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Not just in their boats, the sleek, sail-propelled, lightweight and often-homemade craft which can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h, either. These guys can cover half a country in what seems like no time at all when there‘s racing to be done. Take this week‘s event at Silver Harbour Conservation Area, the North American championship regatta. Just seven days ago, organizers found themselves with some races to run and little good ice to run them on, said event chairman and ice boater Richard Potcova. “We‘ve had a lot of snow down all through the States and the East Coast,” he said Wednesday morning. “Over the last week, we‘ve been desperately searching for a suitable location to have this regatta.” So they turned to Google Earth and found that Silver Harbour was covered in near-perfect racing ice. A couple of scouts from Minneapolis drove up last week and they liked what they saw. Racers need about 1.5 square kilometres of ice with little to no snow on it, Potcova said. By Monday, 58 racers and their boats, coming from across the U.S. and as far away as Germany, were in Thunder Bay, set up at the Prince Arthur Hotel and ready to race. “People are all loaded up . . . and ready to go,” Potcova said. “You never know where you‘re going. “There were good locations on the East Coast, but that big storm last week . . . that really wiped them out, so a lot of our options were taken away.” But ice is only half the battle. They‘re ice boats, they have sails, and they need wind. That‘s been a problem this week. Races were to start Tuesday, but no wind scuttled that plan. And Wednesday morning was looking bleak as well with just a gentle breeze. The racers were bunched up way out on the ice, their boats motionless, waiting. Later Wednesday morning, there was enough wind to race, but just one qualifier, said Jim McDonagh of the International DN Ice Yacht Racing Association. The problem was the wind kept shifting, so the starting line had to be moved around. By the time they got everything set up, the wind had died down again, he said. If the wind stays slow for the rest of the week, this year‘s North American championship simply won‘t happen. They can‘t reschedule, McDonagh said. The event has to be wrapped up by Saturday. But even if the regatta doesn‘t happen, it won‘t have been a waste of time. Germany‘s Joerg Bohn said ice boat racing is as much about socializing as it is about competing. “You don‘t find many people who go out into the cold when the wind is up and stay all day on the ice,” Bohn said, a big smile on his face. “Nobody is bitching. “Everybody is looking forward to sail, or even not to sail. Either way, we exchange a lot of information . . . we try to give support, also, for the next year. “It doesn‘t matter where you‘re from, which nation you are from,” he said. And the racing is a blast. “It‘s speed that really gets you hooked,” Bohn said. “It‘s quite fast in these boats if the wind is good and the ice is good.” The races take place on an oval track over three laps, or about 10 km, Potcova said. Racers run a qualifier, with the top boats ending up in the gold fleet and race for the North American championship. The rest race as part of the silver fleet, usually made up of lower-ranking or beginner boaters. “But those people, every regatta, have an opportunity to qualify into the gold fleet,” Potcova, a 20-year ice boat veteran, said. “We always have a qualifier.” Top of Page |
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September 2, 2010, 8:22 am |