It´s all in the links...

Had a fantastic weekend on the Ice in Sweden with my new boat and a new mast. It is amazing how one can have small problems with the set up of the boat when not doing a full rigging process at home in the driveway or else. Which I had not done due to various circumstances. Raising the masts on the hull first time, it looked like my old shrouds were way too short for the new higher hull, but with a set-up of the mast at 94 cm it worked and did not look too bad. Rake was OK. Shrouds at the last possible hole. Anyway it was OK for sailing and for racing within the first third of the competitive fleet. Tips from the current European Champion, Karol, P-36, to move the mast back to 104 cm for more speed did not help me as it was impossible. Now I cannot wait if it is true and I will find a bit more speed when changing the set-up, which is meant to be for strong wind and black ice. A different story in sticky conditions of course. More important would also be to get a bit stronger, to have more willpower on the downwind to fight hard for not loosing places. (Same, as in the Moth Class) It is amazing how much one can gain if purely holding on and blasting away from the weather mark. I am under the impression, that the top 5 gained half a leg on the first 1,8 km downwind flight.

Now, before writing up a more detailed report, which I had already done in German language Report (use your favorite translater) I give my fellow 3 readers, who like to know more, some links to more information and pictures:

An nice article and video link can be found about our first training session on Friday 12th in Sandviken at Segelreporter.com : Segelreporter.com
This article also contains other links, like my report for the German DN site as well as the result list. Some great shots are to be seen at: Fotos from the weekend

Next stop: Somewhere in Northern Europe in 10 days for the World Championship and the Europeans which will be sailed straight afterwards. There will be about 10-15 participants from the US this time as well as Canadian sailors and with all the independent States in Europe we might have again 18 - 20 Nations raising their flags. I hope that all the anthems, though nice to hear, are not played in full length out there on the ice because than we would be finished with the opening ceremony only in the dark.

The picture above had been taken in Sweden on Friday. Some early arrivals are being shown.
The second picture shows me (G-99) starting to hike just before the mast will fully bend and is taking the load and acceleration.

Thanks for the inspiration Andrea!

Coming weekend we will sail for the "Carbon-Motte" trophy here in Schleswig, North Germany. We have 15 sailors from Germany and Denmark signed in at the moment and maybe some others will come out of the bushes in the last minute. You never know. The weather only turned into nice and sailable just recently. Before the water had been in the single figure temperature range. You know, this range where the foils loose grip in the water...

I was inspired to produce this challenge trophy after reading Andrea´s blog entry about a Moth-Carbon-Key-Ring. Have a look yourself at: carbon-fiber-key-ring. The photo is a bit rough, taken on the iPhone and it does not show the fine woven carbon fabric and the 8mm solid carbon plate (infusion technique) from which we milled the Moth. The trophy has to be challenged every year either here on the Schlei, as long as I am able to put my Moth into the water or maybe somewhere else. I am not donating a trophy again in a class with one outstanding sailor (Sven K. in this instance, whom I think would walk away with the trophy after 3 wins in a row) without putting it onto an "endless challenge" Nobody will win it forever. Like one of these great trophies, like the Admiral´s Cup, the Commodore´s Cup, the Roosevelt Cup and many others. It just lacks a bit of height and silver, this Carbon-Moth. But than, is black carbon of today not the silver of yesterday?

On a different note I promised to write about some misshapes on my boat due to my own repairs and some spares which I had used and which did not do the job properly. I have lost a wand in the process, had water in the bow, was fighting with the cambers and slacking hiking straps but now the boat #3627 seems to be in good shape. Thanks to sailingbits and thanks to Amac . Hope everything will work out fine on the weekend and I will not miss the races due to boat problems. Will keep you updated.

Anyone interested in the German press release about the regatta, follow this link: SA-Cup Germany

Back from the DN Europeans

Just back from the DN Europeans with abt. 160 competitors I had found this report from the winner, Karol Jablonski, in my inbox: I would not be able to describe the event and the tough conditions, which we had faced, any better. Also, I will not take credit away from the publishers and therefore please go to the following link to read in English and German a great report about our last week, spend on the Ice of the Baltic Sea in Saaremaa, Estonia. DN EC report by winner, Karol Jablonski

The photo shows me and fellow iceboater "Praline, G-666" on the left. With special regards to the Detroit DN fleet.

Photo courtesy: Andreas Seegers:

PS: I wonder about this blog entry appearing in NZ? Was not able to leave a comment on the sailracewin blog. Never had a Kiwi sailing a DN with us though me and other DNérs have offered various invitations over the years. It is not the BloKart style, man. It is tougher.

Good Bye to the "Old Faithful"

Yes, you see my wonderful Bladerider X8 being on the move to a new home in Holland. May Jaap, the new owner enjoy the boat as much as I did. What a great time we had together, the X8 and myself. And it had been reliable through all the sailing, that is the reason I was calling it "Old Faithful". Just like my old 1973 MG B GT which is being used very seldom but when it is needed it starts roaring after a few revs.

Selling the X8 was not easy at two ends. First there had been no reaction on my advertisement on the International Moth Homepage (thanks to Doug for such a great tool). Than, out of the blue I had 3 highly interested people in the boat. One from Holland, one from Germany and one from Poland. I settled with Jaap as he made a decision without much fuss and the boat was his. Michal from Poland, with whom I had good correspondence settled with MACH 2 and a distributorship. After the dust had settled there came another very interested person via my good friend Søren from Horsens, Denmark. Anyway it was a bit of an emotional departure as K´s and my idea had been to keep the boat for her. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about the logistics with spare parts for two different brands. (Spares, big or small always needed when sailing Moths) the closer I came to the conclusion to buy another MACH2. This will help with having equal parts and the possibility to vandalize one boat whilst waiting for spares. Downtime must be short as are the month of summer.

Also my Moth buddy, Andreas, being on the rise and becoming quick on the race course, wanted a M2 himself. When he was a bit undecided I pushed him into Simon´s direction and as far as I am concerned, nothing speaks against a well set up ABARTH Moth on our home waters on the Schlei Fjord. So, there had been a few good Moth deals lately in our small fleet. And we will all meet with our new toys at the Moth Fest in May at the Mar Menor. (No direct link here as I think it is already overbooked...)

As far as activities around the house are concerned, I am preparing for the DN Euros in Estonia, Latvia or Poland. The news this morning had been that even Finland is an option now. Our president and the professional race committee* are concerned about snow coming in on the "best ice since 30 years" in Saaremaa, an island near Haapsalu in the Baltic Sea. Have not sailed lately as I was not in the mood for the long trips to the south (Lake Rescia) or to the north (near Gothenburg). Family kept me away. The ones who are interested in the more technical side of the DN rig should read the German article which was written in the SR online mag at: Segelreporter.com

I hope to be able to send a small report from the DN EUROS but anyone being more interested should check in at: www.eissegeln.de. Either the Pinboard or the DN Yacht button will contain reports. The racing will start on Sunday 27th and I think I have to go through a qualifier to try to get from the "B" fleet to "A" fleet as my last ranking in the World ranking list just does not qualify me directly for the Gold fleet anymore. It will be difficult but not unmanageable. First I need boat speed on the given day. What I do not need, is a starting position outside on the left (always computer generated for first race, odd numbers on the left) as that will give me 2 more tacks other than the starters on the starboard side. Anyway the preparation of the gear already gave me some fun and I am sure I will enjoy the event. Meeting friends from around the world and sharing the same passion is always great.

* In the DN class we have a professional race committee (Stan Macur and friends from Poland) which are assisting the officials from the country which is responsible for the event. Compared to other classes, this works on a relatively small entry fee of € 150,--per participant for the whole event. Usually there are around 150 to 180 starters which are divided into 3 or even 4 fleets depending on the size of the available area. The maximum fleet size is about 54 starters and that works great. Something which I am sure will happen in Moth fleets in the very near future. I am with Simon and do not think it is possible to let 150 Moths foiling straight to the wall. Anybody knows what he meant with the broken pencil in the same post at: SP´s Blog ?

DN Racing in Denmark

What a great weekend we have had in Roskilde, Denmark, racing for the Seeland Championship or whatever it was called. Photo credit to Sejlfoto.dk And I got back into it. Got back my grin and will not compare it with the summer Mothing again, to say which is better for me, like I showed doubts about the Iceboating still being my favorite in my last post. No, you cannot compare, you should not. It is all very special and it is both rewarding to the work and time which you have to give into both sports. I am such a lucky guy to be here on Mother Earth, still being in decent shape and to discover it and to enjoy it. Sailing on hard water and foiling on the soft one.

For people being interested in more details about how DN regattas on ice come about, I would suggest reading John Casey´s last bit on his blog. A great sailor and journalist himself, he had been invited to take part in the 2011 DN World Championship in the USA, also held last weekend, whilst me and 40 other sailors from Denmark, Netherlands and Germany where sailing in Roskilde. Good and tough competitions in both events.

And as this blog entry is appearing on the IMCA site, I like to present my friends from both worlds two videos which I found to be very interesting to look at. Especially for people who are following the discussions on SA.com about Bora´s Wing. Enjoy and see you next time on the water. Hard or soft.

For the Moth Wing Video:

For the DN Video from Roskilde:

Who is behind this thing?

I had been pointed into the direction of this virtuell Moth Sailor by Magnus Wheatley, the handgranade journalist, see also link on the right side. Visiting the site, which Magnus also mentioned in his blog post which has an entry I would call: Virtuell Moth Sailor I am a little puzzled. This guy or girl must know a lot about sailing, hanggliding and such. Smells a bit like SP, hiding behind a different personality. Beside the Moth sailing on a very, very high level, I have read that he has a similar boat as described in one of the "noodleqt" posts, going cruising. Or could it be KK? She knows a thing or two about sailing. She is one of the gifted writers and story tellers like the gentleman mentioned before, as well. And does the sailing club not look a bit like the HISC? Never been there but seen photos. But it could also be someone from the Isle of Wight, who dreams about Moth sailing and who is or had been a hangglider pilot as well. The Deeg? Or one who sold me his "Magic MKIII" after teaching me the finer points of watching the clouds for thermal winds after a lot of "looking at the green barn" during the first lessons on the IoW. Feel free to guess who is behind the "noodles" personality.

Anyway, great stories to read after an evening of working on my DN runners which had an alignment problem. And one of the 440C runners had a notch which took some time to smooth on the belt sander. All this work because the Danish DN friends are calling for a regatta in Roskilde on the weekend. Haven´t done much sailing so far due to other commitments.

On the Moth side there is some planning for the Moth Fest and some training before at the Pro-Vela in April. Flights are being booked and everything else will fall into place, I am sure. It really is the first of many, many DN winters where I could live without ice sailing and instead going foiling with the Moth. Sailing on soft water has never been so exiting for me.

Spend the last two days at the "boot" in Düsseldorf. Haven´t seen a Moth there, instead I had met someone from real life in the seventieth. A gentleman who had sailed Flying Dutchman in some of the events where I also took part. Great stories to exchange about the Worlds in Weymouth ´74, about Travemünde and about Kieler Woche. Does anyone today believe that Rodney Pattison came to Kiel with a Morgan+8 towing his FD behind? John Mellow and I had witnessed it. He is now producing really nice sculptures in stainless steel. Some had been donated at the TP52 Audi Med Cup. I immediately ordered two "Moth Sculptures" to donate during two Moth events coming season. Hopefully they will help increasing participation in the planned Northern Europe Moth Circuit, where we expect sailors to participate from Sweden, Denmark and Germany at three events. one in each country. Of course Moth sailors from other countries are also invited to come. More news and maybe a flyer later on the IMCA site.

Anyone interested in composites or boatbuilding in generell should visit my companies new Facebook site at CTM Facebook and become a supporter. This will enable you to receive composite news or special offers on carbon and other materials.

Last weekend of DN sailing, March 13th, 2010

...at least for me or at least here in Germany. Our Swedish friends had called for their yearly Championship which normally is a top choice on the event calendar but this year we still had good sailable conditions in the North of Germany. Some Polish iceboaters started already to enquire about the location in Germany on Wednesday but than we were not able to make a final decision. They decided there and than to travel to the Swedish Championship to be held in Jönköping at the big Lake Vättern and racing to be started on the Friday. We were only able to make a decision on the Friday morning and I hit the button for the message "regatta is on" on the Internet at 12.09h. Thus we had a couple less participants but nonetheless some top sailors including the European Champion 2010, Bernd, G-107 came to race in Plön. The two photos accompanying this report are taken from the webcam at the Sailing Club in Plön from the Saturday. Nearly all sailors are far out on the race course and of course not to be seen.

We had 17 competitors on the starting line for the vent to be called, the "Internationale Goldene Osterhasen Meisterschaft". With Marek, P-107 from Poland and Dideric, H-467 from Holland participating, who gave some international flair to the event. The start had been called for 12.00h and a little after we had set the course after a necessary re-arrangement due to some competitors having found holes in the ice close to the layline. The holes weren´t measured, only eye witnessed, which normally is not enough but we had enough space on the big lake to move a little to the south. Around noon the surface got soft but still ok for our 5 or 6mm insert runners. The sort of metal being the critical choice. I took my 100° Stelith runners and my good ol´faithful Shore LD sail but was late for a trial run. The bad flu from the days before still hindered me in my activities and being the under-assistant-ice-boat-promo-man, I mean the appointed assistant from our ill-being North German secretary, Vossi, G-709, the speech and organisational duties (somehow I had to carry the leeward rounding mark with me and everyone was waiting for it to be positioned) kept me from being on the course with spare time to burn.

We did 5 races in the rather difficult conditions with strong gusty wind and "heavy" ice, as we call a soft surface, where small crumbs of ice was flying or hammering into your face like hail. This happens mostly when you have the wrong front runner mounted (short) or one of your friendly competitors is running you down on the windward side, as Holger, G-890 did with me in the last race of the day. Anyway, I had some great races and only one bad result, when I finished 11th after having had a very bad start in race nos. 2. Overall I finished this event in third position behind our champion, Bernd, G-107 and the fast Polish, Marek, P-107 (see the numbers, must be fast). Some really great competitors and sailing friends, whom we call the "A" sailors had to sort themselves out behind me in the overall standing.

The last thing to do now is to write up a summary about this great season were I had some really good results on the national circus (podium places only) but mediocre during the Worlds and European Championships. This summary might come later or maybe only in my little "to-do" booklet. The thoughts are set on the Moth now and I am planning some training and modifications to my faithful Bladerider. Stay tuned if you like to read about the foiling adventures from an old salt for whom it takes ages to do a proper foiling jibe.

DN Racing still going strong in Germany

Great racing last weekend despite the German Championship had to be cancelled due to very much snow on the ice, which was coming down the night before. Most of the participants just moved on abt 60km to a different lake/venue where we found good conditions and were able to convince our former class secretary to do the starting and scoring, which she did just great. Together with her husband, Edith and Jürgen, many thanks for giving us a great time. 6 fantastic races and fun in the evening during the dinner and price giving. Full race report in German language: Race Report

Not able to read German, but interested in the fun we have, please go to the following link. German report Here you can see fotos about 2 "prices" which I had prepared for the two friends who had put the most effort into our class during this winter. The first one you will see is the Icescout 2010 price. Our German class secretary, Jörg, G-747(!) did actually search for good ice with a plane and next day checked the area with his DN. He really deserved this price for his efforts sofar.

There is only one guy who comes into most iceboaters mind when you think about the "Golden telephone" price. Yes, Wulf "Krogo", G-749, deserves this one without doubt. He is actually starting on Monday searching for sailable ice for the coming weekend by phone. He phones up everyone and pushes. Often driving out himself late afternoon if the given information seems a bit unreliable. Without these two great sailors we would not have had such a good season this year. And it is not finished yet. Temperatures are around the freezing point. The Ice is about 25cm with snow cover. If that cover melts away we will have another one or two weekends of DN racing, until the runners are dull.

Following the Moth Worlds in Dubai as many other German Moth sailors, (great job by OTWA and Justin TV) I hope that this blog changes soon into becoming a Moth blog again. Keep your runners sharpened and your foils polished!

The DN NA is on and the Moth WC is coming soon

Wished to be able to attend in both events but one has to be realistic: I think that my Moth sailing is not up to speed to attend a World Championship. On top of my "mostly non foiling jibes", I haven´t been out on the water for 4 month. Instead I had sailed with the DN in various regattas since the middle of January. Some 16 days in total so far of great fun, speed and comradeship. And also looking for another weekend of sailing on hard water due to the weather turning cold again. The "old" ice has not melted away yet. To get to the States for just one regatta is very time consuming and costly. I had done it once in the past but was not happy with the days of sailing versus travelling time/moonies. (DN Worlds at Lake Geneva with an interesting visit at the Melges boatyard when they were developing the Melges 24)

I am following both events of course. For the Moth following it is very easy. One click (see my Moth linklist on the right) on the top link will present you all the latest blog entries. Smart feature Doug! With the DN North American Championship it is a bit more difficult. I can recommend the following sites:
Geoff Sobering
Kent Baker
Iceboating.net
Ken Smith

In between blog entries I am putting something together in my head which is about the similarities between the Moth sailors and the DN sailors. Good technical knowledge which is been shared quite openly. Maybe one day I will write an article about it. One thing for sure is that the Moth sailors are following the DN route these days. Many Moth sailors are not building their own boats anymore, instead they are buying themselves into the class. As I did with the Bladerider. And lately with my DN equipment from Sweden and Estonia. Whilst many years ago I was building my own hulls and planks and also tried to build one mast. But I realized that a big part of the speed comes from the preparation of the runners and it takes a lot of time to prepare them well. It was time consuming for me to learn about metal and how to work with it but I liked it. To work with wood, epoxy, carbonfibre all came much more easy. The fast Moth sailors are tinkering a lot with small upgrades, developing devices to fly higher or more stable. Prepping the foils with special coatings etc.

Going through the pictures (click on them and they extend) from the DN Worlds, I found the one on top very interesting also for sailors from both camps: Look at the bend of the 2 different masts. Both composite. One build in Sweden, the other in Poland. Very, very similar in their bend characteristic, though we do not see the fore and aft bending, which is also an important factor for speed. Some Moth sailors are actually discussing this bend characteristic but I think that with the Veal heel, the Moth has also made a quantum leap forward in speed and height. As did the DN with the unusual mast bend, possible only with the composite masts. Looking out the window today and checking temperature, the last picture might sum it up: Good bye for this season. I am the 2nd on the left.

A Great Read about the DN Worlds and European Championships

Why on earth did I only find this now. This makes great reading and Ken is looking into details from a different view. An American View. Take a cup of coffee and lean back. Ken the Dad, Report about the Trip to DN Europe

Glad that the Winter Olympics are done. At the end I was pulled into watching some events (late at night) and man, they were emotional. The German girls in the team racing on the ice. The 30km ski race, the final Icehockey game. Anyone out there who enjoyed it as well?

More DN sailing, some authentic shots, Mothing and the 33rd AC

Whilst I had to put some older fotos into my blog entries recently, I discovered on the homepage of our local Sailing Club some great shots from the two weekends action on the the ice here in Schleswig. If you are interested, please go to: ssc-online.de for the homepage, where you also find fotos and later a report from the I14 World Championship recently held in Sydney, where my regular crew, Jan and Sören took part. They did qualify for the Gold Group which is a great achievement for them and I think that there is more to come from this team. More icesailing shots are to be found under: DN Racing, Schlei

This is about the area where we live and it is the first time, after I had moved from Hamburg to Schleswig, 12 years ago, that it is possible to sail on ice in front of my home. It never frooze over before. Normally my DN sailing is about travelling to the locations. Like we have to do for the World Championship this year. We will start moving to Lake Balaton, Hungary tomorrow morning at 05.00h. It is abt. 1700km and we are driving with three guys in a VW bus. Everywhere else there is way too much snow to have good racing. There are 220 sailors registered. Some as far away like the USA. Those sailors keep one boat here in Europe. Normally with German friends.

Last Thursday we had a very good afternoon with good conditions on the ice and it was the first day when K. was able to sail her new boat. Everything went well and she had some great fun with four other friends right in front of the house. The last foto shows the view from the window and her boat is the G-990.

As this is a blog also about Mothing, I am looking forward for some practice time on the Bladerider at Mar Menor again in March. Yesterday evening I had a look at the German ranking list and I was surprised to find myself in the top ten. This is a good reason to try to improve the results this year and to see if it is not possible to beat some of the guys in front of me. Especially my dear friend and enthusiastic competitor, Harald from Lake Constance. He has built himself a very light and good looking new Foiler Moth and it will be interesting to see how he is going. Pictures had been shown on Doug´s homepage.

Something is troubling me. The 33rd AC in Valencia 33rd America´s Cup will start on Monday with a best of three series for the most interesting monster racing yachts every build. I do hope that we have some Internet access in Hungary because I really want to know what is going on. Who is fast and if there are more protests and such. The Worlds biggest pi..ing contest between two enthusiastic Billionaires. Wishing everyone down there at Valencia a great time and some exciting races and after show parties.

Two More Succesful Days for the DN G-99

We have had fantastic wheather over the weekend with temperatures on the Sunday of abt. -9°C. Sailing close to home and 2 race series. On Saturday we had 6 races in Bft 3-4 and I got tired and lost concentration at the end but just managed a one point lead to win the "Stadtmeisterschaft"

The wind had increased to 5 Bft and shifted to the east on Sunday morning, which allowed a very long course. The left side was favoured due to less snow patches. With my first places only I always had a tricky first part of the race, normally being 2nd or 3rd on the weather mark but than was able to run down Sven and Mike with a lot of Chock to Chock sailing with Sven. Both upwind and downwind. He is a very experienced land yacht sailor and did not give an inch. I think it did not happen often to me in racing that a first place was to be dropped from my result sheet. LiveSailDie thanks for the sticker! Wish I could skip work tomorrow and go sailing.

Another Weekend, another DN Regatta

Second weekend in a row, where we are sailing a DN regatta very close to home. This time the Stadtmeisterschaft Schleswig. As it is a very cold winter in Germany this year, it is possible to sail on various lakes from the North to the South. I am not very much in the mood to travel much and prefer to sail here on the Schlei. The same stretch of water where we are doing our Wednesday night beer can races during the liquid season. Same location as we did our Moth regatta in the cold October last year. And we will have 3 Moth meetings here this year.

In total I had already 6 great days practising or racing on the ice in 2010. 2 days with Henning, G-499 and other friends in Denmark with no report written and the other days sailing at home.

I am part of the organizing committee, doing the notice of race (NOR), participants list and trying to find a scoring team for tomorrow. Also responsible for the beverage, eehm, made myself responsible and just did the shopping. I really hope that K. will be able again to help with the food as she did great last weekend. This weekend she will try her new DN iceboat for the first time. We will see.

Last weekend our former class president, Rainer H. came to help with the racing and he decided that we should sail the much admired "Jungfrau von der Schlei" price. I started badly, as I had no time to sort out the runners for the conditions before the first start. In the second start my parking break came into the bobstay and I had to fully stop the boat and to fix it. Was able to claw back into 6th place after that. From that moment on it went well with a couple first places and in the last race, being second on the last leg, Henning, G-499 made a big mistake overstanding the finish mark in the very strong breeze (it had built up to 20kn/h in the gusts) and than he was not able to luv up, instead he did one or two 360 degree full spins. I finished first. On countback this helped me to win the series and the beautiful price, which a former winner still keeps on his cupboard. Have to back off now, doing some packing up of our boats G-99 and G-990 and organizing things for tomorrow.

Note for myself: 64/2008, 68/2009

DN Racing Again Near Berlin at February 14/15th

Before I forget and spring break fever takes over, I have a short report about one of the best DN regattas of the short but extensive season. Wait a minute, I have to scramble for the date... Berlin, Lake Wolzig at February 15th and 16th. This is what the official report reads: Ice thickness: 20cm, hard surface, night temperature: -4°C, small snow drizzle 0,1cm, Wind 4 Bft. I had hit the road already Friday night to be fit on the saturday morning as the weather report was promissing. And so it happened. 28 racers arrived by midday and we decided to sail in 2 fleets. One for the more beginners or people with older equipment who did not feel comfortable with all the fast "carbon tuned" DN racers. This is a very good rule found by our friends from the Berlin DN fleet. 16 boats in the A fleet were called to the blocks. I had received block 17, the outer right starting position. A captivating race with position changes in the front. Going from 2nd on the weather mark to third after one round they spit me out at 5th place at the finish. There had been enough speed in the boat, just the shifts on the lake were not in my favour, or better, I did not read them right. Another fifth followed by a first and a third place. The first two spots were already occupied by G-624 and G-890. Close racing with both of them but at the end their nose was in front. Two more races for the day which saw me in 6th place and my friend "Vossi", G-709, found some more speed and stamina. He came 2nd and third now and made some valuable points. In the evening we found a great thermal pool with different saunas and outdoor pool with 28°C water.

Next day same conditions and our friend "Radlhuber", G-8 from Bavaria had his moments. 2, 1, 5 his scores for the three races whilst I scored 5, 5, 4. It was always close, the front 6 stayed together for most of the racing, only on the the last downwind the winner broke free or somebody got a real good shift on one of the windward legs. Holger, G-890 won with a 4th place as his discard. Well done. I finished in fourth positions overall. Not as good as my win the weekend before but than, the competition was a bit stronger. In one of the photos you can see the race committee with some of the racers. The left person, in the picture below, Dirk, showing the "Berliner" (pancakes with the name "Berliner" only outside of Berlin) had taken part in two Olympic games in the windsurfing division. Namely the DIV II boards 1972 and 1976. I was never able to beat him in that windsurfing class but on the ice I still have the nose in front. Dirk came 9th in the "A" fleet.The "B" fleet was won by Dietrich, G-532, an old salt whom I also met in my good old FD days in the early seventies. The "B" fleet showed good stunts on the downwind mark with 360°s and all. No accidents, only some scary moments. Driving home in the late afternoon there was still some winter in the air and I did not think about the end of season. The week after it snowed very heavy and racing had to be cancelled for the weekend 21/22nd of Feb. The Polish Championship held the weekend after was a bit far away for me. No co-driver available.

Last weekend the hardcore DN racers met in Goldberg again only to decide that the racing would have been too dangerous. The ice in general was safe but there were some holes spread over the lake. All bigger in size than our runners. Nobody wanted to destroy the equipment just for some fun races. Now it is maybe up to the Swedish Championship in the middle of March. Waiting for their ice report. I am already on the preliminary starter list. For the record. This report has been written at March 4th but I will date it back to the Monday after the racing. My blogging is supposed to be a diary of events for me.

Wet, wet, wet

Another day of DN sailing happened on Sunday on a very wet surface. There had only been 12 sailors plus a few non racing DNér s showing up which could be a sign that people get tired after 5 weekends of sailing. Maybe their equipment is getting worn out, or that their wifes do not allow them to get free from the family every weekend from the beginning of January or that they are in the States to start in the DN Worlds at Torch Lake, Michigan. Anyone with a better excuses, please comment here or mail to me. The sailors from Berlin called for the Wolzig Cup to be sailed only on Sunday, when the weather forecast showed promissing 3-4 Bft. This allowed me to take part Friday evening at a big reception from the German Offshore Owners Assc. (no I did not take part in any offshore racing last year, but I think about it...stay tuned here) There had been a good film session, music session, awards for the 10 most successful German teams plus mentioning the race winners of the Baltic Sprint Cup, 1st. place went to Mr. Mike Castania with his Rogers 46, "DANEBURY" and second place to Mr. David Aisher, also on a Rogers 46, "YEOMAN XXXII". Both took part during this remarkable evening in the impressive Hamburg Rathaus. (House of lords, so to speak) and got some presents from the organising committee.

Anyway, back to the DN Sailing in Berlin. Left home with the van on Saturday evening to be fit and ready next morning. Wanted to unload the boat at 23.00h when I arrived, but the place was closed. High fences. Being the only car in the carpark, I felt a bit strange. "do they really show up tomorrow morning for racing?" I asked myself. I had faith in the Berlin race management and of course, Dieter S. , G-368, greeted me in the morning, being happy that some "foreigners" wanted to take part in the racing. Lot´s of action as one has to carry his equipment a good 100m to the ice. Ready to sail at around 11.00h. Wet and cold feet at around 11.20h after walking through water to collect my starting position number. "Where are my Goretex socks??". First race from block 2. Right side, first inside the middle mark. My testing had showed that the left side was favored. After a good running through the wet I had enough height to bear away and blast across the next boat to leeward. Than tacked, tacked back in the middle of the course, crossed with G-709 but had built a good lead at the weather mark. Extending the lead and crossing the finish first. Next race I had block Nr. 1. First boat on the left inside. Easy. Start, run, jump in the boat and blasting away. Maybe the smoothing of the runners helped in the slush ice under the water. The boat was exhilarating, the new mast did bend nicely and I reached nearly warp speed. A pity, all the top guys this season did not take part except of G-709, 896 and 136. The third race was more interesting. I only managed to be third at the weather mark, was not able to shorten the distance to the two leading boats, neither downwind, nor upwind and had to fight on the last downwind run to secure third place against an impressive G-542 who used older equipment than even mine. Something had to be done. The wind had increased a lot. New sharper runners and the sail a little lower. The left side was not favored any more. G-709 went early for the right and he crossed me just after I had tacked on to the layline on port tack. He went too high and I was able to leave him in my wind shadow. Right in front was the blue boat. Knut, G-896, who was lying very low in the boat just in front of me. He was fast and I could almost match his speed to the first weather mark. We rounded very close and he extended the lead on the run. I had a better mark rounding in the gusty and strong wind and gained already 30-50m on him. Now bending the mast, crawling into the boat and of we went for a real dogfight upwind. Both tacking on to the layline, he a little higher than me, investing his lead. I had a bit of luck, tacked on a hard spot, accelerated a little quicker and started to point high into him. Catched the wind from the front, giving him a little backwind and rounded the mark first. From here on it seemed easy. Finished with a good lead. Knut reported later to me that he had spinned a 360° on the last downwind leg. Mmmh, the sharp runners, which I had mounted, felt good. The race committee called it a day and the Wolzig Cup was finished. Everybody went for the shore where we got our feet dry and packed up the gear. Price giving, the typical "Berliner" pancake and hot drinks for all. Short speeches, hipp-hipp-hurray and off we drove. You cannot have a good day of DN racing when you don´t leave your cozy home. Hope some more racers will show up next weekend. The show must go on as long as we have some sailable ice in Germany this winter.

Blizzard in Steinhude

We had some excellent DN racing on the ice last weekend in Steinhude, near Hannover, though the lake had already opened up big enough in the middle to hold a regatta with optimist dinghies on liquid water. Nevertheless the race committee had laid a course with about 1,2km upwind and totally safe on the eastern side of the "Steinhuder Meer". Safe from going through the ice but not safe against accidents. (Actually it never is...) There were 35 DN´s on the startline, which is a lot on a fast and short course. The port tackers have to get around the windward mark and there is normally half the fleet approaching the mark on starboard. Average speed on the day had been abt. 50km/h to windward. And it was me who caused the biggest crash of the day and the only one. Really bad and totally my fault. Glad that no person had been injured. The other boat, G-390 was mostly destroyed. A. was absolutely right to be angry with me, to shout and stomp her feets. When she calmed down and I had a chance to apologize (to fall on my knees...) we got into action and took away from the ice every little peace of wood and steel which we could find. Just in time for the fleet to approach the weather mark for the second time. We collected all the bits and pieces left from her equipment, put it in my boat and headed for the shore. I was able to collect my nerves and headed back out with my boat which had only be scarfed on one runner. I tried some tacks and jibes and the boat did well. Nothing loose, steering worked fine. I was able to race again and to free my head from the bad accident. In hindsight it had happened because I lost control on the steering. I tacked into a hole at the starboard line of boats and thought to be safe. The tack had been unsuccessful, no grip on the steering, the boat just slipped sideways instead to tack. I can still imagine the moment when I knew that "NOW" someone will hít me from behind. Bad. My responsibility. The boat had been trimmed in such a way that there was not much weight on the front runner. Should have put more body weight into the front of the boat. Or trimmed differently. That´s what I did for the next races. The runnerplank one more back. The maststep one more to the front. A safer and more comfortable set-up. Maybe a little slower. Definitely in the next race, I was able to take part. 20th place. Tightening the shrouds and hoisting the sail one knot brought back some power into the boat. I managed a ninth and a fourth and and things started to look better.

Sunday we did sail out to the course with four sailors and tried to lay the startline. It was really windy and it snowed. Kind of blizzard conditions. The gap in the ice had opened. It looked great to see the open water with wind waves in the "not" far distance. Most DN´ers stayed ashore and when we measured the wind at around 11.00h it had increased to 12-14m/sec and the race committee called it a day. No more racing. Hitting the road for home. Need to mention for my diary that this had been the first weekend ever when I took my brother iceboating. He had never before sailed on the ice but he likes iceskating. He has not done it for many, many years as he had lived in the south Pacific. Va´vau to be specific. He cruised around on saturday with the DN and he much enjoyed it. He told me that he got an idea about it and he started to understand why I am so hooked at this particular sport.

Now off to a big reception tonight in the Hamburg Rathaus with the German Offshore Owners Assc. and than going racing the DN again on Sunday near Berlin. That´s the plan at least. Have to check the weather on Saturday morning, when waking up in Hamburg.