Season
Some years it all comes together for one memerable season. This year we didn't have endless amounts of ice with weeks and weeks of club racing, but we did have 2 highly attended regattas! Both ISA's and the Nite Nationals were sailed and complete by the 1st weekend of February! That's a big change when the year before we raced on April 1st up in the U.P. to complete a 1-day regatta in order to officially get the Nite Nationals in for 2022.
Our 2 regattas brought us lots of wind, lots of boats and big ice. The ISA were sailed in January on Lake Kegonsa, just south of Madison, WI. We had 25 boats on the line! If you found yourself on the end, it felt like a half mile away with no hope of hearing the starting call, LOL. There were A, B, & C Skeeters along with the Renegades sailing in the rotation. The Nites had the largest showing by 10 boats and we wanted to race the most! Three days of precision iceboating was had, with wide open 1 mile legs. Right off the line was supurb drag racing to each turn. Speeds calculated by competitors phone apps clocked many racers hitting 60-65mph! Now that's racing! The racing is getting faster and the competition is getting better. Tom Sweitzer with his relentless resilience and 40+ years of experience to win 6 out of 8 races.
ISA RESULTS: https://iceresults.org/dn/2023ISA.html
1st: Tom Sweitzer - 12pts
2nd: Dave Navin - 24pts
3rd: Chad Rechcygl - 26pts
4th: Brett Larson - 53pts
5th: Peter Keck - 54pts
ISA photos from Kayla Wolf: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UrPOGF2ikBF_bpKWs4KF0FOuaOgjD3eO
Epic Aerial Photos from Ethan B at ISAs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/328443737171874/user/592010784/
Brilliant Edited Drone Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_d6hzLhfOg&ab_channel=FourLakesIceYachtClub
2023 Nite Nationals - Geneva
All the elements come together in the right combo for the Nite Nationals. Zero degree temps turned Lake Geneva from water to ice from Sunday to Monday morning. By ice check Wednesday, we had 5inches of ice. With negative temps forecasted correctly on Friday, another few inches were added by start time Saturday. This forced a 2-day Nite Nationals to be officially called on. It's been 14 years since we raced on Geneva. The setting was set: Fontana Beach; miles of ice; Winterfest; Chuck's; local volunteers; media; airplanes; 1st time racers; veterans; spectators; drones; lunch; donations; dozens and dozens of cruisers; ATVs and even the fire department's hovercraft ready if needed... Geneva had it all!
Day 1 brought us a 1 mile leg, with bowling ball puffs that unnerved seasoned veterans. Winds were steady at 10, gusts to 25mph with the high shorelines on the west end of Lake Geneva. Day 2 settled the winds down, but increased the tight racing. 1-2 boat lengths could be 3-4 positions. Dave Navin sailed his way ahead of his son Kyle, while the rest of us chased them.
Nite Nationals Results: https://niteclass-hosted.theclubspot.com/regatta/nJbF2OKQoZ/results
Gold Fleet:
1st: Dave Navin - 10pts
2nd: Kyle Navin - 24pts
3rd: Chad Rechcygl - 29pts
4th: Daniel Hearn - 35pts
5th: Byron Hill - 35pts
Silver Fleet:
1st: Patrick Lynch -10 pts
2nd: Terry Reynolds - 19 pts
3rd: Rich Popovich - 20 pts
Nationals Photos from Miste Photography:https://www.mistephotography.com/Galleries/Sailing/2023-Nite-National-Championship
Aerial Video from Right Sight Media : https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=533735778852068&extid=NS-UNK-UNK-UNK-IOS_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=2Rb1fB&ref=sharing
Ballot
Part of the board is to assure the future of competitive 1-design Nite racing and occasionally by-law, constitution and/or class rules need to cleaned up or improved. This year after great discussion one-on-one and as a group at the annual meeting held at Nationals, a motion was made to grandfather hulls 1-3 into racing Nationals. We were excited to have hull #1 back on the ice at ISA, but the constitution didn't allow her to race in nationals. In the spirit of the history of the class, we wanted to see more of this on the race course. Also in the spirit of racing and promoting the growth of the fleet, a motion was made to eliminate the minimum weight required for a skipper to sail. We want to see more youth, females and 1st time racers give racing a try and get hooked! Again to keep racing close and to simplify scoring as all scoring has gone to software, it was decided it was best to change the points awarded to the race winner changed from 0.75 to 1pt. A vote to eligible members of the Internationals Nite Class Association was initiated on April 14th and concluded on April 24th. All 3 proposals were passed and will take effect September 1st for the upcoming season.
Board
May 1st marks the change of the guard. Commodore Chad, Vice Commodore Maureen, Secretary Brian Nies, Treasurer Lars Barber and Tech Committee Mike Peters has worked year round to bring you Nite news, promote the fleet to new sailors, order trophies, pay the bills, organize membership, man the website, and so much more. Now there is a new era in Nite iceboating that has developed. A wave of new iceboaters has joined us to ensure our future of racing. With that we have a new board to continue that momentum. For the 1st time in our 50+ years and an association we have a Female Commodore! Maureen is an ISA Champion and a fearless racer. All hail Commodore Maureen! We're excited for her to take the reins. Nationals Champion Dave Navin stepped up to be Vice Commodore. New comer Chris Wiberg jumped in as Secretary and Mike Peters holds his position as Tech Committee. Our treasurer position is vacant, so if you want to step up for you fleet, let us know asap!
https://niteracing.org/board-members
Conclusion
Iceboating is a blast and the Nites want to race! Come join us. Your eyes will get pealed back and your adrenaline will coarse through you veins and you will dream all summer long about your next iceboat race!
Signing off.
Your Past Commodore,
Chad #322