iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

Succinctly, There are 4 lakes under observation with Big Sailing Areas That Are Currently Frozen in the general area between Fergus Falls and Perham Minnesota. The single big area without a visible hazard is the West Arm of Dead Lake... Casey Jones you'd better watch your speed...

There are two suitable launch sites, a public access, and a small resort store (open) with some ammenities, (byob) called Collins Landing... 23 miles from Fergus Falls. Today's walk out... more ice than I've sailed on in 5 or 6 venues including last year's Great DN Western Challenge Regatta. heed this, it's early, it's thin, it's subect to change.

4695 is in west central minnesota checking ice... ONE LAKE IS CURRENTLY SUITABLE, WE WILL SAIL THE BEST LOOKING LAKE TOMORROW

Additional details will be posted after ice checking is complete this afternoon.

Who's in?

Ice is Nice.

4695

Current temp: 20D F, Calm

A brief drive yesterday yielded two lakes which show great promise as sites for next weeks Great DN Western Challenge Regatta.

Christina has lost some ice, significant open water was visible from the launch site.

Dead Lake, West arm, was completely frozen yesterday afternoon / sunset and show great promise as an alternate location. Suitable size (about 2 miles across), launch site with ammenities, current ice. yahoo map dead lake

I am pleased to announce the 2006 Great DN Western Challenge Regatta is ON. Starting Dec 1, 2006, the primary site is changed to Collins Landing, West Arm Dead Lake, Maine, Minnesota

The lake was sailed by 3 gold fleet sailors on Sunday Nov 26 who characterized the site and ice as "Sweet"

Given we're have four frozen lakes also under observation, that are potentially suitable and a now very favorable forecast (I don't know what that really means in the face of a major iceboat regatta) We're pretty darn sure it'll be Epic.

The event headquarters is the Fergus Falls MN Best Western Motel, 925 Western Avenue, Fergus Falls, Minnesota, 56537-4803, Phone: 218-739-2211 Fax: 218-736-2533

Sunday 1000 local time, 30 d F, wind calm,

Most of the lakes visible from I 94 are substantially skimmed over

Pelican appears 100% frozen, there are no fish houses yet in narrows

Lake Christina appears a sheet of glass.

I Walked out ~ 25' from the launch site onto the optically clear ice, the crystals are about 16 - 18" in length

The ice bears weight and cracks under foot, quite elastic, appears less than 1.25" alone I didn't feel terribly adventurous this morning.

Depending on low temps during the week, I plan to set up on Friday and try the ice...

We are less than a week from suitable ice... sharpen up them runners girls

A call to the City Restaurant in Ashby this afternoon...

Lake Christina was completely frozen during the cold snap, it appears to be frozen over now, but it's been warm.

No sailors have viewed the ice as of yet...

expect an update over the next couple days...

ice would sure be nice

4695

Looking for plans for a Great South Bay Scooter can anyone help
Thanks
Rande
mcalex@charter.net

The new National DN bulletin board requests that members "reply" to become registered.

http://www.dnamerica.org/forum/

The board looks nice, but can't seem to find the "reply" icon. Anyone know where it is?

I'm a reporter with the St. Paul Pioneer Press and I'm interested in doing a story about ice boating in Minnesota in general and about the Great Western Challenge Regatta next month. I'd like to talk to some Minnesota sailors. Can you give me a call at 651-228-5560 or e-mail me a number and a good time to reach you? Thanks.

Richard Chin
Staff writer
St. Paul Pioneer Press
rchin@pioneerpress.com

I have a set of Heavy Duty runners that I bougth when I was planning to build my own boat from scratch. I ended up getting aa fixer upper that has it's own set.

They are 34 inches long and include the mounting brackets. I paid $300 for the set. Make me a fair offer and they are yours.

Contact me at escowracer (at) comcast.net
David

OFFICIAL NOTICE:

The Skeeter Ice Boat Club's 21st Annual Iceboat Swap Meet is scheduled for Sunday, November 5, 2006.

Time: 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., CST Come early, the best deals are before the opening bell.

Place: Sailing Specialists, Inc., 210 N. Walworth Ave., Williams Bay, WI

Swap: Bring your iceboats and parts to sell or trade.

Food: For every to enjoy.

Raffle: Be sure to register

Directions: WI Hwy 50 runs east/west just north the village of Williams Bay and intersects WI Hwy 67 at a 4-way stop. Go south on WI Hwy 67, down the hill into Williams Bay. Turn west on Stark St., then south on Walworth Ave. Follow the crowd.

I just checked yahoo travel, for what it's worth...

round trip from Frankfurt Germany to Ohare in Chicago, flying a couple days before and after the regatta, ~ $499.usd

4695

Milepost 8, Lake Christina, Ashby, MN

At the launch site there is a skim coat of ice extending about 100 yards into the lake.

Forecast temps for the next two weeks have plenty of below freezing opportunities...

http://wwwa.accuweather.com/forecast-15day.asp?partner=accuweather&trave...

If Christina freezes this week (and it's certainly plausible) we could concievably be sailing Nov 11th.

ice is nice

4695

I just finished another boat and thought I'd share a couple of hints with inexperienced builders. I use West epoxy although there are other good ones out there. One of the first things I found out about epoxy is that it's a bear to sand. I have never found anything that plugs up sand paper faster then epoxy. I found an easy solution to this problem, use wet dry sandpaper,wet. You can use a piece of paper till it wears out. I coat most all of the interior surfaces with epoxy. To make the epoxy flow better and to save weight, I cut the mixed epoxy about 25% with acetone (make sure you wear a respirator when you do this).

The FREE regatta scheduled for Feb 17th and 18th 2007 has been opened up to include all iceboats. There has been such great interest from other sailors. That now it is not only for Jboats. Free racing and trophies for all classes 1st-3rd place. There will be J boat racing and then sportsman class racing also. There will also be door prizes, drawings, goody bags and food!!
We will be grilling on the ice, food will be free or by donation. This will be a fun get together. With no cost for anything.
So far more than 40 boats confirmed as coming. Some A, B and C skeeters, sprinters, Jboats and stern steerers. The DN worlds and N/A’s are scheduled to start the same weekend in the same region. So some of the people who are coming are traveling with their DN buddies. (Some of our Dn'er friends may attend also if they are close enough. DN racing starts the 18th our Regatta starts the 17th)