Good evening from a colder and drier Sweden. Yes, the newspaper trick worked for my boots, they were nice and dry this morning. We were concerned that “double ice”, what North Americans call shell ice, would develop last night. There was a little bit of shell ice that I saw around the pits but nothing to stop the racing. The Bronze fleet was set to race the first race of the day when the wind pulled a 90 degree shift. The course was reset and the racing began. Second day results here.
On the social side, our Swedish friend Lillan Evers who worked on many race committees in Europe as a scorer, is here in the cabin making us a spaghetti dinner and is staying with us for a few days. Skoal!
Good evening from wet Orsa Lake in Sweden, site of the 2020 IDNIYRA World Championship regatta. Did I mention that it was wet? I have newspapers stuffed into my boots in an attempt to dry them out. (Thanks to photographer Sean Heavey for that tip!) But the important thing is that the qualifiers, 2 B fleet, and 2 A fleet races were sailed. The winds were all over the place, both in direction and velocity. The ice was hard but I did hear racers mention that there were soft spots that grabbed runners a bit. The winner of the first race, Tomasz Zakrzewski P55, said that he was “fighting the boat” during the race and changed his runners from 100s to 95s for the second race. Tomasz’ brother, Lukasz P155, was in second place in the first race, the first time the brothers have lined up in the one two blocks for the next race. Their dad was right there with them, enjoying the action. The course was changed several times and the A fleet race started in light air but ended in heavier air. After an unusually dismal first race, Karol Jablonski P36 found his groove, battled against Ron Sherry US44 in the second lap, and took the checkers for the second race. The temperature is supposed to get cold tonight which will take care of the water on the ice. That’s all for now. It’s time to exchange the newspaper in my boots!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention why Daniel Hearn received a DSQ in the B qualifier. He sailed between the darling mark and the mark, not recognizing that the darling mark was a stick with red flag rather than a smaller mark like in North America.
The hunt for regatta ice has started in Europe for the 2020 IDNIYRA World and European Championships, scheduled for February 8 – 15. After a one week break from the 2020 NAs held in the “Middle of Nowhere” Fort Peck, MT, North American competitors will begin their migration east. I’ll be tagging along and also attending the 2020 Junior Worlds from February 16 – 21. Watch for updates on this website and the IDNIYRA Europe website.
The map above is embedded on the Championship History page of this website. Interesting to note that the distance between the farthest west we’ve gone (Fort Peck, Montana) and the farthest east (St. Petersburg, Russia) is 4500 miles! That trip to Montana added some miles to our regatta map.
We are very excited that Glasglow Montana photographer and drone pilot extraordinaire, Sean Heavey, will be joining us for the Gold Cup. DNs are not only fast and fun to sail, they are also a vehicle for creativity, as Sean and many other photographers have discovered.
North American Competitors Going for the Gold:
Chris Berger US5166
John Curtis KC5144
Robert Cummins US3433
Daniel Hearn US5352
Rhea Nicholas US4783
Ron Sherry US44
James “T” Thieler US5224
The DN is most popular iceboat in the world. Whether you are a racer or cruiser, your $25 membership in the IDNIYRA helps to promote the art and skill of DN ice yacht construction and the sport of ice yachting on all the hard waters of the world.
