the IceMaker's blog

A sailor, Bismarck Dinius, after a regatta on Clear Lake, CA, jumped on an O'Day 27 for a starlight cruise with some friends... pitch black, starry skies, light breeze, what a promising night for a sail.

Open in new window: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nTRT2Ldau8

Gusting to about 4 mph, ghosting along, they were hit by a 375 hp 24' Baja powerboat, doing between 40 and 60 mph driven by the number two law enforcement guy in Lake County, CA, and Bismarck was sucked into the maelstrom, a perfect storm.

The Vernal Equinox, the perfect balance of dark and light, marking a new beginning.

Four weeks ago, after Geneva and Mendota had gone away, we sailed an epic Western Regionals on Lake Pepin the last weekend possible before it turned...

Two weeks ago we sailed Minnetonka, under similar, albeit rougher conditions, and it was great.

This weekend, sailors from Minnesota again are out sailing on ice, marking the end of a milestone season of ice racing in Minnesota. No doubt about it, 602 and 4811 will be telling us all we missed another epic weekend of ice sailing.

From the Close to the Edge files: Excuse me while I whip this out...

I know some girls will get naked on a frozen lake for a comfort stop, or whatever, but not many. : (

This simple fact of life seems to limit participation in our sport, because miles out there on a frozen lake in a speed suit, there simply is no place to go.

Seems to me, if there was something like a slightly more delicate way for a girl to take a leak there would be a lot more women spending their days on the ice.

Walking thru the C-store this morning the small picture at the top of the Star Tribune looked too familiar, sitting on a pile of sandbags, as The Red River of the North slowly inching towards a crest sure to test. (Front Page, Above the Fold)

John worked the front of my E Scow for about a decade in the 80's and we've lost touch, what a way to find an old friend...

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Streaming On Line- Island 92, from tropical Sint Maarten,

Now blasting hot music to the frozen north!

http://pjil.streamon.fm/player/player.php?username=pjil&stream=44k&type=...

What a hoot!

Interview on iceboat racing to air on March 29 http://twitter.com/oceanmedia/status/1360243539

Faster, Faster, Faster Until the thrill of speed excedes the threat of death!

4695

Driving back from Pepin WI, listening to some great tunes (e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtuvXrTz8DY ), enjoying the spectacular vista's of Lake Pepin, and knowing the aches of a triple digit mileage sailing weekend will be with me for a few more hours... first it was just a flash across the windshield, could it be?

Yup, Coming down a hill at about 60, yup there's another...

Bugs in the windshield... I think it was a moth.

I'm pretty sure when they start hatching for the season, the lake nearby is toast!

It seems like we're sailing a lot of regattas on Lake Pepin lately. Two NA's and a couple maybe 3 Western Regionals come to mind, including this upcoming one.

Why is it that we seem to be rotating our regatta launch sites from Lake City, MN to Pepin WI and back, sailing on one side of the pond for one event, and on the other side of the pond for the next event? (open in seperate window) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6xmPQEgLGg

I don't know if this is by design or just the natural order of things DN, the DN way of doing regattas.

Garrison Keillor: The delicate art of brotherly love

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/40668967.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyq...

The passing of an "Ice Sailor" whom we did not know around here.

Well worth the read.

4695

ABC News Good Morning America will run a story on Ice Racing, pitched and filmed by WIRC Collaborator and Racer KA 2, Peter Norton, of Rum Jungle Media, at 2008 Great Western Challenge Regatta, in Osakis MN on December 5,6 & 7.

I'm told the story will run on ABC News, Good Morning America on Sunday March 1, and most likely also available on their website after the story airs.

read more... http://www.worldiceracingcircuit.com/Forum/tabid/63/forumid/2/threadid/1...

And a sailor friend of mine said, what do they know about sailin, and I replied they know a lot about turning left and going fast... I bet with about a week of practice they'll kick some asses...

We've been asked to demonstrate iceboating prior to the St Paul Winter Carnival Fire on Ice Event for a local network affiliate.

The media demonstration event will be sceduled at your comparative convieniece if you have one that can be made available.

Ideally the Side Car will be available media opportunities for the Entire Winter Carnival Event.

Please contact the IceMaker

4695

As an old Auctioneer once told me, "With all this 'sh!#' around here, there has to be a Pony hiding someplace!"

It's now a month since the Great Western Challenge Regatta, and we've seen snow every 48 hours since then... Snow again today, snow forecast for Monday/Tuesday.

Lake Phalen on Thursday Jan 8 had 12 inches of ice, covered by 1.5 inches of dense snow, not deep, but we'd need more than the 5mph breeze forecast for Saturday...but for the 1-5 inches forecast for today, Peppin, near Frontenac/Maiden Rock probably better.

I took my DN off the car roof this morning, for first time in a month, when not sailing. They say they're having a Blizzard in the Alexandria/Fergus Falls areas right now... expecting 8-12 inches of snow, gusting to 40 mph today.

It's amazing what this event is growing into... Jan Gougeon said on Sunday, "Those people out on that ice, they are alive today".

70 or so DN's from all over (4 Countries, 11 States) came to sail in Osakis Minnesota, and it sure looked like about 20 ice opti's out banging around doing the Ice-Opti North American Championships. Most heartening was the number of new faces, in both fleets, and considering the cold temps and strong winds it was great to see all smiles.