Worlds2011

Wednesday Night, February 2nd: Anti-climatic would be the general description given by the many sailors who congregated at the Derusha shop today. DN North Americans are Canceled due to no known sailable ice. The big storm took its toll everywhere.

Beforehand however, the shop was busy with lively conversation, runner maintenance, trailer maintenance and even the washing of trailers, trucks and the “searcher”. The poor old RV was hardly recognizable under its coat of salt and grime but now had some of its sparkle back. We figured it would last until the first semi passed us.

It was an interesting mix of sailors. There were 3 locals, 3 from Toledo, 2 from Indiana, 3 from the east coast and 1 from Minneapolis. It was a great opportunity to get to know some people better. Not at all a bad way to pass the time as pizzas were delivered, and once again Mike offered up his jar of Menominee pickled eggs to all, with only a few takers. There is a special bond that can only be formed amongst those who hold out the hope against the odds for the chance maybe mother nature provided a new venue.

Our fuel tank was full and ready for the trip home, so we hooked up our trailer and pointed north. I drove the first leg from Menominee north to Escanaba, then East to the Mackinac bridge on down I-75 to Indian River before the fuel tank was nearly empty and my legs badly in need of a stretch. The high point of the drive was 5 miles west of the bridge where the lights of the entire span was clearly visible as “A Sort of Homecoming” by U2 was playing on the stereo. Incredible scene, and one of the main reasons we choose to drive through the U.P. instead of Chicago whenever we can. In this case, it was the best choice in the aftermath of “Snow-nami” or whatever the media is calling it. The roads in the U.P. were clear and dry. J.R. and Skip, respectively took the wheel after me, safely guiding the “searcher” home through progressively deeper, drifted snow. Fortunately the roads were clear and safe. We arrive home a 3 AM Thursday.

We notice there has been a focus by the media, and some of the sailors that chose not to make the extended journey on the negative side of this sport. Clearly there is risk here that is only acceptable to a few. But those who truly have been "hooked" will go through great lengths in the spirit of competition and search for the adrenalin. It doesn’t make us “normal” but we will all admit there are aspects to standing around on ice all day for your turn to race against 49 other boats in tiny wood boxes at speeds sometimes exceeding 60 mph isn’t something your average armchair quarterback or X-Box enthusiast will ever aspire to. The DN class is looking for some not-so-average people to come have fun with us… would that be you?

Wednesday, February 2nd: What we did the rest of yesterday: We participated in the mass exodus from the hotel in Peru, Illinois and headed North. Many others returned home to await news of the site for the North Americans. We stopped for a late-lunch at Oscar’s Sportsmans Grill in Fon du Lac, Wisconsin. This place has what appears to be a very old B-class stern steerer hanging from the ceiling, and lots of pictures of iceboats on the walls. Oh yes, and there is a taxidermy wildlife diorama above the bar that features a Jakelope. Key requirements for any cool place in these northern climes. Oh yes, and of course the beer was cold, and the food warm and tasty.

As we eat, we notice the snow has caught up to us. The girl behind the bar tells us they have upgraded the local snow forecast to 2-4” so we know we need to get moving to stay ahead of this. If we get to Menominee, we should be clear of most of the snow. The wind and drifting snow is the real challenge. The RV is guzzling fuel working northward as the wind seems to shift every hour or so from Westerly to Easterly and back again as we drive.

The “other twin” cities of Marinette and Menominee seem almost like returning home. Familiarity can bring comfort to the travel-weary. Home might be better, but this will have to do.

We drop off our trailer at Mike Derusha’s shop and head over to Night Court in Marinette. This is neat little dive bar at a Y-corner in the middle of town. Good view down the street toward the Best Western, and also quite entertaining to watch the girls pool league play there. Espescaily since they are buying each other shots and getting louder as the night progresses. We order some drinks and a pizza. A visibly drunk local walks in and proudly sheds his jacket and points to his shirt which reads Kansas. “JAAAAAAY-HAWKS” he yells at the top of his lungs. We glance at each other all thinking the same thing. What the … ??? I mean you are a long way from Kansas here, Dorothy. We are careful not to make eye contact with this guy as he wants to high five anyone who accidentally locks glances with him. Eventually he drops his almost full mug of beer on the floor and quiets down for a few minutes as he slinks over to the bar. We discover from this experience why they have loud jukeboxes in bars. There was an incredible awkward silence between some of the songs that made us paranoid the Jayhawks fan might try and talk to us. So we had to work very hard at pretending we weren’t noticing him, but not talk loud enough to attract his attention. His request for another beer is smartly declined by the annoyed bartender. His coat and the door are pointed out to him and after a few minutes he decides to leave. Later Mike Derusha stops in and joins us for a while. We are tired and ready to go to sleep but we agree to follow him for a brief tour around Marinette and Menominee, past his mothers house and the sleepy but beautiful downtown Menominee to his shop. We sleep in the RV and are offered full use of the shop for any repairs or sharpening runners or whatever we may need.

Wednesday morning we sleep in. Well at least till about 8AM, which is pretty good compared to what we have been doing. There will be a Noon call as to where or if the North Americans will be held. We go across the street to get breakfast and decide that unless the call for sailing on green bay we would most likely start heading across the U.P. today toward Torch Lake and eventually, home.

Tuesday, February 1st: 6:00 AM the alarm in the hotel room goes off. This time it sounds like preaching on the radio. I quickly turn it off, but in my head the preaching might be on the subject of “Snowmageddon 2011” which is all over the news. The question of the day is “Why are we still here”?

Forecasts are for 20-30 Mph winds gusting to 40. Also some snow. 20 mph is typically the highest breezes we will sail in. Add to that the chance of blowing drifting snow, and the snow hiding the hazards on the ice (such as a big crack, or a log).

Lets see…we are maybe 6 hours from home here. If we leave NOW we probably get home before the 18 foot of snow or whatever these crazy weathermen are calling from buries us and strands us in a hotel or in the RV at some rest area or at the side of the road.

Then there is this scenario – the North Americans could be held at Traverse City, Mi or Burlington, Vt. We cannot make the drive to the next site if we are snowed in here!

WHY ARE WE STILL HERE? I guess we will go to the 8AM meeting and try and look to our fearless leaders for the answers. Or maybe we will come to our senses before hand and just leave now?

10:30 AM Race Committee Called the Worlds to conclusion. Awards were held poolside in the hotel. Ron Sherry won top honors in Gold Fleet, Mike Rehe won Silver.

The big storm approaches and most sailors are headed north toward Green Bay for the North American Championships. A new sheet of clear ice has been found near Menomonee and the storm is only expected to get as far north as Milwaukee. Torch Lake near Traverse City, MI is another possibility. So the Adventure continues!

Monday, January 31st: 6:00 AM the alarm in the hotel room goes off. Sounds like gospel music. I turn on the TV to see what the weather channel has to say. The good news is that they are pushing off the big snow storm until Tuesday night. The Bad news it there is going to be 80% chance of snow today. 10-15 MPH breezes should make it easier to get some races off, but visibility might become a factor at times.

We get on the road at 7:30. R.V. is low on fuel, so we have to stop and put a few gallons in it. The wind is definitely up from yesterday. After getting out to the race course, I do a half lap with plate runners on, then return and put on the inserts just to have something to compare. Inserts are going just a little easier through the snow for me, and in the top-end speeds are more sure footed. I used my speed sail all day today and once or twice I got into some light-air sticky situations, but I don’t think the sail was at fault.

Summary of today: This was very sticky ice. There were a few cracks and holes and other hazards to avoid. I managed to miss them all, but had a close encounter with a crack that I narrowly missed crossing at the wrong angle. Being a small lake, the winds were puffy and shifty. Those who could get their boats going the fastest generally were able to get their masts to bend way out to flatten and depower the sail as the powered through the heavy stuff. Bigger guys were generally doing better in these conditions. J.R.’s spar was bending out way too much costing him some angle upwind but really hurting him downwind. I had the opposite problem with my tuning. Each race I got it a little closer but not really enough to put me where I hoped I could be. J.R. moved his mast cup forward which allowed the mast to de-rotate better. He did this for his last race and the change earned him a top 10 finish.

There was plenty of broken spars, spinouts, and one 3-boat collision in the Silver fleet right at the Leeward mark. All sailors were okay(probably be pretty bruised), but at least one boat had its front end broken off.

By the end of the day all fleets had 4 races in except the gold which got a 5^th race in. This is a huge relief for the officials who have been warily watching the weather forecasts. It is as if Armegeddon is on its way.

More snow tonight, and winds forecasted for 25-35 Mph means we are probably done with the World Championships.

Top Gold sailors were Ron Sherry and Michal Burczynski. Not really sure about anything else as the results haven’t been posted yet.

More stories are yet to be told here. The Regatta is not yet officially over. We could have 2 more races tomorrow if the weather holds out (not likely). Otherwise the worlds are done. Next question is will we have the North American Championships? The big storm could make it very difficult for sailors to make a trek to a new site. Burlington, Vermont is one possible site. At this point many will make the decision to do their darndest just to get home ahead of the storm.

Some good news – our friend Lynn Kotwicki from Detroit made it to town and took many photos. So hopefully we will see some good pictures posted here or on facebook soon!

Sunday, January 30^th: Didn’t sleep all that well, but felt rested up. I am the first of the three of us to get up and go into the Hotel to investigate. Its busy but I find the coffee and some continental breakfast and sit with the Lemburgs, of Wawasee, Indiana. Skip and J.R. trickle in and they open the race registration early. I am also able to get us a room reserved so we can get showered and at least I can sleep a little better. We are on the road to Lake Senachwine just a little after 8 AM.

Despite having a paper copy of the directions, we get lost, but notice that several other vehicles with iceboats have done the same. The site, once we found it was just big enough for the amount of vehicles and trailers. There is a bit of a drop so no trailers can go on the ice. There is an irritating drizzle/fog/mist sort of thing going on. Trying to put your equipment stickers on when wet is pretty tough. Wind is light, almost non existent, but just before the opening ceremonies, the wind shifts 90 degrees and picks up to about 5-7 mph. Bad news is now it feels really cold. Good news is we have wind and it stopped raining!

We know its going to be a long day. Very sticky snow, bumpy ice. We get a Bronze Race/ Silver qualifier off. Skip makes it through. Jody was doing well until the final lap and sailed out of the air and into a drift at the same time.

Silver race / Gold Qualifier skip makes it through again. These races get so spread out that it is very hard to tell which lap some people are on. The Bart rule is in effect (which means you are done once the race leader laps you) but as usual, many don’t see the checkered flag and continue sailing causing everybody to wait longer for the race to conclude.

Watching these races is almost terrifying. Anybody can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and all you can think of is that guy could be you. Finally after our long wait, the gold fleet is lined up. I am at 30^th position way off to the left. My start is not great. Most of the left side fleet flies past me. I see that I am clear and tack out. Wind is dying. I am almost freaking out at how bad its going, but regain a grip, and start focusing on steering for the bare spots and more careful sail trimming. Suddenly I am getting hooked up and passing boats! I see I am in front of Harper and by Ron Sherry. I know I am not doing quite so bad… maybe. When I finally round the leeward mark I look carefully for a black flag. Darn. I really would have liked to quit right there. Not normal sailing conditions, but I am encouraged that I am in the top 15 or so. Going back downwind is even worse than before. I am near Ronnie and mostly on the plank pushing and occasionally finding a small breeze to get into the boat. I finally cross the line to the black flag (race abandoned due to not making the time limit) I saw it coming but worked my butt off just in case.

We are out of daylight. I gather up my gear and of course the wind comes up just in time for the racing to be over for the day. At least we have an easy sail back to the launch.

Back at the hotel, we get checked into a room. I call the Wollums who did not show up today. I knew they had tire problems on their trailer. Turns out they also had a broken spring. So they were stuck in Oshkosh, but all OK. They plan on fixing the trailer Monday as soon as they find the parts then returning to Traverse City. They are hopeful that the snow will miss them and the North Americans could be held there after the Worlds are finished.

We head over to the neighboring Mexican restaurant. Rich and Jody join us, and we see several others there. A bit heavy on the Margueritas, but its nice to take the days edge off.

Tomorrows first Gold Fleet race will be at 9:30. We have to get in at least 3 Gold Fleet races before the snow event hits us and creates unsailable conditions. This regatta is on the edge of not happening.

Saturday, January 29^th: I am woken up by my phone going off. A text message from "Dusty” Don Williams asking me to look out the window to see how much snow there is. I mumble an expletive and roll over in the bed. What is it? 6 AM? Didn’t even want to get up and look. Don, Rob Holman, and George Reis got as far as Grayling, MI before they had second thoughts about the weather and stopped for the night.

Jody Kjoller and Rich Potcova stopped in Escanaba and were waiting for some more information before they continued.

Word is that the snow accumulated 4-6 inches and was drifted badly at the launch area. After breakfast we showered and dressed warmly enough to handle the task of taking the boats off the ice. There is a drift as high as my boat but bare ice underneath. The snow powder somehow made it under my cover and was accumulating in a few spots. Our friend Ben Shaevitz towed our trailer of the ice for us, and miraculously we managed to not get the RV stuck on the beach despite the deep snow and deteriorating sand path.

On the way home Skip stops and grabs a frozen pizzs and we cook it in the oven on the way back to Marinette. Before we cross the bridge though, we stop at Mike Derusha’s shop. J.R. wanted to make some extenders for his side stays which weren’t quite long enough with his new boat. Mikes shop was nothing short of impressive. Much of the Swedish team were already there checking things out.

One of the most fascinating things there is the “Debutante” an old giant stern-steerer dating back to 1914. It has a new backbone and at 700 lbs. for the backbone alone, it needs a boom crane to launch it. Mike is currently working on a special trailer for it as it is too long to legally tow behind a trailer so it will have to overlap over the top of his truck.

Mike offers everybody the last pickled egg. No takers, at least until Rich Potcova came by. The Swedes shied away from it.

Back at the hotel we attend and informal seminar with Jan Gougeon and Ron Sherry. The did a little reminiscing about past regattas and then discussed aspects of tuning the boats. A very important point Jan made was the you cannot just look at someone’s boat and copy their settings. You must tune to a feel. This is so true as I see people trying to copy settings all the time with varied results.

As the discussion drew to a close, it is announced that the venue is moving to Lake Shewine neay Peru, Illinois. Its about 4+ hours away, and they are accelerating the registration and Opening ceremony to first thing in the morning so they can get races off quickly. Apparently there is weather headed to that region by Tuesday, so it is important to get at least 3 races in to have a regatta. Sunday will be a long day.

On our drive down we pass Dick and Julie Wollum. They are at the side of the road. A quick call on the cell confirms they are ok and had just changed a tire on the trailer.

We stop at Fond du Lac and find a fazolis restaurant. Loading up on pasta seems like a good idea, but might make it tough to stay awake on the rest of the trip. Rich and Jody left well ahead of us as we weren’t in a hurry to join the mad mass exodus that ensued after the announcement.

The tardy trio of Toledoans (Don, George, and Rob) turned south from Grayling and they are on their way but will have a much longer drive.

We drive into warmer weather, and Fog. The hotel is in Peru, Illinois and it doesn’t have much in the way of parking. The whole fleet has jammed the lot with trailers so we overflow into the neighboring IHOP. Just a note here - If you sleep in an RV at an IHOP you WILL hear drunks coming and going!

Friday, January 28^th: A good nights sleep in a heated RV in an empty bowling alley parking lot. We awake to snow. Lots of snow. On the ground, falling from the sky, on the windows… You get the idea.

We start the engine and head south toward the launch site. This isn’t looking good at all. Within 5 miles, the snow has stopped and there is not a trace of new snow to be seen anywhere. After about 30 miles we pass the launch. We see a few DN’s set up but nobody out yet, so we continue past about 4 miles to the B.P. station which happens to have a diner in it. Breakfast time.

After a leisurely meal, we head to the launch. We stop the R.V. short of the ice on the beach as the rear wheels crunch through and create quite a rut. Luckily we are able to back out. J.R. and I unhook the trailer and figure out we will not be able to wheel it through the snow and sand. A local in a 4wd pickup happens to see our predicament and offers us a tow. Problem solved.

Once rigged and ready we head out with several Swedes, Poles, and Germans amongst other assorted European sailors and get some practice and tuning time in.

My adjustments are very slight. Tighten the headstay a half inch… then tighten the battens on the new Dieball Speed sail to get a few wrinkles out. Speed was good.

Back at the hotel we meet up with old friends at the bar. Snow begins to fall outside. The forecast is not good.

Thursday, January 27^th: J.R, Skip and I get on the road around 2 PM. We have the R.V. and a small trailer in tow. We are looking forward to some racing after a few weeks without any good iceboating. A brief thaw had created bumpy ice and stiff snow drifts on Maumee Bay in Toledo, Ohio

No complaints though. After all, we had around 21 days of good sailing right out of my own house, and much of it before the New Year. All that ice during the holidays meant that most any day there was somebody off work who was willing to line up for a scrub race. The Toledo Ice Yacht Club ran 5 days of club racing attracting as many as 25 competitive DN Sailors in one race. Two number one ranked sailors joined us and we had some great practice, and incredibly valuable coaching from one of them.

Well J.R. Francis (of the other TIYC – Tropical Ice Yacht Club) came up from Jupiter, Florida just in time for all the ice to disappear beneath the crunchy white crust. He had a few days of work to do on his new hull, and when we finally took advantage of a good forecast to try the Bay, we endured about a half hour or so of extremely bumpy conditions before the wind shut off, forcing us to push our boats about a mile back in.

A few of our other regular travel buddies are unable to leave until Friday. We are hoping to help J.R. out (and ourselves) by getting a little extra practice time in by getting there early. We should have two full days before the Regatta starts. The forecasts are for very cold temperatures on Sunday. Hopefully it won’t be so bad that they postpone racing to save our Race Committee from frostbite!

We cross the Mackinac bridge and head west on Route 2 across the U.P. This trip is beginning to get familiar with us. It is not as beautiful as last years trek to Thunder Bay, Ontario, but about half the drive. John Harper sends me a text from a few hours ahead to let us know that Route 2 is all clear of snow. We had some slippery conditions and passed some accidents just south of Bay City.

Around 10:30 PM we roll into Escanaba, MI. The town seems pretty sleepy and it is tough to find any place open for a beer and a bite to eat. Finally, on a tip from a local, we go to the pub in the basement of the Best Western and are able to get a good bar pizza and some brew.