the IceMaker's blog

Several of us; The Reverend Petey, at Head Injury Media, Aussie Peter Norton of RumJungle Media, Geoff S, and myself for sure have been talking... about "Telling The Story", the story of iceboating, like with all this ice, and all this sailing, the speed, the thin ice, there's a couple great stories to be told. ...like just checking the ice

HINT: Open hyperlinks in separate window, you should be able to leave the sound on.
1. Right click Mouse when cursor is on Hyperlink
2. Scroll to Open in New Window,

Link to page: Self Rescue or How to be your own best friend!

http://www.iceboating.net/node/2323

A reprint of Bob Dill's excellent article from the IDNIYRA Site, and a couple other thoughts.

“…and one of us will win!” The softer side of hardwater racing.
Parts of this date from 1992 and I cannot speak to the prior evolution of the sport locally; these are my observations.

John Dennis and Jimmy Gluek suckered me into test sailing a DN Iceboat on Medicine Lake Minnesota in the spring of 1991, it was a great spring day, blowing 10-15 mph. I tried it once and owned a boat that very day and have every day since then. What a hoot, it still is.

I did my first real regatta sailing in ‘92 at a Western Regional Regatta on Lake Winnebago, 50 boats a fleet and two full fleets, maybe 7 guys from Minnesota went; JD, Meyer, Dick Hatfield, the Doctor, and Bruce Smith & Myself. It blew and we all had a riot. Of course I recall we all pretty much got our asses kicked by the Michigan & Wisconsin guys.

Photo Credit: Geoff Sobering

The Weather Channel announced the Series "Epic Conditions", in January of this year,
The Weather Channel
updated 1/08/07
Epic Conditions

Coming in early 2007, dates and times TBA
The Weather Channel will follow thrill seekers such as sailboarders and mountain bikers. (Genres: Human Interest, Lifestyle).
____________________________________________________

I've repeatedly had a giggle over the blistering I've taken by some of the more stoic iceboaters, about the use of this particular word,... and about the use of hyperbole in promotional arts.

It's been a bit chilly up here in Minnesota... a big chunk of Superior's frozen... to our delight as iceboaters... we'll be there real soon.

Just got this from my Dad, Sweet ol Bruce,
and thought I'd share:

How About That Weather????

60 above zero:

Floridians turn on the heat.

People in Minnesota plant gardens.

50 above zero:

Californians shiver uncontrollably.

People in Duluth sunbathe.

40 above zero:

Italian & English cars won't start.

People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:

Distilled water freezes.

The water in Bemidji gets thicker. (there's 4" of ice on Lake Christina)

A while ago, a guy named Michael Porter wrote a couple books on Strategy. I suspect I'm the only DNer in Minnesota who's read his work, at least some days it seems that way...

Nonetheless, we've applied some of his ideas with success in growing The Great DN Western Challenge Regatta ... and more importanly in growing the depth and breadth of participation in the DN Fleet in Minnesota.

Highly recommended reading if you want to grow the sport in your area. It also applies to business. Tip of the Helmet to him.

I'll attempt to outline this in detail when time allows.

4695

I just wonder...

is tracking the first boatable ice or better... where are we sailing on Dec 1... could be as far south as Peppin, OshKosh, or Iowa...or further North... a good measure of global warming?

My guess is you guys will all get to sail on Devil's Lake, North Dakota at least once, on our way to Canada, eh.

It's really big, really shallow in many bays, and they've got a history of iceboating there that goes back to the 1870's the smaller bays are reported to be frozen now.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Kiefer
To: JOHN LOOMIS
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2005 1:39 PM
Subject: Western Challenge Regatta

John,

Thanks for volunteering to serve as Regatta Chairman for what, if memory serves, is our 12th western challenge regatta with an international field.

At the North American Championships, they have a special name for DNers who didn’t sail the Western Challenge Regatta…

The Bronze Fleet!

To me, this regatta is all about winning the North Americans!

Just like the Minnesota Ice Sailing Association, this event is almost entirely of evolutionary structure, There’s really no job description for the regatta chairman, it’s a whatever you think is important, and largely ceremonial role.

Several areas to discuss w the members...

1: Corporate status... right now we're probably an unrecorded general partnership, from a legal entity perspective... given the size of the fleet attending our western challenge event, perhaps we should consider incorporating the organization.

2: It's a royal pain to try to score boats, and my understanding is, this is thought as a good thing to do... even if we insist there are no "bragging rights" that come from this event. One thing that would simplify the process is simply registering boats that wish to sail. Capturing name, home town, sail number, etc.

- JD will update the trophy, engraving DN Western Challenge for name, and prior winners, such as they are.

- Stephanie will append housing list & prices by noon today, forwarding for posting to this site.

- Additionally, a site for the saturday night clambake will be determined today for posting to the site.

- Dr. & JD will confirm locations of marks & starting blocks & flags prior to Friday.

- Gaps remaining: Race officer(s) of course we expect we may have to split the fleet, due huge turnout expected. If this is the case, we can split the administration... in the alternate, we'll use the "maine plan" for self officiating, using either a toss or average points awarded for the scoring competitor.