Iceboats in Advertising Archives
Marketing cars with iceboats has a long history. Even the DN itself is named after The Detroit News, and over the years this site has shared plenty of examples from the “Mad Men” era, when Detroit advertisers paired cars with wind power to sell speed and style.
This video came out today from Skoda featuring a well-known Polish DN champion, Łukasz Zakrzewski, who has sailed our own lakes more than a few times.
Video link.
The Western Region of the DN Class (WI, MN, IL, IA, IN, UP of MI) is hosting the DN World & North American Championship in just a few days. Ice sailors from Poland and Sweden are here to train on Lake Kegonsa. The regatta site information will be announced on January 18, 2023, on idniyra.org. Regatta information.
Boat preparations are underway for the first-ever C-Skeeter Polish Match Racing Championship. Current DN World Champion, Robert Graczyk, will face off with former DN World Champion, Tomek Zakrzewski, on Lake Kegonsa in Stoughton, Wisconsin this Wednesday, January 18. Weather permitting, of course. At stake is a meal of Polish delicacies including pirogies and Polish sausage. But none of that cold soup. The loser will treat the winner and the boat owners/race committee at the prize giving ceremony, which will take place sometime during the ‘23 DN Worlds/North Americans.
To date, only the Black Ice/Loren ipsum camp has responded to requests for information about boat prep. The Drifter camp remains shielded under a cloak of secrecy, no doubt working on another traveler-like innovation to create an unfair advantage.
To make sure the race track is level, the two competitors will trade boats after each race, and the championship will conclude after an even number of races. Clearly the Drifter camp strategists have failed to read the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions.
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.
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.
2013 Mozambique Postal Stamp featuring DN and Renegade Class iceboats. The boat left middle US44 is Ron Sherry of Detroit, MI.
2013 Mozambique Postal Stamp featuring a Renegade class ice boat.
Bob Cummins inquired if the iceboat stamp issued by the US Post Office had ever been featured on iceboat.org. His email was a great jumping off point to search for other examples. I knew that Poland had issued a set and the Google pointed to Postal History Corner; Canadian Postal and Philatelic History where there’s a comprehensive page dedicated to ice sailing stamps and postcards from around the world. Until yesterday, the only thing I knew about the eastern African country, Mozambique was that Bob Dylan had written a song about it. What a surprise to learn that Mozambique had issued 6 iceboating stamps in 2013! All of these stamps are available to buy on ebay or stamp collecting websites.
1955 Hungarian postal stamp featuring a Monotype iceboat.
1978 Polish postal stamp issued in conjunction with the DN Gold Cup sailed at Krynica Morska, Poland, February 6-11, 1978.
1985 American stamp with a stern-steerer iceboat.
National Iceboat Authority Web Page
Location: In person at the Elks Lodge 711 Jenifer St, Madison, WI 53703
Time: 6:30 PM
YOU ARE SKIPPER NUMBER
TO ROUND THE MARK SINCE NOVEMBER 1999.
