by Deb Whitehorse | Mar 5, 2021 | 2020-2021, Home Page
Daniel Hearn C Class Skeeter at Fort Peck Montana February, 2021. Photo: Sean R. Heavey
Via the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club Facebook page from Daniel Hearn:
Who wants to go to Fort Peck, Montana next year? I’m thinking a Baikal-like annual adventure open to all ice sailors. At the end of the season when the rest of our ice is typically un-sailable. Those of us in the Midwest and further left would likely still drive. And maybe we arrange for containers to go from the Central Region and the East? The town would roll out the red carpet for us and maybe even throw in some tourism dollars support. What do you think?
Let us know what you think. Email debwhitehors@gmail.com
Pat Heppert C Class Skeeter on Fort Peck . Photo Sean R. Heavey
Daniel Hearn C Class Skeeter at Fort Peck Montana February, 2021. Photo: Sean R. Heavey
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by Deb Whitehorse | Feb 27, 2021 | 2020-2021, Home Page
Here are some of Montana’s Mini Skeeter fleet who joined us at Fort Peck including John Eisenlohr, Dave Gluek, and Dave Farmer. Via John Eisenlohr’s Facebook page. Now I’m getting ready to head to Green Lake for the Renegade Championship and Nite Commodore’s Cup.
We joined Deb Whitehorse , Daniel Hearn and Pat Heppert at Fort Peck. Some locals from Glasgow showed up with DN’s. We drove 8 hours east on the high line of Montana to get there. Its been good sailing and fun racing the last 3 days. So far I’ve logged 253 miles of sailing. Thanks for inviting us to the photo shoot.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Feb 24, 2021 | 2020-2021, Home Page
Photo: Sean R. Heavey
Good morning again from below Fort Peck dam near the Missouri River. We had a long but fun day on the ice. We decided to move base camp from the marina landing to Duck Creek, the 2020 DN North Americans’ launch site. There was a rough ice area between the launch and the black ice that would have been difficult for the C Skeeters to push through. (DNers who used the south launch on Black Lake in Michigan at the U.S. Nationals will understand. It was challenging moving a DN through the minefield; imagine pushing a C Skeeter.)
We had plenty of willing and capable help to figure out the logistics of the move. Sean and his friend Dave carefully towed Daniel and Pat across the rough ice and around a heave. Once on the black ice, the sails remained rolled up on the planks, and they sailed using only their masts to the new launch.
The wind finally subsided enough later in the afternoon for some sailing and photography. A line of snow squalls on the other side of the lake provided an artistic backdrop.
After a dinner at the Gateway, we went back to the ice so that Sean, Dave, and another friend of his, Carlos, could experiment with lighting effects for night photography. Underwater flares were cool to watch, but they didn’t provide enough light for these photographers’ vision.
Sean, Dave, and Carlos brought out a host of specialized lights and rigging. We’ll be on the ice again tonight and hoping for a clear night sky with visible stars.
The winds are conducive for C Skeeter sailing at 12-18 mph with a 30F temperature. Pat is cooking up some eggs, and I’d better get ready to go to the ice. We are also expecting some Montana sailors to arrive this afternoon.
Here’s how Lake Mendota compares to Fort Peck Lake.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Feb 23, 2021 | 2020-2021, Home Page
The playground, scoured by 55 mph gusts on Monday.
Good morning from the shores of one of the dredge cuts leftover from the Fort Peck Dam construction in Montana. We’ll be heading to the lake when the sun rises to set up the boats.
On Sunday night, we arrived in Minnesota to pick up Pat and his C skeeter. Of course, this being iceboating, Daniel’s boat needed a few adjustments to the cascading block system. Then the trailer had to be painstakingly packed to avoid any other component rubbing and potentially to destroy the bubble canopies. Happy to report that all parts arrived in excellent conditions.
We drove all through the night towards the setting moon, practically the only traffic on the interstate through North Dakota. We met up with Sean Heavey in Glasgow at breakfast as the high wind warnings came to fruition and made a plan for the day.
Ice fishing folks braving the 55 mph wind gusts filled the landing we used for the 2020 DN North Americans. Pat and Daniel helped local DNer Tim Ogrinic wrestle his DN off the ice and checked into our house located 20 minutes from the landing. It was a day to scout for courses from the car and return to the Gateway restaurant for lunch, where we spent a lot of time in 2020.
We’ll be leaving soon to set up at the Marina landing. The ice more towards the dam has excellent potential. Stay tuned on Facebook and here for an evening report.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jan 20, 2020 | 2019-2020, DN, Home Page
Time lapse video from Jeff Kent’s 40 hour journey from Boston to Montana. Jeff and his traveling partners Charlie Blair of Martha’s Vineyard, MA and Bernd Zeiger of Kiel, Germany drove nearly non-stop and completely avoided winter storm Jacob with a wide rounding maneuver.
The scorers practicing counting boats on the line.
A quick update before heading to the launch. Our caravan pulled in to the hotel at 9 PM Sunday evening. The winner to the race to Montana goes to Jeff Kent and crew who arrived a few hours ahead of us. The drive was fairly uneventful with a few miles of black ice to deal with in Minnesota. We stopped near sunset at Keelboat Park on the Missouri River in Bismark, North Dakota to let it sink in that we had reached the west. Heading to the launch in an hour and will update later. At breakfast, Peter Johanson, IDNIYRA Vice Commodore Jody Kjoller, and Trey Rose appeared after having driven straight through from the Toledo area. They stopped at the launch before coming to the hotel and planted the TIYC colors.
One giant step for the Toledo Ice Yacht Club.
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