A Must See for Sailracing Enthusiasts

This should not be all about Moths. There is other racing going on at the level I am interested in. Farah Hall pointed me into the direction of Racing in Hyeres through her blog, which you find at Windsurfing towards Beijing on my first link list on the right.

High Quality sailing on film, which has taken place in Hyeres mostly with strong Mistral winds. The reason I had to abandon most of my Moth training in Le Levando, the place being close to Hyeres and staying there during the same time. Watch the day 2 of the RS men or women. Great Sailing!
On the home front today: Getting the boat trailers through the MOT with the help of my brother. Rigging up the Bull for the wednesday night races which are starting this week. New EasyRigging to put on the mast. Hope we can make the first race.

Racing brought lots of fun

Not much time for a big report as I have to travel a bit. But for the ones who are eagerly waiting here are some more short cuts and photos:

OK, Sven won the regatta at the end after 2 very interesting races on the Sunday (6 races in total) with lot´s of foiling possible due to some nice gusts. Carlo had it in his hand to win but there was a moment when he tried to pass Sven, he got caught in the wash (turbulence) of Svens sail and capsized to windward. Sven won the regatta in typical style. He does the best Veal heel, he has control nearly all the times but with Carlo we have another real good sailor coming. I came 7th out of nine regulars, 10 participants all together which was totally OK for me. Tons of fun and learning from the top guys who are giving tips and encouragement to keep improving. Going to races is important as in every game but some small tricks I have to practise at home.

Something I reflected on the long journey home: Being really into trimming sails and set up of boats I totally forgot about the most important things when getting into foiling mode: To change the sail shape from full to flatter. Being exited about doubling (and more) the speed and passing other boats I forgot the basics of sailing. To shift gear! Like a beginner. Something I have to work on immediately. Full result sheet and a German report will be on the German Moth homepage. German Moth site

Agenda for the photos: My sailnumber on the Moth is not the usual "99" but GER-3170
Top picture is showing the Moth mess at the start line in very light wind.

The second picture is taken after last races start: Not the usual scene, me in front and the winners battling it out in the back. Sven in typical Veal heel style (white boat) and Carlo (1058) tried to block him out unsuccessfully. They had already caught me at the windward mark. Next time guys....

Third picture and rare scene: Me getting a gust and up to foiling and passing a competitor.

Today we have sailed 4 races. Carlo is leading and Sven is 2nd. Wind in tne first three races good for the lowriders. Some gusts which have the "Lightweights"some airtime. The 4th race had wind hp to 4 Bft. All the Foilers had good tun but there are some who have more.

Not a good Day...on the Moth

Favourable wind on the Wednesday afternoon let me leave work an hour earlier. The Moth needed some attendance with the new boomvang and some minor adjustments on other parts. At around 18.00h I was ready to go out and the wind had increased. White caps all over the place (should take the anemometer, I know) Had a good start with wind from the left, which is my favourite. Upwind, hiking hard and sailing from the flat water to the more choppy zone. Suddenly I realized that the vang came loose. I pulled more until there was nothing to pull. The blocks were blocked. Now with a lot of power on the sheet and the mainsail twisting a lot the fun of sailing the Moth faded away. I tried some downwind but had spectacular capzises over the bow. The boat digged the bow deep into the water which made me slipping to the front of the tramp which made the digging worth. Lots of swimming and I was fed up for the day. Has it been my bad knots or what caused the problem? For sure one of the ropes had slipped.

I fiddled with the ropes again today but despite there had been some good conditions out there my bones are feeling tired and I want to do the regatta at Stienitzsee on the weekend. Therefore I packed it in, put the Moth on the trailer, everything ready to go and will leave tomorrow. First we will drive to Hamburg. We have an invitation for a boat launch ceremony. A old beauty has been restored (with lots of epoxy of course) and there is a christening tomorrow in the old port of Hamburg, The ship is called “Artemis” You can find information here: Kreuzeryacht ARTEMIS

For the regatta I have lowered my goal after the disappointing last sailing. Have to do a reality check and want to see how the other Mothies are doing. Will report after the weekend.

An evening out on the Moth

Yesterday, after getting ready with work and everything else like playing a round of football with the little one (got drubbed 4:5 and 2:5) I managed an hour af Mothing. Had to play against the wind (strong) and therefore got the idea of going sailing afterwards. A little more tweaking on the boat and a new, tighter tramp rig and it was already 19.00h. The wind from the east had calmed down to small white caps and about 4 Bft. I managed some good upwind legs though my upper legs hurted badly. Had good speed and a better boathandling than the other days on the reach/run but never a good jibe. Maybe I tried too hard. Ended up with the boom sticking into the air which than costs a lot of energy to get the boat into position for a re-start. Maybe I should try a more conservative approach to jibing first. Getting the boat low and safe around onto a tight reach to get it on foils and than bear away. But as a former slalom windsurfer I know what it costs dearly when you blow the jibe and have to go nearly upwind first when actually you want to head downwind.

Anyway it was a good session and I had seen some progress. Less time in the water and good solid flights. And as I used to say to my buddies: "It is the hours which you have spend on the rail that counts at the end. Talent is only 10-20 percent involved". Looking for more hours on the Moth as the temperature is raising now.

Edited: I ripped the above Foto from the Bladerider site to give my motivation a kick. I am a Regatta man and I should be able to do this...

Wind, Wind and not much progress...

Just got the photos from my Finn session which happened already on the Sunday a week ago. I have added these photos to my recent post to shut down the remarks which are about like the Sailing Anarchy phrase: "Pics or it didn´t happen".

Have been busy with the Moth over the weekend, renewing the ropes for the tramp which had chafed through as well as the very thin shockcords. Not being very fuzzy with the weight, I upgraded to a little thicker quality. There are always small jobs to do with this boat, with any boat to my experience, but the Moth is critical to the smallest of changes or wear. If you go out by yourself there is nothing you can do if you have a breakdown on the gear and all you can do is to drift ashore somewhere. That is why I hate offshore winds. Anyway Saturday there was too much wind for me and when it had calmed down in the evening to a handy 4-5m/sec (3,5Bft) we had to leave home to a BBQ party. A good alternative to put on even more weight than just the thicker shockcords.

Sunday the boat had been in good conditions and it was already impatiently shaking on it´s trolley. Sun was out and I put the boat in the water in the afternoon. White caps and abt. 10m/sec did not make life easy for me. I could manage a straight line to windward but I did not reach my goal of 3 miles upwind and than down as I gave the downwind a try after three or four bad tacks, ending in the water. It was scary. More boomvang, more outhaul (need to change that stiff rope) but in earnest I did not do very well. Not deep enough and watering myself way too much. And oh, these capsizes, when you end up with the boom sticking into the air downwind and you try so hard to get the mast out of the water, turn a bit into the wind and help the boom to go down. You push it and it won´t. You have to lean out hard otherwise you stick the masttop into the mud. Righting the boat than means a handful of dirt on your head. Dinghy sailors on lakes know about this special experience. I gave up fighting the boat and went ashore. For a drink, warming up in the evening sun and to think about my manoeuvres. Took the boat for another spin and it was so much better. Enjoyed the upwind and managed decent depth downwind. Past some boat with speed, got the passengers from the round trip boat looking. Cameras clicking. Well this motivates, makes you a better sailor for the moment. At least that is what I thought.

Update: This weeks sailing.

Already 2 evenings on the water due to the daylight saving time. I love it.
Got the boat in the water on Tuesday after we came back home from France. We did it without a sleeping stop this time.I took the Moth out just for an hour to see how I can manage it alone from the green in front of the house. There is a stone wall which I have to climb down a meter. Of course first priority is not to damage the carbon shell. Used the new foils. Got going upwind easy but downwind it felt a bit like a rodeo ride. Not very funny and it puzzled me. The boat always behaved great without fiddling or special tuning. This Bladerider worked straight out the box and it had been sailed now by 5 different people without causing any problems or major breakdowns. A very nice product. So I put the boat back into the garage and had to think about the problem. Yesterday evening I read Bora´s blog http://wetandreckless.blogspot.com/ who described some problems which made me think about mine again. Maybe the new foil has a different rod length?

Today, I looked into the BR Trouble Shooting Guide, rigged the boat, took some measurements (for the first time) and found the problem. Somehow the wand could not give enough AOA. I had to cut 7,5mm off the thread and than screw the ball/socket joint head fully on. This gave me the right reference data. The wind came from the east today which means less gusts, more stable and I had a good time on the water. The Bladerider behaved nice again on the downwind, but my jibes were shit. Even some of my tacks ended up in the water. I had to quit today because some of the ropes holding the trampoline broke. Have to purchase new ropes first thing in the morning. Looking forward to more sailing tomorrow and should start mentally tacking and jibing tonight.

Scuttlebutt Europe today! Moth Alert

Moth Alert!
Only flying must be more thrilling than sailing a Moth (International Moth Class) in a good breeze and riding with a Bladerider over the waves, .... a feeling very similar to flying over the water.

Even in moderate breeze the hull of this single-hander lifts onto the water and kisses the top of the waves. The sailor flies over the surface of the waves while fin-keel and rudder foil keep in contact with the wet element.

For the first time this spectacular 3,35 m Loa production built single-hander will be represented in the International Part of Kieler Woche 2008 (June 21 to June 24, 2008), and the International Moth Class Association expects more than 30 entries.

The Moth is a high-tech, fast Cat-rigged single-handed dinghy which was invented some 80 years ago. The Class Rules allow the designers to draw exciting one-off designs or to develop a production foiler Moth. Quite early Carbon Fibre was used for the hull production, thus optimising the lift-off speed of the hull.

Since 2000 the development and addition of foils contributed to the hull's weight which is mainly borne by the foils. Consequently, the hull lifts onto the water even at moderate breeze, but at the same time causes exceeding boat speed. The rather small Moth dinghy at high speed reaches easily 25 knots, - a boat speed which normally reach twice as big Cat hulls with an 8-times bigger sail area than the 8 square meter Moth sail. The width of the Moth hull is no more than 35 cm, and to balance and trim the dinghy the skipper sits on a 2,25 meter wide outrigger-frame. The Moth dinghy, ready to be sailed, has a weight of less than 30 kilos.

The Class was founded in 1928 and seems to stay forever young. -- Herman Hell

Edited: Due to my training status I am not sure if I shall sign in to the Kieler Woche with my Bladerider GER-3170. Actually it is a dream for me after taking part 27 times already in various classes.

The Finn Dinghy Experience

A beautiful Sunday in Cannes, our last holiday and my friend invited me to sail one of his Finn´s. I mean a real one. A Devoti with a Wilke Carbonstick and a very nice North Sail. The boat was a delight to sail. We went out with four Finn Dinghys and it was easy for me to stay right with them. To beat them to the weathermark. OK, only 2-3 Bft. Just hiking and trimming. Lot´s of chances to look for pressure. I easily got the hang of it. I spent 4-5 hours on the water instead of the usual 1 hour I do with the Moth. And I had not been exhausted as being after the Moth events. It was fun and it helped me to gain back a little confidence which I must have lost at all the capsizes with my Bladerider. My friend tried o convince me to go to the Finn Masters in Medemblik, Holland this year, but really the sailing in the nice conditions in the Bay of Cannes did not prove at all if I would be able to sail this big singlehander in a breeze. No, no, I took the day as it was: A nice day out on the water. A photo will follow.

First Days of Sailing the Moth this year

Second Day of Mothing
OK, back to blogging. The weather changed overnight and with it the wind became an onshore breeze. The sun disappeared behind big grey clouds and the shore break did not look inviting. Nevertheless I rigged the Bladerider and worked (walked) my way through the shore break. Got on the boat fine. Flying not really a problem. Upwind not pointing very high. Tacks were slow and bad, some with sailing backwards. Downwind the sailing was fine but however I tried to jibe I put the thing into the water. 13° C definitely better than the 5 ° C at home. But I lost my power quite soon cause of the capsizes and I knew I needed some fitness to get the boat through the breaking waves on to the beach in one piece. Oh, I am still fitting the blades outside in the chest high water and do the de-rigging there as well. The new centreboard foil sank to the ground and did not come up as the older one used to do.

Third Day of Sailing
Still a nice onshore breeze and meanwhile Felix had the new boat “Orange” rigged and ready to sail. We changed into the bay nearby where we did not have to fight the breaking waves and starting the Foiler Moths was easy. “Orange” should have been sailed by Kerstin but due to special circumstances she let Felix do the first sail and decided to do some photos. It was OK out there but again only for a short period after which I got exhausted. A bit early and again I thought I should start a fitness program. The “Orange” did not last very long, back to the workshop was the motto. But it was got to see some progress on the flap mechanism which worked well.

Fourth Day of Mothing
The day after packing up Felix gear, we decided that he and Claus should have a go on the Bladerider to get some airtime. Felix did the first session but I think he only managed about 5cms. He acted way too much as a lowrider with the boat heeled to leeward. Of course he blamed the wind which was also right. It just was not enough breeze for his weight to get him up on the foils. It was time for Claus. A first timer and he did very well. He got up on the foils easy, did some tacks and tried some jibes (of course not on foils). His fitness is great and he is not one to give up. He foilded and capsized until I think Felix called him in via some family magic. Felix in the meantime had talked to Kerstin and got some tips which worked well for him. He got up on the foils and you could hear him scream. Full of joy and exitement. After Felix had put in a good session it was my turn. I had some fun, tried again to jibe on foils but are still sofar away from being able to handle this manoeuvre. A few capsizes later I packed it in.

The weather changed again the next day. Sunny but brisk and some offshore wind. No way I would try it again. Our friends had already hit the road and we decided to change place and to visit friends near Cannes. We did an adventure trip across one of the Cols (small mountains) due to me believing the GPS navigator and not my good sense and we ended up on a very twisty and narrow road. With the Van and the boat on the trailer is was no fun and at one time we were blocked by oncoming traffic for more than half an hour. No way for us to move back and the Frenchies insisted on their rights in their homecountry. Bloody Germans what are they doing here… OK, not that bad but they showed us that this was not a road to be taken by van and boat.

The End of the Winter...5 days of sailing

It had been planned for a long time. To start the sailing season with a little bit of Foiler Mothing down at the Med. At first we wanted to meet with friends at the Easter week but due to a very early Easter holiday this year, we delayed this until the beginning of April and it happened that the boatbuilding of our new Moth by Felix had been progressed to a near finish of the project.

The trip took about 20 hours on the road. When we arrived in Bormes des Mimosas (le Lavandou) it was sunny with a strong offshore wind. Blue sky and a nice temperature wetted my appetite for some “flying hours” with the Bladerider. I should have known better…

On Sunday the 6th it was blowing cats and dogs and even worth it was a strong offshore wind. White caps appeared not far from the shore. Waiting for our friends was disrupted by a call from Felix being only about 2 1/2 hours away: “We have a flat tyre. Not one. It is a twin tyre in the back and we cannot get a replacement on the Sunday. We will get there on Monday”.

Some sightseeing into the local boatyard and marina did not bring much satisfaction as most of the boats moored there had been white plastic boats from the “well known sources”. Oh well, yes there were a couple of boats on the hardstand, more than 50 foot long and these boats featured double rudder blades. Boats which I hadn´t seen before. Not the typical Open50 or Open60 style boats. More cruising orientated, but with a wide stern. Thus the twin rudders.

It had offshore wind again on Monday. But there was much to do with the newly arrived boats. To look and to discuss and to assemble. Felix had 3 Moths on the roof of the Mobilhome. His old Lowrider and two newly built boats, mostly designed by himself with a modified “Schenk” hull. After much discussion and scraping parts and things we came to the conclusion to just assemble one of his new boats. The “Orange”, as it was called immediately by Kerstin and him. Due to the colourful bow section I think.

Oh yes, and I was in the water for about 45 minutes as you can see from the photo on the right. Beautiful blue sky. Offshore wind. Whitecaps in the back. Always a bit scared that something might break or that I would loose the boat. Or ending up in “Africa” due to the offshore breeze. From my windsurfing days I remembered that it was not wise to take this risk and I packed it in. Sloopy fitness also played a role due to the capsizes in the very gusty conditions. But it had been the first day on the water. Should set up my counter as Tillerman did. More about the sailing within the next days.

Some Thoughts due to NO sailing activities here...

Recently I had a letter submitted to Scuttlebutt Europe (see below) with regards to the debate about canting Keel Boats to take part in the Cowes Week regatta. I got a bit of feed back to this and one particular guy asked me if I had a clue about what I had written in my statement. It could have been that this was a "quick diagonal reader" who did not got the message from my limited English or it could have been a "canter". One of these guys who are laughing at you, when you are wobbling in their wake.

OK, I have not sailed against a canter yet, though I wish I would be able to see one live and maybe these guys are not laughing at the ones, leaving behind in their wke... We do not have any of these boats in my home waters around Kiel or Flensburg or in Denmark. Not yet. My doubts about the compatibility on the starting line between canters and non-canters are based on my experience in the Sportsboat class as well as in IMS sailing. In the beginning of the Sportsboat movement around 1998 we were looking for participants to get the numbers up. To bring some value to the club, hosting our annual regatta in Travemünde. Therefore the German ISRA (Association) also invited the Asso99, a 6 person keelboat, 3 of them are on the wire. Sportsboats do not have trapezes. They are the likes of the Hunter707, Beneteau25, Bull7000, Melges24, U20, Humphreys22. A righting moment of 3 persons on the wire makes for better pointing and speed on the start line. It did not match and everyone tried to work out how to avoid the Asso. There had also been two 11m OD´s which due to their waterline length and high stability caused headache for the sailors on the light displacement Sportsboats. The silverware had gone to those "non-Sportsboats" and as they were not coming back to race due to a stricter rule, the silver also disappeared. None of them gave the challenge trophies back. The pic shows us fighting upwind with the low displacement Bull 7000.

* From Manfred Schreiber: Reading with interest the debate. Why do they exchange rough letters and arguments and do not put on the table the most interfering thing which happens to non-canters when starting together with canters. A much bigger problem other than when starting with 35 footers against 39 footers within a certain IMS rating band. You really do not want to have a canter on your leeward side. It brings you to a halt and steals from you the minutes and seconds which you need to score well. Same of course with a windward canter which leaves you in the wake of his dirty air. Other boats start rolling you. A good finish is already out of sight 5 minutes after the start.

Do not put these very different machines into the same starting sequence. The Cowes Week organisers are doing the right thing. The fun is only for the crews sitting low on their canters and leaving their "competitors" in their wake. Not good sportsmanship I would say.

Remembering the past and looking out to Kieler Woche

With absolutely no opportunity to go sailing (due to weather conditions) there are moments when reflecting about the past comes into my mind. This happened when I came across the picture of this beautiful ship, "Cap San Diego". She is an oldtimer, a so called banana ship. A sleek looking freighter which had been owned by the Hamburg Süd Shipping company, who had a series of those ships running mostly between South America and Hamburg. The cooling lockers full of bananas and other fruits. I worked as a shipbroker agent in those days and strolling around the harbour had been a daily routine in my job. As a waterclerk I had to be the first to enter the incoming ships, together with emigration, customs and police. Most times with a travel case full of letters for the crew and a briefcase with loads of cash for the captain to pay out to his crew for some enjoyable days on the shores of Hamburg. The Reeperbahn comes into my mind, but I leave these imaginations for your own fantasies.

This is all long gone but I know there are ship lovers here as my regular readers and this photo of the good ship "Cap San Diego" is dedicated to them. The ship had been docked for several years in Hamburg, being used as a kind of living museum but this year it will appear during Kieler Woche. Sailing down the river Elbe again. Going into the Kiel Canal through the gates will be sight to watch for shipspotters. Knowing that the ship is coming to Kiel "bridges" nicely to my fellow Mothies, who are also reading here. (no progress yet with my foiling gybes due to no sailing at all) The Moth class is an invitational class this year in the famous Kieler Woche and some really good sailors have already shown their interest. They like to sail Kiel Week as a training for the upcoming Worlds in Weymouthin July. Welcome Mothies, I´ll be there at Kiel. GER-3170.

Underwhelming - The DN World Championship

Due to a massive work load in the company and commitment to my folks I have put the blogging a bit on the side. Also my regular readers must have noticed that the DN iceboating (which actually pulled the trigger to start this blog) has not happened as in the years before. May it be global warming or just bad luck that one low after the other is running over the north of Europe from the Irish sea without giving the Siberian high a chance to settle. Anyway I had been asked by a colleague from England, who visited my company in my absent and who gave a well received lecture, to tell him about. The following is a mail which I had sent to him on Monday which should give you the story:

Thanks for our mail. Now that you are asking me about the sailing: I learned a new word yesterday: Underwhelming! Yes it was! (Sorry Scott, I ripped it from your blog)
The ice on Lake Lipno in the Czech Republic was good. The lake is on 800m altitude and big. The river Moldau is feeding this reservoir. We had perfect weather. Abt. 200 participants. 4 groups with nearly 50 sailors each. A > D group with qualifiers from D upwards. I am fixed at the gold group due to my actual ranking of 13th.

At practise day I bent my steering post due to running into a crack in the ice on the way “home”. Only pushing the boat across the crack but the boat fully loaded with 2 extra sails and 9 spare runners and toolbox had a bit of momentum. (You never know exactly which runners to use as the conditions are constantly changing from morning over midday and mostly freezing again in the afternoon) I had to change to my brand new spare boat (should have a spare steering post but did not.... repair was not possible at the time) which I have not sailed much and never during races. In the first race, I came very, very, very last. 2nd race: Very, very last. 3rd race: Very last. Frustrating. Than started to see some light after more and heavy tuning than in the races before (completely different to my old boat as I found out the new one is a very stiff hull) In the fifth race, fighting in the middle of the fleet, the sheet jammed in one of the Harken blocks, upwind at about 60km/h. I was able to avoid an accident with the first boats sailing downwind at around 100km/h, but could not finish the race. That was the WC. In hindsight I must say that a conversation with former World Champion Ron Sherry, US-44, who came to me to ask “what about me being so dramatically slow”, helped sorting out my boat and more important my “head”. Ron gave me the important tipps for better tuning the stiff boat. He actually asked, how the boat felt, how it behaved and so on. It made me think at least in a positive direction, away from frustration. The stiff boat (hull) needed everything a bit loose. And that worked.

After that we have started our European Championship. I started this new event quite good, ranking 21st after 3 races. Due to the changing weather (abt. 12°C and other circumstances, my friend and I decided to go home. With us about 1/4th of the participants. The PRO and his race committee found good ice around the corner where the river Moldau did not destroy the former good ice from the bottom up as it happened where we were staying on the camping site. So I missed a good opportunity to gain some valid ranking points and it is possible that I have to start in the Silver fleet next time to try and qualify myself for gold again. One American friend, Matt Strubble, US-183 (also an A-Cat sailor) had an outstanding season. 2008 North American Champion, World Champion and European Champion. No brake downs on his boat. Plain good sailing and preparations. Tough to do this in Europe but thanks to some German friends they have access to a complete workshop after landing in Germany and before the DN show begins somewhere in Northern Europe. 3 US boats broke their hulls from accidents and we had a really good session during the night glueing it all together with SP106 and the repair kits. They call me Mr. Epoxy cause I am always carrying SP products with me. Here are some photos taken by a friend: http://www.eissegeln.de/galerie/images/wcec2008-2/index.htm

Championship is on

We are dwn here at Lake Lipno. 182 sailors from 15 Nations. Beautiful weather but a lack of wind. Today the first qualifier for the "D" fleet had been sailed. "C" fleet hat been abonded. Tommorow we will have 7m/sec and we do hope that the Race committee will find a bigger area than today otherwise I expect a demolution derby on the small course.
I myself have not raced officially today but did a lot of sailing and on the way home I pushed the boat into a crack and have bend the steering. Our good friend Peter G-868 borrowed me his spare steering and my co-driver Henning, G-499 drilled an 8mm hole free of hand with a "not-so-good driller". Nice job.
Something my dear friends might be interested: There is no such "Koch-Duell" as our Gourmet cook, Krogo, G-749 had to stay home due to a big, I say BIG flue. He is staying in bed and calling everyday to ask for weather.
OK, Niklas and some others want to look up the weather for tommorow. Have to stop the reporting on this borrowed computer. bye for now.

All my DN friends are sitting in the starting blocks

You might wonder why this sailing blog is so empty. Yes, there is nothing to report. My dear Bavarian DN friends are sailing nearly every weekend on small lakes but they are not having any regattas as the lakes are too small for fleets of abt 30 participants upwards. Whilst in the south of Germany they having freezing temperatures all the time, we in the north have the opposite. Temperatures around 5°C. Still the water being too cold for me to go Mothing. To help you to understand our iceboating and the difficulty to find a location for abt. 200 (!) participants from all the world (The US boys are flying in to Frankfurt today) others are sitting with their equipment stacked up on cars or in trailers. I had started to pack up the Van last night. Unfortunately my partner has some sad family responsibilities and I am looking for a co-driver. Might have to talk again with K. who is so occupied with some interesting projects. Anyway, please read the following if you are interested. Our Pres has currently made a round trip from Vienna, via Sweden to Finland and now back to Lake Lipno, Czech Republic, close to home. I just got a phone call from my spies that the lake down there has got 20cm of black ice (kernel) with a light snow slush cover. M best guess is that we are seeing al our iceboat friends from abt. 17 nations for the World Championship 2008 at Lake Lipno. Stay tuned.

edited: Thanks Niklas, of course 200 participants. A logistical nightmare.

Message from Niklas, the President, written last night.

Dear friends,
now I'm sitting on a ferry again.
Some people ask if I became a "Fähroholic"

Today I have been in Finland and had a look on Lappalan Järvi. Ice conditions there are not that what I would love to have for WC 2008 or EC 2008.

Before starting to that lake I had several phone calls to Stan Macur, Chris Williams, and other reliable informing persons and we realised that 12cm on lake Siemianowka won't be thick enough. Especially if you see weatherforecast with cold and snow together. Snow will bring some isolation and will avoid the growing of the ice.

Anyhow, I have been following (in secret) the last days Lipno. Before I started from Vienna I got information that ice there is too bad and unsafe. But after having seen that there has been every night about -6°C to -9°C I asked Sebastian Obermaier and Friedl Liese to go there and to check the ice. (Thanks for doing that so fast !)

After having got some informations I decided to leave Helsinki and to go with Superfast to Rostock. I plan to be on Lipno on Thursday morning and I hope that I can make a final decision on Thursday noon - early afternoon.

The decision will be (from the point of view now !) Sandviken (Sweden) or Lipno (Czech Republic).

THIS IS NOT A FINAL DECISION !!!!!!!!!!!

THINK ICE

Water, water but not everywhere....

Having been quiet over the last weeks, no weekend reports means that there has not been any DN sailing for me. The main reason is the warm weather. January here in the north of Germany had an average of 7°C. Much too warm to freeze over the lakes and way too cold to go out in the Moth.

I do not remember such a bad January of iceboat activities. In former years I had always been driven to Sweden, one year for two to three weekends to Hungary and in another year to the Czech Republic where we had been invited to race and when the conditions at home were not any good. And it had always been a pleasure to go, to be on the move. Something must hold me back which I have not yet deeply analysed. The prospects for this weekend are also not looking good, though my DN friends and I are programmed to go somewhere. 3 man in a Van.

Anyway the weekends at home gave me lot´s of opportunity to check my gear. Runner alignment is all important and I have not done this for 3 years. Now everything looked a bit worn and rightly I spend some time in the workshop. One thing is for sure: The world championship 2008 will happen in Europe. In the middle of February it is supposed to be sailed in Poland. If not possible in Sweden or Estonia. Our Estonian friends have not been sailing this season for lack of ice. The Polish iceboaters have been out every weekend since Christmas, only now the ice is fading a bit and this upcoming weekend they will sail their national DN Championship right at the Russian border, deep in Poland. (way too far for me for a weekend trip) The Swedish friends are a bit laid back. The weekend fleets decreased from about 60 to 16 boats on the starting line lately. They have to travel far north at present.

The two pictures attached are telling a little story. The first one with the bit of ice on the reed had been taken in the first week of January. It gave us hope! The picture below is from the same vantage point taken last weekend. Most of the water is gone. A heavy storm from the south-west blew out the water from the Schlei Fjord. Amazing. I had not seen this before though I live here since ten years. I was not able to read at the monitoring station due to dirt but I guess it had been 2,5m lower than normal. It was possible to walk to the birds island.

The Devil´s Playground?
Before I forget, our American iceboat friends: are thinking about a crazy event with DN iceboats. Look at: http://www.iceboating.net/node/2328. I do not want to discuss this in depth as it is mainly against my philosophy about this sport. We do not want spectators as it is dangerous for them. We do not need to party on the ice as we can and we are doing it afterwards. You cannot predict the place nor the conditions for such an ambitious project due to the weather. It ain´t no beach volleyball. But maybe I am getting old.

Time is flying

Back in the office again since 2nd of January I barely find the time to reflect on the Christmas holiday which brought some excellent iceboating with it. But let´s start from the beginning.

The questions to any avid DN iceboater here in Germany for the X-mas holidays is always: To move North or South. Very seldom we have frozen lakes around in Germany but the winter has arrived in the North, in Sweden, Norway and Finland and funny enough, in the South, in Austria and Italy. Yes, the north of Italy of course. To collect weather information is your first goal Than messaging with friends. This year, our friends Anja and Holger had already travelled at Dec 21st and were already sailing in Sweden, north of Stockholm. I checked weather at Dec., 23rd and after the last day of work in 2007 reflected about the possibilities and necessities. This happened around 22.00h in the bathtub. I was tired of the grey sky and short daylight, which in Sweden lasts only 6 hours at this time of the year. The decision was easy this year for Lake Rescia in Italy. The big reservoir was frozen all over and there had been no snow reports for the next couple days.

Packing up the Van on 24th, doing the family commitments in the evening and on the 25th (the duck was excellent, thanks Carmen!) we moved on in the evening and arrived at the destination around noon on the 26th. What a sight! There was black ice and wind and the sun was out above the mountains.

This had been the settings for the next 5 days. OK, there was only light wind on 2 days but the other days we had about 5-8 m/sec. Very little snow on the last two days on the ice. Everyday we did lot´s and lot´s of practise races on a long course. I tried to figure out which of my masts are going well this year. We did sail the Bavarian Championship and I was happy to hand over the price to my friend the "Candyman" who now has the burden to bring it (a very big and heavy Harken block) to the ice everytime we are sailing, otherwise he has to pay a round. I came fourth in this regatta. Not a brilliant result but seeing it in the light of "no preparations" before leaving, it was OK for me. I will start working on my gear now and hope to find more speed in the upcoming season.

Anybody who wants to read my race report in German language, please go to: www.eissegeln.de and look in the menu under DN Yacht.

Agenda to the photos:
1st one shows the Lake on our arrival from the village down.
2nd one shows the early morning view from the Van on the last day.
3rd one shows part of the startline set up.

Look Mama, it starts freezing

It is the iceboating which started me blogging nearly two years ago. And I started my blog with a beautiful picture from Lake Rescia. (see December 2005) Much has happened in the meantime but nothing gets me as excited, as black ice in the beginning of the season.

Yesterday I got a message from one of my DN buddies from the South of Germany. He had been looking up some Webcams and found the first frozen lake. Beautiful black ice on the Haidersee in the North of Italy. Man, had I been nervous. My DN gear is not prepared yet and the Bavarians want to go practicing on the small lake over the weekend. They want the(ir) title back. I am the current Bavarian Champion and I should at least defend the title which hasen´t been possible the last two season due to lack of ice or wind. To come and defend is only fair and sportsmanlike. A pity that I did not know about blogging when I won the Championship on Lake Rescia (Reschensee). It had been a memorable series with strong wind and black ice. I think I wetted my pants on the downwind during the first race but after that, I had been really fast and unbeatable. Lake Rescia is a beautiful lake in the triangle of Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Skiing is also an option as the lake is at 1400m above sea level and it is not far to reach the glacier or snow covered ski areas by lift.

The lake has normally some thermal wind around 14-18kn but it seems that the wind does not have as much pressure as it would have on sea level. Some people talk about less molecule in the air up high. Anyone out there who can share some light on this?

Not a good month for sailing but busy on the boatshows.

Everyone in the northern hemisphere will know that the last two month of the year are no good for sailing. Instead they are good for business issues and as I had two boatshows to attend, I have not missed a beat on the water.

hanseboat show in Hamburg at the end of October had been pretty busy for us and there was not much time to look around on the new, super sized fairground. There are many sailmakers as well as all the dealers for the equipment you want to have. It seems to me that the time for metal shackles is gone on the raceboats and one must have the rope shackles. So, instead of strolling around I went straight for the Dimension/Polyant booth to try and discuss my 4D mainsail for the Bull which is way too heavy in my opinion. Ordered last year and supplied via my local sailmaker, who did the finishing work, like clew eyes, reef and battens the sail is so strong and heavy that I think it will suit well a 5-6.000kg IMS class 2 boat instead of a 1.000kg light weight Sportsboat. It looks like they will try for a lighter membrane sail for me. At least their boss was talking to me.

Two boats had been of interest to me. Not that I could afford to purchase one of them but the standard of quality and the idea behind them had me have a proper look at them. The smaller one, the Club Swan42 is a nice and well sorted out boat with a neat interieur. Just what you need for a cruise in the Baltic Sea or around the Long Island Sound and nothing else. Tidy looks. The whole lot is coming for 411K (Euros of course). And I forgot to ask if the sails are included in this shocking sum.

The other boat had been the Marten 49. What a nice piece of carbon boat that is. I had the pleasure that Steve Marten himself was proudly showing me the anchor locker and the accessible compartment behind that. All finished in varnished carbon and one could see the expert workmanship and the tidy engineering which went into this all composite boat. Very friendly people on the stand let everyone in to look around and I heart many stupid comments inside the boat from the folks who do not know much about this sort of yacht. This of course is usual on boatshows and I could never work as a salesman for boats on show. Interestingly on the boatshow opening party I heart a nice story on my table from one of the guys who had just delivered a German owned Marten 49 from Kiel to the Med. He said that they were 6 men, no one under 70 years old and the boys enjoyed it very much. Good seamen these guys and they must have had a blast. Something to look forward to.

There had been a good dinghy display from Opti´s, Lasers to the RS range and the Bladerider Moth and also the nice looking national dinghies from the local yards. Varnished Gabun decks are always getting my attention and this year I admired the PIRAT, the KORSAR and FINN Dinghy. Of course the STAR had also been presented. It has a strong following in Germany like the DRAGON class. OK, no I do not want to drag myself into a discussion about the latest ISAF decisions. Many others are doing this. And I only hope that all the will and power of the folks will be heart next year and that the Olympic fleet will be of more modern and different equipment from various yards around the world. I like to quote Paul Henderson here:
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The final vote is next year in November and done by 39 Council Members. Council is the only committee of ISAF where alternates are allowed. Ask your National delegates why they voted the way they did and make them accountable for their actions. The ISAF process is open and transparent and allows a reassessment of the selections to be finalized next year when the classes will be set in concrete.
unquote