Subj: Finland Story

Date: 98-03-09 13:13:17 EST

From: mark@spp51.sppco.com (Mark Harris)

To: DNice4762@aol.com

From: Mr. G J Rowland <holivans@enterprise.net

K800's personal report of the World and European DN Iceyacht Championships

This is meant to be what happened to me not a blow by blow report of the

racing. I hope some else will do that.

18th Feb

Packing up the yacht seemed to take a long time; In 18 degrees and warm

sun to think of ice sailing and all the gear needed to keep warm, it just

did not feel right. With just myself in the Landrover Discovery I think

half the kitchen sink went in as well!

The laptop I was hoping to get for the trip was somewhere between home

and Taiwan. A friend of mine offered me an old 286 running dos. With one

hour before leaving for Harwich I went back home into the loft and dug out

my old dos WordStar program.

It was then a four hour drive from Mablethorpe to Harwich and jump on the

ferry. The mobile phone car charger did not do its duty and left the phone

nearly flat. The mains charger is either buried somewhere in the car or

sitting

on my desk at home. The phone indicated that the car charger was working

and my test meter found a voltage on the plug, but the damn thing would

not charge up.

The WordStar program I hurriedly grabbed was short on the three program

discs, choosing printers and mailing list work great, but no word wrap, spell

checker etc. It was down to editing files in dos, at least that works so I

can keep the dairy going, then put it onto a floppy and hopefully find a

PC with a modem

Well the phone don't work

The WordStar is lacking the files

But at least we are on the boat without a hole in it.

19th Feb

Found the phone charger so that's up and running again.

Weather from Hamburg to Travemunde was dull and overcast temps about 8

degrees. Too warm for good ice. The Class 3 European Ice yacht

Championship had been cancelled as there was no ice at Kunsbacka so it was

a travel onto the DN Champs

Arrived at Travemunde around 3pm after leaving Hamburg at 1pm, a very "polite"

German lady explains we cannot book until 19.30 for the 22.00 sailing.

A quick drive into town and Chris found a very nice Hotel restaurant where

we had an afternoon/ evening meal. We went back to the car park and

waited for a couple of hours and had some zzzzs in the car until 19.30

where we got booked in and on to a palace of a ferry bound for Trelleborg,

Sweden. Trying to avoid the bar, as breakfast is at 06.00 and we lost one

hour by changing from U.K. Time to German Time (UK +1)

20th Feb

Drove off the ferry at Trelleborg around 7.30am had a 350-mile trip to

Stockholm. The weather was still far too warm 8-9 degrees. The mornings

drive was dull and misty along gently curving motorway. Lunch was at a

lake side restaurant over looking Lake Vättern. It was then on to

Stockholm on a motorway that got busier as we approached the rush hour in

Stockholm. Fortunately most of the traffic was going out and we were going

in. Finding the ferry terminal was a matter of heading for the water then

finding the ship. Signs were distinctly lacking, but we eventually found

the car park for the ferry and other ice sailors rolled up as we waited to

check in. Chris Williams was reacquainted with old friends from Holland,

Bavaria, North America, and Poland. We also learnt that the regatta had

been moved from Jacobstad or Pietarsaari to Lake Pyhäjärvi about 75kms

north of Turku or Åbo, This was because there was too much snow on the

ice, due to the high temperatures it was melting, resulting in large areas

of water on top of the ice. I hadn't made a booking for the

Sweden/Finland, because of half-term, the large number of ice sailors and

it was Friday night, the only cabin spare was a 4-berth on the Penguin

deck (bowels of the boat). Fortunately I seemed to have it to myself

which saved me practicing my burping and farting in the effort to remove

unwelcome guests. I had 2nds and 3rds at the buffet followed by not too

many drinks because Chris told me about the habit the Finns have of

breath anlysing all drivers exiting the ferry. So it was cokes at the bar

when I decided that probably a little bit of sleep might not go amiss

since breakfast was again at 06.30. We also lost another hour because we

changed from Swedish to Finnish time adding one hour (UK time +2)

21st Feb. Saturday

Driving out to the Customs Chris's advice proved correct and I was

Breathalyzer, but under the limit. I played follow the leader behind

Chris who I assumed knew where he was going as we exited Turku. After a

few miles we came across "Loose Moose" road signs as we passed into the

Finnish forests on our way to Lomasäkyla on the shore of Lake Pyhäjärvi

and the ice. We turned up at the base to find we'd been beaten to the

local accommodation by people with mobile phones who knew the new club

house number. We ended up 10 kilometers down the road in a collection of

little wooden holiday cottages (4 in one and 11 next door) this would be

shared with Danes and a German with more to follow, and a smoke sauna (To

be investigated later - what about Kippered Gareth)!

Then it was back to the base and we assembled the Ice yachts on the ice

with some other 20 or 30 DNs. All the time other pilots were arriving

from Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, Austria, America, Canada, Sweden,

Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Italy, Russia, Holland, Poland, Germany, and

of course the fast expanding UK team.

Since a strong breeze was blowing, I had a quick sail in my class 3,

K800,with the mast only, which was quite sufficient, since most of the DNs

were not venturing out onto the ice. Chris introduced me to a multitude of

friendly faces.

22nd February

Sunday opened with a Westerly wind and the arrival of many more sailors so

that by the time of the opening ceremony at 18:00 hours there were 181

sailors

and 14 flags flying from the masts of the yachts, silhouetted magnificently

by the setting sun. All set for the 10 o'clock start on Monday. Amongst

the new arrivals were Neil Marsden and his Father Robin, from near Preston

via Helsinki airport. Neil is the past World Enterprise dinghy champion

and the current Topper World Champion and this brought the British team up

by 100 per cent for the second time.

But the best-laid plans ... dawn saw dripping, dripping, dripping, from

thawing

vegetation and RAIN. But our Finn hosts assured us that All Would Be Well

and THEY WERE RIGHT: not, however, until we all got soaked to the skin.

The boats were divided into 4 fleets on this occasion (usually Gold, Silver

and Bronze, but this time to accommodate so many sailors, with the addition of

Aluminum). The course consisted of a start line dividing the fleet into

Port and starboard tacks with odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the

other. The top mark was 2 or 3 km dead upwind which meant the yachts

taking two

long tacks to it and then heading for the bottom mark which of course is dead

downwind and to reach it you had to take 2 long downwind legs. The yachts

completed 3 laps, which took approx. 20 minutes. The first ten sailors home

in the Aluminum Fleet went up into the Bronze Fleet and so on.

After the first race there was a long delay because the skies cleared and the

wind changed which meant that the grid and also the top mark had to be

repositioned. I was taking a lot of pictures at the bottom mark. The

noise of

the approaching fleet on the rough ice is rather like the sound of a 747

taking

off plus the noise of skidding runners as yachts round the mark.

The sound travels in the ice for up to 3 kms so you can hear them sometimes

before you see them.

I had used all my film up so beat a retreat back to the clubhouse, which was

lucky because it began to drizzle. I then drove 20 mins up to the nearest

town of any size, Eura, where there was a One Hour film developing

service. Had a coffee, looked round the supermarket and found some

massive outdoor candles a foot in diameter! That should be good for a

barbecue!

By the time I collected the films the rain was coming down heavily and I

met a lot of drowned rats leaving the ice - to sail on ice at +2 degrees

in the rain is not my idea of fun so I went back to the cottage and lit

the wood fire in the sauna in anticipation of some rather damp and sweaty

refugees. The wind had started to get up and rumors of a force nine

coming in from Sweden proved right as the trees swayed in the gathering

storm.

There were some nervous thoughts of yachts with the mast on, one or two went

down to derigg their yachts only to see one or two others flip over in the

gale.

One of the organizers saw a yacht sailing of in the car headlights! I can only

presume it did not sail far or it carried on the other shoreline some 6

kilometers away. If it went up the lake it could go for 30 kilometers!!!

I did hear later that an Estonian also had his car squashed by a falling

tree.

Chris returned and after a shower it was down to the clubhouse for some

Fish. After a couple of beers it was an earlyish night via some whisky,

Vodka and beer to ensure a restful night. The son of the Owner of our

chalet

,Mikko, joined us to have a chat about Deer and elk and explained that there

are some wolfs around as well as foxes. The wind howled round the chalet as

we sat in the warm drinking beer. There was a Scottish fella who had

tagged along with us his idea was to sleep in a tent and travel on to

Lapland in preparation for going to the Antarctic. Must be fun in a tent

in a force nine as the temps dropped to -6.

Tuesday 24th

Dawned clear and frosty, -6 degrees on my car thermometer.

The yachts assembled some 3 kms out in the middle of the lake. The wind was

blowing from the North about 6 meters per second. I wanted to use my camera

on the top mark, with being so cold I filled up the fuel tanks (Shomach)

with hot porridge in anticipation of spending the day on the ice.

With so much clothing on I could not even bend down to tie my ice skate

bootlaces?

I then ice skated 5kms to the top mark, head into wind. I just made it

totally

knakkered as I had to go like hell in the last 200 yards as the Gold fleet

had started and was bearing down on me at some 40mph. The yachts

accelerated to 55mph as

they rounded the mark. To watch the gold fleet rounding the mark in close

formation was spectacular; the camera went in to over drive as there was

a lovely blue cloudless sky. These guys were the cream of the ice fleet

and were really going for it. One yacht spun out; another had a large hike

and capsized getting away with bruised knees. I took a stunning picture

with this poor fella on the point of no return. Two others I think clipped

each other and stopped some 100 meters away. While having my eyeball in

the camera I heard a bang from an approaching yacht. I explained to the

accompanying German Camera man who was next standing next to me, that when

yachts are coming near you and you here a bang you turn to see if there

are any bits of yacht heading in your direction. In this case a side

shroud broke and the pilot cruised to a stop 300 meters away. Again I

caught this on my digital camera.

I then returned to the clubhouse to write this report up, as I am two days

behind.

The RULES:-

A special sticker marks each part of the DN so no changing of mast,

sails or axles can take place. You are allowed 3 sets of runners and

that's it.

This leads to some very good racing in one design so the best skipper wins,

not just the best yacht. Some yachts have more mast bend than others, the

real

bendy ones we called the banana fleet. Different sailing courses were

used, some yachts took two long tacks to the top mark while some others

cut back early and put two extra tacks in. It was difficult to know who

was right.

The people staying with me in the chalet are

Michael Mittl: German broke one rib sailing today

Joergen Holsoe: Danish

Henrik Forss: Danish ,a little noisy at night, i.e. snores

Other stories told over a beer was that another skipper bust two ribs

maybe yesterday.

25th Feb

Woke up to an overcast sky with a temp of -12 it had been as cold as -16

over night a quick cup of tea made by Jenny (Chris's wife) put me in the

mood to put all the gear on and face the elements. Drove down to the club

house and fueled up ready to rig my yacht. It was really cold, you only

put one runner on before I had to put the gloves on to get some feeling

back in the hands. The sail would not go up the mast as some ice was in

the track. It took 10 mins or so to get the damn thing on as Neil Marsden

and my self slithered around on the ice. It was time to give Neil and Robin

a go in K800. They had a sail in Cris's yacht the day before. Neil's

comment on returning was that it should not be

allowed on the ice as it was dangerous to sail and too damn fast!

I went out onto the ice and turning down wind was great fun, the yacht was

really motoring the axle was trying to lift. With the thick mitts it was a

long time before I found the rope to release the traveler. As soon as the

boom went out the yacht powered even faster down wind.

I returned to the pits and fitted the GPS to the yacht. I had to use

a load of durracells to make the 12 volts as it would not work on it's

internal batts due to the cold. I took off onto poor visibility as it was

starting to snow. I went well down from the racing let it rip down wind.

Trying to operate the GPS with a pair of boxing gloves

as well as trying to not hit any of the fisherman's poles that were in

certain places on the ice was tricky. Once I was settled in I accelerated

from 50mph and peaked at 70mph. With such poor visibility I decided that

this was not a good idea and gave up. I had to use the GPS to find the

clubhouse again as I 5miles away without any shoreline to act as a guide.

By the time I returned the gold fleet was coming in as they had finished

their World Championship.

Results for World Championship (Gold Fleet)

1st US 44 Ron Sherry

2nd H633 Daan Schutte

3rd P154 Piotr Burczynski

Silver Fleet

G551 Christian SeegersZ47 Jean Pierre Comtesse

P59 Hubert Szustak

Bronze Fleet

C7 Heldur Partel

s74 Dag Eriksson

L68 Trygve Bredbacka

Registration for the European Championships took place from 8 to 9.30

These Champs are always run after the Worlds.

It was then back to the club house for lunch and let the other skippers

look at the photos I had developed of the previous days racing. It could

have been a rather good afternoon, as some of them wanted to buy the photos

negotiations were: exchange of one beer for one photo seemed the best

international currency. I refrained from getting plastered and took email

addresses and names ready to send them on.

Driving back at 4pm it was -7 and snowing like hell. This is not a good

thing as

the snow drifts on the ice and if it reaches 100mm the DN's will not race.

I might have a go in my class 3 as I have the power to blast through,

should be fun!!

Funny things happen at these low temps. My apple in the car can still be

eaten,

the bottle of water is frozen solid but the beer stored outside at -7 is still

unfrozen, but when brought inside gets a frosting on the tin. Should make

Mervyn happy, a beer nearly frozen. The camera froze up this morning, the

focus

speed and aperture controls would not move. The only answer was back to

base and put in on a radiator for half an hour. Fully charged camcorder

batts last less than 3 minutes even when kept on the inside pocket ready

to use.

For some reason we had to leave our cottage, as it was booked the next day,

we thought we had it for the week, perhaps the owner thought that having a

four

Ice sailors next to some holiday makers might not mix.

We were invited up to the old farmhouse, a lovely all wood house built in

1760. It had one ghost for definite, the walls were original tree trunks

graded into walls. There was coffee, pastries and sweet deserts, this was

a polite way to settle up the bill for staying in the cottage. Then it was

back to the club for the evening meal and return to the last time to the

cottage.

26th Feb

The temps were above freezing most of the time and the ice 10 to 15 cm of

water on top. With the upwind mark some 5kms across the lake I thought the

ice soft enough to try riding my bike across instead of knakkering myself

ice skating across.

This proved not a good idea, as the wind picked up the bike was positively

lethal. With the tires let down low you could pedal steadily head into

wind, try

Pedaling to fast and the back wheel spins usually away from you. Steering

was an art form. With snowdrifts on the ice up to 3 inches thick it was

better to go straight through the drift rather than steer round it. If you

tried you just fell off. I finally made the top mark falling off 3 times,

by this time I had very damp feet from the water. I had some good camera

shots of the yachts, by this time the wind had picked up from a 3-4 to a

6 with it shifting around 10 to 15 degrees as well. The bottom mark was

more interesting as some skippers had big problems controlling the yachts

on the downwind turn. Trust me to get to the wrong mark, missing all the

action.

We were shown another cottage some six miles away from the club that was

down icy shale tracks with a narrow access on ice. Us four fellas decided

not to split up as we had become use to each other's company, the thought

of a nice hotel was tempting, but with two nights left what the hell. The

cottage you could describe as "cosy". One double bed, one double "put you

up" settee and one double mattress four guys nervously looking at each

other. Short straws seemed a good idea?? The problem was solved by one

sleeping in his bag on the floor. With only cold water on tap you could

hack a hole in the frozen lake we faced. The toilet was 50 mtrs down an

icy track into the woods!

27th Feb

Friday was a decision day as to how to get home, my friends have decided to

return ready for work on Monday. Jenny then booked me on the Turku

Stockholm ferry for sat night. The conditions on the ice were not brilliant

there was a strong wind with snow patches on the ice, the forecast was

for a stronger wind. Some skippers decided enough was enough and did not

sail, others went out, but the general impression was that it was on the

limit

of controlling the yachts.

Also the camp lergi seems to have struck. So many people have come down

with a fever and a cough. Many skippers are in motor homes and the toilets

in the club after the morning session can only be described as "pungent",

With so many damp sweaty skippers in close proximity the lergi spread

like wild fire.

About midday the racing was called off as the wind had picked up even

more. At this time I was hunting round for a DN, negotiations we made

with some Russians and Geoff Kent was keen to sell his US3535, a

beautifully made DN with titanium fittings and carbon on nearly every part.

With a long afternoon in the club I traded a few more Photos for beers and

defrosted the video for half an hour before it would work on the club house

TV. I had a video of the World and euros in St. peter Ording 1993, this is

quite a dramatic video. The ice sailors thought sand sailing was a crazy

sport, bouncing around on a beach. I think it provided a source amusement

for an hour or so. I booked myself into the Hotel Chris and Jenny were

staying as my friends had gone home.

We stayed for the evening meal then drove the 30 miles to the hotel.

Arriving at 10pm, the hotel is virtually shut at the weekend and we were

the only ones in it. For the breakfast you had a ticket for the petrol

station cafe as the hotel restaurant is closed. Anyway by not being a one

for going straight to bed I had a look in the local pub, which rapidly

filled up with the Friday night locals. Talking to a couple of locals they

seemed most impressed that a British and European sand yacht champion

should visit their little town, some 6 to 7 thousand people. Returning to

the hotel it was nice to return to modern facilities and sleep.

One thing you noticed during the week was that your sense of smell

improved in the clean air the car engine smelt very hot and the brakes did

not smell too pleasant either.

It is something you just do not notice back in blighty.

1st March

Packed up and said our good byes. And drove to the Turku ferry and a very

Finnish ferry to Stockholm.

2nd march

Drove to southern Sweden nearly getting lost in Malmo. Got on the

Trelleborg to Travemunde ferry in a snowstorm. While I was waiting I

found an Internet cafe and spent one hour mailing Mervyn Hurley.

There were only about 60 on the ferry so an early night was made by the

standard bicardi. On arrival at Travemunde at 07.30 I had to decide what

to do go 180 miles north to Esjberg, spent a few hours in the one horse

town ready to catch the evening ferry arriving next day at Harwich 12.30.A

few key stokes on the AutoRoute made me decide it might be worth the

400 mile trip to Rotterdam and get the P&O ferry to Hull getting in

at07.30 and only one hours drive from home. especially as is my birthday.

might even get a present from the wife, probably a large suitcase

containing the rest of my clothes!! I left Travemunde in a snowstorm and

had a white knuckle ride round Hamburg on the motorway it was 3 lanes

solid doing 60mph in driving hail and rain at the morning rush hour. Some

50 miles later the weather cleared and it was just a question of putting

on the cruise control and follow the concrete and tarmac stripe, head

wind, across Germany turning right at Onnasbrukand on to Holland and

Rotterdam getting there some 8 hours later. The ferry is bobbing about in

a force 8 with only 250 other passengers as we leave Rotterdam, on the

return to Hull and home.

Regards from Gareth K800