End of March and away with hard Water...

Saw Harald´s Blog entry today. He went sailing on his Moth with the new foils. He took a photo from the water, with a lot of water. Went back to my own blog and realized that there is still frozen water in the header. Need to change it. Took a photo from the window yesterday. The Wikings are already out here.

On a different note: It was so much fun to assemble the M2 3627 which had been stowed away in the box over the winter. Everything is ready to go but the water here still under 4°C. How do I know? From the Fishermen in the village. The Hering (?) is not coming into the Schlei Fjord for spawning with the water being so cold. They need abt. 5-6° and than they are coming in shoals. Good times. Hope to see you on the water soon.

Our Sport: It is about the People

More often I have written about similarities between my two favorite classes of sailing boats. The DN Iceboat and the Moth class. Both are development classes and both have a rich and long standing history. As being a longtime competitor in the DN with nearly 40 years of building boats and racing them behind me, and only a short period in the Moth (only foiling) I am not able to verify what had been discussed in the Moth and being similar in the DN but the other way round I am rather well informed.

Uuuhps, now this blog entry is going to become complicated and starts to become technical. Instead, it should better express my initial thoughts, before writing this one and better not getting into discussions like e.g. max 15 (Moth) or max 20 (DN) races at championships, which I personally find stupid. Better two series with a short break in between and the Worlds or Euro Championship with 7-8 races and after that using the time left for "Cup races" with max 6 races for the competitors who are left to participate. Those will usually also be the ones who do it for the love of the sport and not for the sake of their sponsors nor for the title alone. Bringing the fun back, when the all important thing, the title, had been decided.

Actually I wanted to bring to you the three part CNN Mainsail episodes, lead by two times gold medal winner Shirley Robinson, about the last DN European Championship held in Estonia in March 2011. What you will see is not much about boats racing past a mark but it is about the essence of the sport, the people. For me this was pretty emotional to watch. Take your time. Have some fun and give me your comment.
CNN mainsail.DN one
CNN mainsail.DN two
CNN mainsail.DN three

Advise for Alan

Graham had asked Alan (see Alan´s latest blog entry) how he will manage to put his boat on top of the Van and I´d like to share an idea which I had used for my other dinghy. Of course Alan, you must de-rig, or maybe your Father can help you lazy bugger, otherwise the next short circuit (Kurzschluss) in Murcia will be yours.

Other than reading from the post and subsequent reply, I would like to recommend Travemünde 2011 to you guys. The Moths are not at the wurst-mile, we are located on the other side, behind the "PASSAT". And we are launching from the big beach there. Some surprises are planned but I cannot take away from our organizers the glory which will go with it. I think that the location alone will bring us together a bit more, if that is what you are aiming for. And you should not worry about the following:

1. Weed: We will take care of it, raking it away for you or we will have wind from offshore and it´s been blown away.
2. Money: Don´t worry, your spouses will be able to spend loads on the other side whilst you are swimming errg foiling.
3. Arrest: If you have not heart until today, the iron curtain isn´t anymore. If you are washed into the shore, you are still in (West) Germany and you can take a taxi home and pay with €´s.

That is convincing, isn´t it?

DN Season is finished, Moth is coming.

There had been small hopes for a Danish Championship last weekend but due to rain and temperatures above zero it had to be cancelled and I took the opportunity to clean and oil and check my gear and to stow it away after taking some notes for the start of the next season. There is some work to do after the last couple of seasons being lazy, but I cannot do the work now, when the spring is lurking around the corner and early spring flowers start to blossom.

Today I have received confirmation of the new boat (MACH2) to be supplied to the Pro-Vela for an early season practice session in the beginning of April. Good job so far by the M2 team. Hopefully the customs declaration will run a bit smoother other than for the parts from SailingBits, which I had ordered for myself and Moth friends. Wanted to make life easier for them but with our customs authorities clinging to their jobs with overseas deliveries, it now becomes a small problem to get the goods out of customs. As my friends are located in different places, I am sure it would have been messy for them to get hold of the parts. I am sending my charming colleague out tomorrow to talk to the bureaucratics in Flensburg.

If things with the new boat to be delivered to Spain are not going according to the plan, I am sure that Alan would appreciate, if I send him the stunning girl to help with custom house bureaucrazy (!)

Edit. A video called: The Making of Eissegeln Europameisterschaft Saaremaa 2011. Heli Videos
Edit. 17.3.2011: Another one I really like to recommend: DN EC 2011 on CNN Mainsail
Edit. 22.3.2011: The German TV report at: ZDF report

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.