iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

Wow - another awesome weekend at White Bear. Despite the fact that we had less than 40 hours of temps at or below freezing in the last week, we lost very little ice thickness. The ice is still 4 - 6 inches in most places. The surface is near perfect although slightly mottled.

Not a lot of wind Saturday, but the breeze was 8 - 14 mph today, averaging around 10 most the time. Not too much ice boat traffic as I think people were nervous about the warm weather.

CAUTION: between the Peninnsula and the Island there is a long stretch of wide open water along the pressure ridge mentioned last week. One Nite sailor lost it into the hole and destroyed his boat but thankfully scrambled to safety (broken mast went through the deck!). Many boats stopped to help in the rescue effort - never sail alone!

I spoke with US 4824 just now... US 824 sailed the Spring Park Bay sailing area last night for 90 minutes without incident... his reported observation was the ice was smoother than last weekend... and about the same thickness.

4824 fished the bay Wednesday evening, in excess of 20 whacks with a sharp chisel point spud to penetrate, 5-6" observed where he fished.

Based on this, we plan an 11:00 start tomorrow in Spring Park... if ice is unsuitable, we'll contemplate moving to the wonder ice in Waconia or Buffalo (less than 20 miles)

Alternatively, there are boats set up in the Cottagewood firelanes of the lower lake, there's a high probability they'll find the excelsior bay, echo bay areas of the lower lake to be suitable... look for a post on ice conditions there as well.

Walked on echo bay, from wekota beach park, tonka bay, mn this afternoon ~ 3:30 there's a fair amount of water standing on the ice, ~ 20-30% coverage...

The sun/water have gotten to the top 1/8 - 1/4 inch of surface, leaving it a bit opaque, cracks show about 4" of ice, without the means to bore some holes, and objectively assess the ice thickness, we opted not to sail...

Based on this observation and the forecast I anticipate setting up on Saturday in Spring Park Bay to check the ice... sailing if suitable, looking Northward if not...

think ice

4695

McDonagh Brothers Computer Consulting's
Annual Holiday Party
We would like to join with you in celebrating the relationships that enrich our lives and give meaning to our daily activities.

We appreciate the special relationships we have with our clients (and iceboaters..) and look forward to the opportunity to express our thanks for a successful year.

When:
Thursday, December 14th
4:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Where:
McDonagh Brothers Computer Consulting
2205 California Street NE
Suite #101
Minneapolis
612.435.2000

We'll have plenty of holiday cheer and food.

Been sailing South West side of Waconia for over 1 week now & ice is in great shape. A pressure ridge (marked with thin ice signs) runs from around Nancy's Landing to the South side of the Island but conditions West of the ridge are great. Aside from that it is just the fishing holes that you need to watch out for. Best launch point for the SW corner is Coney Park off Lake Street. Only seen one other boat out so far this year!

We've been sailing Gudien's bay since the wind came up. It's so smooth it makes the weekends ice seem rough!

New to the Twin Cities from Michigan and looking for an introduction to iceboating. I saw the recent post on SailingAnarchy and would like to see what it is all about. i have sailing and kiteboarding experience and spent the summer on a j22 on minnetonka if that helps. willing to travel. Thanks!

Peter Cornue
734.645.9537

I read the notes from the Nite annual meeting last year. I think the discussion missed the boat by bringing up carbon for a mast material. If a change is made to the Nite class rules it should be with a standard glass spar. It could be made to fit in the existing rules with the addition of a weight requirement. It would not be very expensive. It would solve the duribility issues and not make all the existing masts obsolete.

We know there are plenty of clear frozen lakes, pretty much everything along the I 94 corridor Metro to Lake Christina...

We also know its been warm...

The lakes outside the metro area have been, according to the weather sources, 5 or more degrees cooler...

Here's a plan...

Thursday we'll be checking metro lakes, (Mtka, White Bear, etc) assessing the damage the warm temps have done. If conditions warrant, we consider moving northwest until suitable ice is located.

1. Buffalo
2. Osakis 90 miles up 94/ or Minnewaska, near Glenwood. (reported 7" on 12/5) 80 miles up MN 55

Photo of boat can be seen on Nite Website (http://www.pyc.org/nitephoto.htm. )under link to photos.

I'm looking for a used F01 sail. I'm not a small guy, so the speed sail isn't exactly what I'm looking for in a sail. It seems the F01 is the thing to have for me.

Thanks,
Will Foster
612-804-9019 mobile

Upper Minnetonka, 15 DN's sailed, a couple Arrows and other craft joined us on the ice.

Two nearly perfect days of rumbling on "light speed" grade ice, lots of rips, 4824 and 4975 set the pace, freshly issued sail numbers 5366, 5369, and KA 1 all seemed really quiet.

The most fun was had by Molly the Iceboating dog.

The Spar "Stinktier Werks" boys, Dave & Tom had three new carbon masts on the ice, they all seemed pretty happy with the spars.

Sailing continued until Sunset, changing over to angle runners in the dying, and barely perceptable breeze, KA 2, Norton, took a sunset ghost ride, sailing, not pushing in perhaps 3 mph of wind.

The ice was so sweet today. I had some great rips until a spin out ended my day.The first thing I noticed was the mast slowly going down. Then I looked to the side and the plank was gone! I was about two miles away from my launch spot. I lashed the broken piece of the plank to the remaining plank with the mainsheet so I could push it home. Then Andy and Rats came by and we were able to fashion a tow by putting my front runner on Andy's plank and I straddled the bow of my boat and held onto the side stay of his. Pretty slick and it saved a long walk home.

Cool Story, Good Pics.

On Line Copy: On Line Copy:

I followed the link but had to search "iceboat" to find the story

4695

White Bear has near perfect ice conditions. We had something like 25 Nites, a handful of DNs and a few other craft out there today. Winds were only 6 - 11 mph or so, but some nice rides anyway.

Forecast for Sunday is similar. Best breeze may be early morning.

Dr. Lee-vil
Nite 512