Karol’s Winning Moves in the DN Ice Yacht – YouTube
Karol takes you lap by lap through a DN race and explains exactly why he makes the moves he does. Great lessons as well for those who don’t race but still want to get to that remote cove for lunch with the rest of the fleet. It’s all about the wind.
Hoping Chickawaukee will wet out today and be good to sail tomorrow. Stand By.
Ken Smith demystifies why runners work on ice but not other hard surfaces, concrete, for example, in the latest issue of Runner Tracks. Fascinating.
2021 February Runner Tracks Newsletter – DN North America
Not much to report for sailing ice. If you are anywhere in New England you have only to look out your window to see why. There were many fingers crossed for Sebago, the last great unfrozen lake but it was too little cold to late. Ironically the rule of thumb is that Sebago will be frozen by President’s Day. How cool it would have been if she came in right on schedule.
Someday we’ll be able to go back to Lake Baikal, so we might as well get to know the locals:
One of the most common questions from people curious about iceboating is if we can sail in the snow. We hem and haw about bonded vs. unbonded and maximum depths,etc, and about loosing split rings and clevis pins in the powder. But the deal deal breaker is the loads on the boat. Unless you’re sailing a Monotype or the Mary B. the loads really build up in all the wrong places.
A DN sailor on Lake George learned this the hard way today.
Here we are having a great time doing power slides in the snow as if to say not only am I sailing in it, I am dominating it!
Next slide please:
We must admire the guy’s spirit. Snow is all we have all over, so if there’s a breeze on a sunny day our insides just cry out to go sailing. We attempted it ourselves here last week to no avail, probably thankfully. Not much of a recovery anywhere in the forecast, but the cold snap coming might button up lakes on Cape Cod. So for now, just relax and make a snow man or go skiing.
Last month at Sabattus the day started off with light air. The ice fishermen didn’t feel the need to tie down their tent, and all was fine until the wind began to build. As we were leaving the pits after lunch Jim Gagnon noticed the Red Eskimo doing what Eskimos do, running across the ice downwind. He managed to outrace it before it made the far shore and get his plank around behind it. Boat and tent coasted to a quiet stop.
That was then, but just the day before yesterday at Green Bay, Wisconsin, this amazing section of Lake Michigan was discovered and sailed by a few Nites and a Lockley. Pending snow precluded bigger plans.
They’ve had a tough year so far, so this ice must have felt great. Thanks to Mike Peters for the photo.
Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 