2018 Western Challenge Debrief

4LIYC sailors Dave Elsmo, Doug Kolner, Hugh Sugar, and Tim Sugar are probably a bit tired and sore after sailing at the DN Western Challenge regatta over the weekend in Battle Lake, MN. Following are some photos and reports.

Resourcefulness at its finest.

Doug’s report lifted from his Facebook page:

4987 still looks great. New tenderized plank performed beautifully. Tough racing in 20-25 mph.
1st race tangled with an old friend at the leeward mark when he luffed up in front of me after dropping his main sheet. Had to go in and realign my runners. My next race, I was rounding the weather mark in a good hike when my port runner blew up. (No stiffeners. Would have helped. Longer chocks and big air overloaded them. 21st century DNers have carbon bodied 440c stainless. Rest if the platform is pretty deluxe though.) Did a 360 and parked with a boat heading right at me goin’ a million mph. Missed me. End of a great weekend of sailing with world champs and sailors from Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland and old friends from when I used to race these boats many years ago.
Battle Lake, MN full of Minnesota nice!!! Special thanks to Lars Barber for comin’ to play.

Sailing The Union

Union Terrace Iceboat

Dave Elsmo threads his way around the iconic UW Union Terrace sunburst chairs while carrying a DN hull.

Thanks to all who attended and helped with Sunday’s 4LIYC program at the University of Wisconsin Union. We were able to generate some interest with new people trying iceboating and interest some seasoned veterans into considering the journey to Lake Baikal.  And now we know how to bring iceboats into the Union – by walking them through the Terrace. Special thanks to Dideric Van Reimsdjik for his presentation and to Dave Elmso for arranging the room.
Union Terrace Iceboat Baikal

Ice Sailors Compete in Mackinac Race

UPDATE: July 25, 2018
Congratulations to the Equation Team for winning the Section 01 / Mackinac Cup Division. Results

Via Ron Sherry’s Facebook page, posted July 23: “Wow Equation first in class First over all so far in the 333 mile Chicago to Mackinac race. One of the toughest races I ever competed in. It blew hard from the north up to 30 Kts. the whole way with Huge waves. We never put up a spinnaker or a jib top or a staysail. It was up wind against the waves the whole way. We had 17 crew that never left the rail. Most of the crew only went below to put dry clothes on or bring snacks up for the rest of the crew. WHAT A SUPER HUMAN EFFORT!!! The big difference was when the call was made to sail right up the middle of the lake on port tack Sunday morning taking the best of what Lake Michigan had to offer WOW. The pounding Equation and the crew took was brutal, but we got a 25 degree left wind shift with lots of leverage and reached across the fleet with a huge lead we would never relinquish. We finished at 4:00 am. this morning, and all the bars were closed, but don’t worry we will get our fair share today.”

Equation Mackinac 2018

Photo; Julie Jankowski

EQUATION

Another sign of the high season of summer approaches, the Race to Mackinac and ice sailors will be on board some of the 350+ boats that will race from Chicago to Mackinac Island on Lake Michigan. The racing begins on July 21. Here’s the annual list and please email to me and let me know if I’ve missed anyone.

  • EQUATION (Section 01)
    Ron Sherry DN US44
    Chris Clark DN US4789
    Tom Dawson DN US5470
    Skip Dieball DNUS5
    Griffin Sherry DN US4
  • DENALI (Turbo Division)
    Rick Hennig DEUCE stern-steerer
    Dave Elsmo DN US5486
    Dave Aguilar DN sailor
    Matt Barron DN sailor
    Nick Hovland DN sailor
  • BANDIT
    (Section 2), with DNer Chris Berger DN US5166 and Marcy Grunert. BANDIT’S owners Arvid Eiesland and Joe Kestler have DNs, Arrows, and an old Palmer Skeeter. John Poast is also an ice sailor on this boat.
  • SHMOKIN’ JOE Section J111
    Julie Jankowski DN US4271
  • WINDSONG (Section 8) has DNer Andy Camarda on board.
  • MC^2 (Section 01)
    Matthew Kickhafer DN US5602
    Steve Kennedy DN sailor

YOU Can Help Build a Fleet!


4LIYC DN/Skeeter sailor and UW Sailing Coach, Dave Elsmo, has been getting college age sailors into iceboats this winter but he needs your help! If you have an old DN hulls, chocks, or masts, please get in touch with Dave so he can put together some boats for these enthusiastic new ice sailors.. You can email to me debwhitehorse@iceboat.org  if you don’t have Dave’s contact information.

 We had 12 new sailors on the loaners boats between Saturday and Sunday. I have three students that are really interested in racing more and possibly building their own programs. I have two planks without chocks, an extra set of stays, 1 spare mast and three spare sails. Can the group find some old DN hulls,chocks, and a masts? Fun fact, Ben Witman was competitively racing on Sunday with an old fiberglass Sherry mast. Get your old parts on the ice!
Dave Elsmo

4LIYC Racing Scores Updated

Photo from the Yahara Project Instagram page, A documentary project on the Yahara Watershed.

After waiting out a snow flurry, the club was able to race on Sunday, January 28 on Lake Mendota and Tim McCormick has tabulated the standings.4LIYC Scores, Jan 30, 2018
A highlight of that day on Mendota was several college-age soft water sailors being introduced to our sport. Daniel Hearn put it best in his Facebook post:

Tip of the helmet to Dave Elsmo, who seemingly had the entire UW Sailing Team out taking turns and racing with us. Great exposure for our sport, due to Dave’s tireless ambassadorship!