsman, Karol Jablonski from Desafio Espanol.
When the weather warms up and the ice melts away, Matt's interests will turn to going really fast in A-Class cats, which is his summer time passion.
Until then here's hoping Matt stays warm, finds good ice and continues to go fast.
03/19/08
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