Detroit’s Elmer Millenbach (1912-1996), the creator of the Renegade iceboat, was arguably one of the most influential men in North American iceboat development. The boom of Ontario, Canada’s Class A Skeeter sailor Rob Intini carried the message “We All Play Elmer’s Tune” as a reminder.
Greg Whitehorse recently dropped off an interview with Elmer on a cassette tape recorded in 1989 by the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Over an hour-long, I edited the interview into different parts for the listener’s convenience and added a slide show.
In part one, Elmer recalls the beginning days of the DN and his frustration that he “…couldn’t find out what a DN was,” inspiring him to develop new ways of designing iceboat components such as runners. He knew there would soon be competition from the new front steering boats to see who could go the fastest. “You get enough kiddie cars together, and pretty soon, there’s a race.”
No matter what type of iceboat you race, watch and listen closely to this interview with 12 times DN World Champion Karol Jablonski. Karol breaks down every racing move he made on a short course with shifty winds.
Below is the original video Karol and Mike are discussing.
Watch this DN U.S. Nationals regatta film shot by professional videographer and DN sailor Peter Norton KA2 (yes, that’s an Australian sail designation because Peter’s by way of Australia.) Peter shared the raw video with DNer and University of Wisconsin Madison student Sam Bartel for editing. The result is outstanding.
Cancellation of the Gold Cup and North American Championships
The IDNIYRA Governing Committee earlier announced plans to decide by November 25th whether the 2021 Gold Cup would be held. Since publishing the Q&As it has become apparent that holding the regatta in 2021 is not feasible. The Canada-US land border closure has been extended to 21 December and Europeans cannot travel to either the US or Canada for non-essential reasons. Therefore the 2021 Gold Cup is cancelled.
It would be possible to delay making a decision about the 2021 North American Championships until the next decision about the Canada -US border, but public health restrictions within states and provinces make the feasibility of any international event doubtful at best. As a result the IDNIYRA Governing Committee has decided to cancel the 2021 North American Championships but will endeavour to hold an American Championship in the same timeframe.
When ice sailors, whether they own a Nite, DN, Skeeter, Renegade, Stern Steer, etc. get together, a compulsory topic of conversation is runners – how to sharpen and align them. Polish DNer Tomek Zakrzewski’s video breaks down DN shimming.
