One of the constants in ice sailing is that the ice continually changes. Some big cracks developed overnight on the racing course and the Race Committee made the decision to cancel the European Championship.  Competitors were disappointed but respected the fact that the RC put their safety first. I’m staying on for the Junior Championship.

World Champions: From left, 4th Madars Alvikis O31, 3rd Anton Didenko R163, 2nd Karol Jablonski P36, and 1st Lukasz Zakrzewski P155.

European Championship Day 1: Another Ground Hog Day*
The European Championship regatta was supposed to have begun today but as of 1400 local time, the wind hasn’t made an appearance. If it does, I’ll let you know.
*Ground Hog Day is a movie about being caught up in a time loop and repeatedly reliving the same day. The 2010 North American regatta is also known affectionately as the Ground Hog Day Regatta.

Lukasz Zakrzewski P155 moments after being declared the 2020 Gold Cup Champion    Photo: Sean Heavey

Congratulations to Lukasz Zakrzewski P155 of Poland for winning the 2020 DN World Championship, Dideric van Riemsdijk S867 for first place in the Silver fleet, and Paul Jorgensen D156 for first place in the Bronze fleet. Today was a carbon copy of yesterday with no wind. Competitors hung tough waiting for a wind that never arrived. This is Lukasz’ first time winning a Gold Cup. The last “first time” winner was Sweden’s Thomas Karlsson in 2004. This is the 9th year in a row that a Polish competitor has won the Gold Cup. See Gold Cup history here. Off to prize giving soon and then the European Championship starts tomorrow. Please send wind!

Russian competitors Valentina Kozlova R79 of St. Petersburg and Anastasia Chernova R95 of Moscow.

A Post About Nothing
A quick update before heading to dinner, organized by Jorg Bohn G737 and Lillen with some of the Russian competitors. Nothing happened today because the wind didn’t arrive at all. In true ice sailing fashion, people stood around, visited friends, discussed runners, measured cockpits, snacked on candy and chocolate, and enjoyed the beautiful day. The wind teased us at the end of the day and a C fleet race was attempted but didn’t make the time limit. The DN Gold Cup continues into Thursday.

Karol Jablonski P36

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.

Fleet heads home