2012 World and European Ice Yacht Championships

28th January till 4th February 2012.

links.

Results

Gareths pictures

Wherever they may be. The weekend  21st /22nd January was taken up with Yorks and Lincs 4X4 training on my home beach, ( google it) Mablethorpe. A day of training on how to drive on beaches, bog down a Landrover Discovery up to the chassis and get it out, amazingly a good shovel was really the only thing needed.

Forgot to tell you. The exhaust fell of star ship discovery, a clean break on the weld, a standard pipe would not fit, so I had to eat two tins of baked beans to to fix it!  that and two jubilee clips, also have a gear box cooler now.  on the the way up it really worked, gear box temps now 15 to 20c cooler than before.

I started from the UK  Monday 23 rd January 2012 making my way to the world DN Championships, taking the P&O ferry, Hull to Rotterdam, sailing at 20.30  overnight to arrive (hopefully) at 8 am in Europort (Rotterdam).   Ferry is really quite, only 350 booked on.  A nice outside cabin with a window for me, at the bar it’s another matter.  NO Stella!!! the beer pump has broken, so the only draught ale is Beck’s beer.

Looked at the posh restaurant  menu, that had the normal array of food, but as it so quite I think I might be eating alone,  so it is the 4 seasons buffet and find what food takes your fancy, probably with another beck’s, but is not “probably” the Heineken advert! Choices choices.

As at Monday night I still have no idea where to drive to the next day. Prospects so far is that Sweden is first choice then NE Poland.   A few phone calls to reliable sources confirmed the choices, but as we know in Ice sailing it can change.  The scenario so far is that Sweden has ice but has local snow showers, so what was 21 cm of black ice one day could have snow on it the next day,  yet 10 miles down the road there maybe no snow.  Poland at the moment seems to have small slabs of thin ice, but looking at the web cams, lots of open water, but the forecast  is for cold weather -21c, good ice building weather, so after 5 or 6 days of of very cold weather you may have good ice.

The problem is that the international commodore has to juggle all the weather forecasts, ice conditions and other prospects into something that creates a World Championship sailing site fit for 220 pilots and 18 nations.   Then add the Polish Organisation who run the event, plus all the wife’s, girl friends, boyfriends and other hangers on that you have to find hotels or some sort of sleeping arrangements at a fair price.  Add the fact that most are guessing like me, There are other rumours of good ice out there as well.

My rumour  so far is that Sweden has ice now, but snow may spoil some good locations, then it turns colder next week but the winds fall light. Poland may have ice by the weekend and the winds may be better,  so who knows. Then there is Estonia.

What ever happens the prospect of meeting friends you have not seen for a year will make up  for any poor conditions, my toy cupboards are full so watch this space.

24 the January 2012 Tuesday

Drove from Rotterdam to just North Of Copenhagen  545 miles  Taking the A1 past Hamburg to the ferry from Puttgarden to Denmark (E47) the ferry takes 45 minutes, just enough time to get some well processed fish and chips have a pee and get some duty free Mariestad beer ready to drive 122 miles towards sweden.  I stopped in Helsingor at a Sleep Tonight Motel nicely placed just off the main road.  Checked the web to see what it may suggest.

So now the situation is not as easy as last year. Jorg is checking Ice currently in Estonia.  In Sweden several places around Sandviken are also checked and still could be considered. Sandviken has accumulated 5 cm of snow, but has the thickest Ice (20cm+) but little breeze  is in the forecast.  We most probably will have to use all the time until the deadline on Thursday 12:00 noon, before the decision can be taken.

25th January Wednesday

Took the early morning ferry twenty minute to Helsingborg, Sweden then drove the 340 miles to Vasteras where I heard that some Swedish and Hungarians were.  I stopped in a hotel in Vasteras for the night and check the web, also gave up and joined facebook as most swedes were using it, they gave me to sailing location, just SE of the city.

Jorg still has a very very difficult decision to make.  In Sweden we have  ice but wind prospects are low.  Estonia looks like getting colder but I don’t see the really cold figures. so that leaves Poland, turning cold with some wind. Poland is a bugger to get to from Sweden as most ferries only go on Fridays, maybe fully booked and we may only know Thursday.  one option .... go  Stockholm to Riga, Latvia and drive south. but that may change!  No point going west at this time as all the cold seems to be coming from the east.  After food four of us had a beer and discussed options, no wind maybe in sweden, or very light anyway, little wind and bloody cold in Estonia.   Poland also cold with growing ice and maybe light winds that drift round the High pressure.  How to keep over 200 competitors itching to go!!!!

What jorg said:-

considering the latest forecasts Estonia is no longer in the game. The daytemperatures in Haapsalu might drop below - 20°C during the following week and that’s why. In Sweden the windforcast is not promising and some snow is forecasted as well. Anyway we found ice(so far in Västeras and Örebro, that will be sailed (if there is any wind) and checked again tomorrow. Due to the cold moving in from the east Poland might also become an option. Also there the Ice will be checked tomorrow. The wind and weatherforcast for Poland is much more positive, than in Sweden. We have to compare the actual situation in Sweden and Poland tomorrow morning. With two big regattas  to be sailed after each other, with 4 groups each, we have to consider the negative windforcast and possibility of more snow for Sweden. If the Ice measured two days ago in Orkatowo,Sniardwy in Poland turns out to be thick and big enough by tomorrow it could be our choice, if not it will be Sweden.

My view and my responsibility is to rather delay the decision, instead of kicking off with the risk of just getting  one regatta in, if at all.  I know it is tough on everyone’s travelplans, but please consider the risk to end up in the wrong place, while others have fun somewhere else. Tomorrow we will let you know more. Thank you for your understanding.

Due to the fact that some ferries between the Baltic and Sweden are cancelled, we decided to delay the first Qualifier race to  13:00 on Sunday and allow Check-Inn for those, who cannot be there Saturday evening

26th January Thursday 8.30 am

No rush to the ice in Vasteras,not one flag has any kick in it, maybe -5c, but it does not feel cold, just dull lead sky with the occasional snow flake. I drove to the launch site, SE of Vasteras.  kept the DN on the roof as Swiss tv are here for one day, so think I may be a gofa and get my spark out (Pushing sledge)   I spent all morning pottering on the ice just east of Vasteras with 4 other DN.  the swiss TV company were filming for one day, so what does it do, snow!  not in the forecast!   Four DN’s went out with the 4 film crew. Conditions improved later and the snow stopped and sky’s cleared, meanwhile various phone calls and chats with locals confirmed my thinking.  The Championships are not here.   I also made plans to get to Poland, logging in GPS routes in the car, getting phone numbers for ferries etc, rumour was that only the small lake in Mikoliki, poland was frozen, from my road maps that looked  very small, the big lake is not frozen yet, (not enough for 210+ pilots).  But I am sure the polish lobbied very hard to try and get the worlds in Poland.  Meanwhile talking to the local  ice skating workers that cleared the ice for the skaters the ice in Vasteras was ok, but the sailing course looked too small for a large fleet, but that is my opinion?   I watched the filming and thought the location maybe too small for a World Championship.

At 14.00   The decision was made that the World Championships will be in Sweden, somewhere on lake Hjalmaren,  final location is not confirmed.  Again I looked at facebook and decided to drive to Orebro as there we some ice sailors there, and the rumours suggested bigger better ice there, so drove the 60 miles SW to Orebro and booked in the best western Hotel In Orbero. On road parking had to be paid by credit card, fortunately someone was next to me who could translate what the parking meter machine was tell me, just keep pressing the 10 swedish crown button till the meter said 9.15am next day. I did not like one credit card, but the second one worked.

We regroup in Orbero and wait for everyone else to travel to Sweden by what ever means. 210+ pilots, 18 Nations,  It takes time.....    some ferries are not running from Poland and it is getting near the weekend when ferries might be full, so the Championships will be delayed by one day.

27th January Friday

The updates on the web site were there, recommendations:  The Quality hotel just off the E18 Junction 114.  The other Hotel Scandic is a few miles away south west just off J.112.  The coordinates of the sailing site we txted to me,  and the GPS said drive through the city to the other side to pick up the route  207. The British team decided to sweep a little south and cross the city on the southern edge, it seemed to work.  I am sure if you do it at 5pm Friday it will be chaos.  My room is on floor 10 so have great view of the motorway and some sort of shopping place “City Gross”, loads of cars queuing to get in on a Friday night.

28th Jan Saturday,

A reasonable wind, setting up and training in small groups. Various people arriving at the Hotel all the time

29th Jan Sunday

A nice day sailing, a very light wind, the format for the week, did some filming  with a small wide angle camera on various positions including from the top of the mast looking down.

The start was delayed till today so people could get the ferries from Poland.  we had the opening ceremony at 4pm and K11’s fireworks, think everyone enjoyed it, I was too busy making sure nothing burnt down  and lighting fuses.

so early to bed tonight as we are on the ice first qualifier,

30 january 2012

A very cold morning, -10c with frost covering everything,  a real ice scraper for  cars up at 6.30, breakfast and fight your way through the rush hour of Orbero city.  All rigged and ready by skippers meeting at 9am, but no wind!!  We waited till 10am , then 11.30 am , then at 1pm we cancelled the day.

Small problem with my constitution today, the strong flavoured french onion  soup had me rapidly walking off the ice to the wooden hut with 3 months of frozen poo in the long drop from the plastic top, a fully flavoured smell with no fly’s & bring your own paper!   The bowels just said you must go, but try doing that with at least six layers of interleaved cold weather clothing and a turtle’s head on it’s way is a challenge. Also it is -8 so you don’t waste time, but there was no need!! there might have been no wind on the ice, but........k11

So back at the Hotel I went shopping at the huge stores at our euro stop next to the Hotel, Three huge stores that you can buy almost anything, car parts, bike parts, house parts, all sorts of stuff that you don’t see in the UK.  You need to walk round twice to miss something.

31 january

Thick fog last night, no wind again, Jorg is looking for ice in a plane maybe near Gotenburg. sparrissoppa today for lunch, No problems this time!  Nothing else to do but take pretty pictures, follow link>>>>

1st of Febuary

At last somebody gave us some wind at lunchtime. disaster for me.  Something was very wrong with my T runners in  the C fleet Qualifier, later found out they were 5mm out of track, thought I had checked that before, but I have only used them in bigger winds, Today in light winds it was like sailing with a brake on, also the snow was “Sticky” a 4mm of frozen snow, so tonight I am working on the T runners and if still not happy tomorrow with stay with the plate runners ( rough ice and all purpose runners)

Haken Elftom (S143) was the hero of the day, starting in D fleet( Aluminium) he worked his way into A Fleet, (gold Fleet),  by being in the first 12 he automatically move up a fleet.  so in the first A Fleet race tomorrow he has a lot to prove...........   Good luck , Haken.

Now the fleets are known,  the serious racing begins, in only 3/4 meters per second, maybe even less in certain parts of the racing.  We hope to expect a little more wind tomorrow..... Maybe....?

2nd Feb Thursday

It was -12c, the wind was forecast to come midday which it did, so a bit of hanging around trying to keep warm in the -9c,  the crusty snow slowed the yachts down a bit, so the first A fleet and B Fleet races were a bit slow, the wind moved a little so the line had to be relaid.  By the time it was our C fleet race the cold had crept in, and the wind had  strengthened to a moderate breeze.  I lost the sensation in my hands, so I had no idea how hard or how to grip the rope, it was a fast and painful three laps I came 28th.  Rumour was now that when the worlds are complete for the A  Fleet we pack up and move to near Trollhatten on the South side of Lake Vanern.

The Worlds did complete, the Polish won the championship, I am sure you can find plenty of stuff on other web sites .

A pack up from the ice and we had a briefing on the ice about  where the European Championships might be the next day. The plan is to drive 201Km south west to Lake Vanern.  The Hotel organized for us is the scandic in Trollhatten 25 km further south of the sailing site, so we were told to go to the sailing site first, ready for an 11am briefing.

Friday 3 feb.

up at 5am threw all the room stuff in the car, a quick breakfast at 5.45am and hit the road at -15c.  2.5 hours later we arrive in a remote farm yard in a heavy snow storm, access to the lake was across a frozen ploughed field, my landrover pulled out the german camper van and trailer, a quick look at 3 inchs of fresh snow confirmed the end of the Europeans, by the magic of mobiles, txt and facebook,  we descended on a sleepy petrol station cafe.  Imagine a road side cafe at 10.30am with about 5 people in it then 250 ice boaters descend like a flock of birds from nowhere, and then we present the Worlds there and then. The 200 or more people  disperse across Europe.  Bye’s Bye’s are said and like the flock of birds we disappear, just as quickly as we flew in.

Not wishing to drive a long way in a snow storm we drove to the Scandic hotel at Trollhatten and had lunch with red bull  reporters and Jorg, K1 and Mercedes & Hall (US)

K1 & k11 went shopping in town, bought some presents and booked a nice evening meal in the Albert eating place, just across the river from the hotel. so after ten days of eating Buffet’s it will be nice to eat some nicely presented lake fish,(or anything else that might take your fancy)

4th feb Saturday

The Scandic hotel is a large hotel, seems Saab cars were made there, but not anymore so the town is trying to reinvent itself.

left Trollhatten early morning for a 11 hour drive south, the forecast was correct, -18c no wind. Smoke was going straight up and the mist from the moving water coated the river side trees in glass cover,  the road to Gotenburg (E45) follows the Gota river, the exit of Lake Vanern, most of the road in being upgraded so lots of temporary road works, speed restrictions and diversions then pick up the E6 south, being careful on the speed limits as there are plenty of cameras waiting for you.  The temps slowly rise from a very chilly -18c to a barmy -9c in Germany using the same route as we did the week previous.

So even if we did sail the European Championships,  you would have stood around all day with no wind, so just as well we are all making our way home.   Stopped with Hal and Mercedes in a pension Hotel in Jorg’s home town.

5th Feb Sunday,

Left the Americans at Jorg’s house in Bad Zwischenahn, (West of Oldenburg) and took the A 28 towards Emden then swept south on the A 31,  a chilly -6c  Sunday morning,  I had the motorway to myself, for mile after mile.  It only got a little busy when I drove west on the A 37 that joined up with the A 28 all the way to Utrecht, Holland.  Then the A 12/A 20 to Rotterdam finally getting close to Europort.  With so little traffic I was well ahead of the check in time for the ferry,  so had a quick look at Brielle, just South of the Europort.  I followed some signs to a indoor Sunday market.  Inside a sports Hall was a full house car boot sale, there was some tat but also some nice dutch stuff too, bought a couple of items,  I also watched 100’s of kids and families ice skating on the canals, the first time this year.

I then retraced my steps back to the Rotterdam/Hull ferry, still a little early so dropped into “the Pub” just next to the check in, a good local ale had me ordering omelet and chips with a side salad & watermelon, the bill came to €12.50, (£18.50 on the ferry for a buffet) so well worth it as you had a large plate filled,, almost double the size of any UK portion.  Plus the barman/cook was nuts,  It was very funny how he dealt with an elderly English woman that asked for a cup of tea!

17.00 loading time loomed so back in the car and me with a high roof had to go in the lower deck with the lorries, this time the gates were not in the closed position so with no one around I found a yellow coat to park me up, normally you have to wait an hour sitting at the gate in full view of a nice warm ferry.  In the cabin I have a front facing window, but it is half full of snow, witness to the snow the UK had the night before.   I expect the ferry to be quite so an early night and then drive 60kmm home.

6th Feb Monday,

Ferry arrived at Hull in thick freezing fog, and that’s how it was for the drive home plus  5 inchs of thick wet snow.  Unpacked  the ice boat and now it’s time to check in back at work.. what is work??

A sort of summary,

When I left England the cold spell had not happened, Jorg the person in charge had the job of finding safe ice large enough to host over 120 yachts and 18 nations, the decision came a day late, because the rumours of Estonia or Poland had not produced viable sailing sites. We knew a cold snap was coming but one week later and with the cold snap you can sail anywhere, if there is no snow!!  Ultra low temps in Eastern Europe. 100’s killed by the extreme cold.  All from the super high pressure system that caused us no wind in Sweden, it was so high that I heard a rumour that the planes could not calibrate the altimeter.  It was nice to meet sailing friends again and join in the challenge of racing in any conditions that get thrown at you.  It was also nice to see a a good turn  out of American officials and skippers. For me with little tuning time you finally figure out how to make the yacht go, just when it is time to go home!  I was using plates for training and sailing well, but I changed to T runners and immediately knew something was not right, damn sure I checked the tracking at home, but 4mm out mmmm....... Think I need a big cold store back in the UK to check that?

K11