WC/EC 2024 travel report

Hello, this is a travel report written by L-154 or let’s say by the only female of the group. Kimmo L-147 asked someone to write a report so I thought it would be more fun if someone else than Oscar L-132 wrote a report.

Arrival 2.1

Start of week 5 was a bit full of chaos as each one of us packed up, placed our bets where we would go and compete. Some thought we would go to Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia. Some also bet that we would compete in Säkylä, Finland. On Wednesday evening, we decided to head out to Pärnu and wait for the official decision. If it was not in Pärnu, then we would start driving south. So off we went to Tallinn on 1.2 evening.

We arrived in Pärnu and after official decision we went and checked out the landing site. We managed to have nice training session with really nice ice.

Registration day 3.1

For someone who is attending the DN World & European Championship for the first time, the registration procedure was new & interesting. I failed my first rule test and had to wait 1 hour. It was a bit of a torture to wait in the hotel room and kill time. I was thinking of what if I fail again and need to prove my knowledge in front of the whole race committee 😵‍💫 Well, luckily I passed the rule test and completed my registration. I got the stickers and some goodies: neck muffler and harken derma spf30 sunblock tester.

We then went off to the landing site again. The conditions on the ice were quite wet as it was on the plus side so not everyone went out for sailing. Some did maintenance work, grinding their runners while others went sailing.

Measurement man meets “Fat Bastard”

Ossi Paija L-139, decided to introduce his latest addition, “Fat Bastard” – hull to the Polish measurement man. When Ossi took off the cover, the measurement man took 3 steps back, said “no no no” while waving hands. We all regret that we didn’t film his first reaction 😂 🤳 Measurement man needed his son to translate things from Polish to English and drew things on the snow. In the end, Ossi decided to change back to his other hull as the to-do list got a bit too long for one evening. Let’s see if Fat Bastard makes it to the next World/European Championship. Saga continues in 2025 ⚒️

DN World Championship Day 1 | 4.2

The conditions on the first day were very strong and gusty. There were small patches of double ice there and there but the total ice thickness was over 40cm. We had the opening ceremony and headed out towards the starting line and our pit. We waited for the wind to calm down a bit. The atmosphere in the pit felt like everyone was bracing to race in tough conditions. Everyone picked the flattest sail in their asset. WB Ultra, WB Clear-Ice or 1D F-speed.

First up was C-fleet qualifiers. Almost all C-fleet Finnish sailors went to the starting line except me, L-154. Reko L-112 managed to qualify for B-fleet. Then up was B-fleet qualifiers and then A-fleet. Wind gradually calmed down a bit after C-fleet qualifiers. No damage within the Finnish fleet but there was undeniably a lot of incidents/damage on the first day for other sailors’ iceboats. Oscar L-132 got unfortunately DSQ’d due to 1mm too much on one of the runners.

Vesa L-146/2 & Petri L-53 joined as organizers for this big international regatta. Main goal was to observe & learn how big regattas work. Especially as DN Finland will host European Championship in 2025 🇫🇮 There was a lot of actions at the upwind mark. So much that it’s good to always have 2 organizers by the upwind mark.

For this World Championship regatta, organizers introduced a new after-sail concept. Volunteers from each country organized something nice to eat for the hungry ice sailors. Finland was first up. Kimmo L-147 and Olli L-121 came all the way from Finland to organize a nice sausage barbeque. The first after sail was successful thanks to them, there were no leftovers! 😎 Thank you Kimmo & Olli.

DN World Championship Day 2 | 5.2

Conditions were fast enough. Another flat sail day. 

In A or B fleet there was one incident at the down-wind mark where someone’s front steering assembly disintegrated, lost steering and went through the starting line and the crowd stayed clear of the passing boat. No one was harmed. The ice sailor had no steering but luckily, managed to stay clear of other boats in the pit. What could we learn from this? 1) Well, it’s not wrong to slow down a bit towards downwind mark. 2) Kimmo L-147 suggested the following emergency maneuver that may be useful: Shift weight all the way to the back which lifts up the front & iceboat should go up to wind.

This was the first real race day for L-154. Claudia came in super hot at the down-wind mark a few times. She almost collided with O-11. According to Ossi, Claudia made quite the first impression to the crowd 😅

L-601 forgot his stamped WB Ultra to the landing site. Wind picked up that much. John gave it a try to sail with WB Medium. We wondered in the pit where John had disappeared as we didn’t see him finish. Later on, he shows up with the WB Ultra hoisted.

We helped out with Rudy’s broken boom jaw. Ossi had a reserve part.

Regatta dinner was held in the evening at the hotel’s buffet. Free beer & wine. There was supposed to be 2 glass of wine per person but I think one table had 6 bottles. Kosk made a nice speech. Some yacht club commodore also had a speech, can’t remember his name. Kosk emphasized how awesome it is to have 10 ladies in the regatta & joked all men should be nice and carry their runners.

DN World Championship Day 3 | 6.2

No wind day & we went out to the pit and waited. A-fleet was at the starting line waiting all morning meanwhile L-154 took a nap. L-132 thought the worst decision was to go out and wait for the wind and the best decision was to call it a day and head back.

DN World Championship Day 4 | 7.2

Windy enough but towards the end the wind died. This day was probably the worst day for the Finnish fleet as there was an incident on R4 between L-143, L-731 & P-102. L-143’s hull was pretty much unfixable. L-731 got damage under the hull. Both Finnish sailors retired after this incident and filed for a protest towards P-102.

According to L-731 the situation on the ice was following: P-102 was off-the-wind and port tack and came in front of L-143 who’s also off-the-wind but on starboard. At the same time, L-731 was above L-143 and planning to pass by. L-143 made an emergency tack due to P-102 which then caused him to collision with L-731.

I think last A-fleet start was abandoned? We came back after sunset and it was about to turn dark. It was cool to navigate back to the beach with the car’s emergency light on. It made it easier to locate the landing site.

DN World Championship Day | 8.2

No wind and prize-giving day. We waited for the wind on the landing site.

Protest hearing was held regarding yesterday’s incident with L-143, L-73 & P-102. The decision was in L-143’s & L-731’s favor. P-102 got a DSQ while L-143 & L-731 got a DNF. Both Finns filed for an insurance claim to P-102’s insurance company. P-102 has a bit of a history but this was the first time such an incident was handled correctly.

sidenote: Keep in mind that in order to be able to do an insurance claim, they require these protest hearing documents & signed statements.

Claudia got to meet up with other female ice sailors. Whole beach got interested in L-69 Sam’s parallelity inspection work as there was nothing much else to do. Estonians stepped up the barbeque game.

Prize giving was held at the hotel’s conference room. We saw few familiar faces in the B-fleet podium: L-112 & L-132

here’s the winner’s start:

EC Day 1 | 9.2

First day at the Europeans went fast. Another flat sail day. Per many ice sailors comments, the ice was “super fast”. How could I describe it…. ice was hard but still had a nice finishing touch that made it super slippery? but still comfortable to sail as fast as possible? So far I believe the ice conditions has changed at least 3-4 times over the week. The ice was different every day. The flow between races was well timed. Everyone was in race mode.

L-154 lesson from this day was to check every boat’s screw and parts after each race… the frontrunner’s break accidentally jumped on during down-wind leg 😅 🤦 Also, for these kinds of days it’s important to check that you don’t have any “glappi” in your steering! Screws start to open over the days.

EC Day 2 | 10.2

The wind was stronger during the morning but towards last 2 races the wind lightened up and some of us finally hoisted our baggier sails: WB Medium, 1D Power Gold.

Ron Sherry & Peter Hamrak had contact on R5 and retired.

In overall, the day went super smoothly. We quickly started packing up after the last race. Prize-giving was held on the ice. Here are the results from Euro Cup 2024

Then we started our trip back towards Finland. We made it to the last ferry. Everyone made it home safely.

Protip: Acquiring used/new sails/parts/accessories during WC/EC

L-154: during “no wind” – kind of days it’s good to check out DN buy&sell – posts and check what goods are available for purchase at the regatta. Other sailors are chilling & waiting at the landing site so it’s a good time to go around & ask if anything available 🕵️ remember to take a lot of cash with you for these occasions!

As Teemu L-137 wrote in one of the whatsapp groups: if any interest to buy sails/parts from the international market, it’s a good idea to keep a lookout when there are WC/EC regattas. Alternatively, order the parts from the maker and fix the logistics during WC/EC.
L-154 ordered an extension tiller from Kardaz in December and got it delivered a day before the first race day!

Other sailors bring extra parts or for example are planning to sell their sails/parts immediately after the regatta. There was one set of used 1D sails F-speed (flat sail) & Gold power (baggier sail) for a few hundred euros available after the regatta! 👀 There was a few used hamrak 50/60 available, unfortunately those in good conditions & used ones costs over 1000€ so it’s not really a spontaneous purchase. Good to keep these opportunities in mind if planning to buy a mast as it’s easy for one of the Finnish sailors to pick it up on the way back from WC/EC regattas.

L-154: A beginner’s perspective on preparing & attending WC/EC 24 regatta

I probably got the weakest sailing background of everyone in DN Finland. I first sailed & raced an iceboat in December 2023. Also I’m not one of those “I’ve sailed my whole life” – sailors as I started summer sailing from scratch, 4 seasons ago as an adult 😅

I managed to only do 1 weekend regatta with my own iceboat setup before WC/EC 24. I probably only had a bit over 2 weeks to do the obligatory fine-tunings to make the iceboat sailable and it felt like it was still not enough.

There’s always a first time and I think it was a good idea to attend WC/EC 24 so I got to know the routines & schedules over a week of icesailing. John said something that makes sense why attending WC/EC is a good idea for beginners: “When attending WC/EC week long regatta, you probably learn so much that it’s equivalent to 1-3 seasons if only sailing weekend regattas in your home country”. It’s a bit different to sail in a really big fleet against 60 other ice sailors on the track. I feel like I learned a lot over a week of icesailing and overcame my own fears at least 3 times lol.

I felt comfortable in the bronze fleet as I didn’t get lapped even once. I kept my expectations quite low. It feels like I overcame my fear of speed in ice sailing towards the end of the regatta. It took some time to adjust to the schedule & surroundings and then it’s easier to focus on the essentials.

A normal race day consisted of: 0630 wakeup, 0730 breakfast, 0800-0830 drive to landing site, 0900 skipper’s meeting, head out to race track, 1000 first start.

Every day after finishing the day at ice, it’s super important to drink water and re-hydrate. Few cups of ginger lemon tea is not enough.

There are days when it’s a good idea to listen on your fears. In my opinion, it’s completely fine to not race if you don’t feel like it. That was the case for me on day 1 as the wind was around 7-9m/s(?) and was gusting up to 13m/s before it calmed down just a bit for C-fleet qualifiers. There were other sailors who took DNC on the very first start. In these international regattas it’s not only about who’s the best but also who does not break their stuff beyond repairable during the regatta.

Kosk gave one good advice that I first need to find my comfort zone and then start pushing the limits.

In overall, I’m happy that I took the challenge and went icesailing at WC/EC 24. This wouldn’t had been possible without the support of DN Finland community 🇫🇮 Thank you to everyone who made the trip a nice memory to look back at 😊


I hope you liked this in detail report from a perspective of a newcomer. I hope this report gave valuable insight and encourages someone to try out icesailing on competitive level. Next European Championship will be held in Finland 2025 👀 Maybe see you there? 🤩


Additional materials:
All posts & results regarding WC/EC 24 at IDNIYRA’s official page
Video recaps by International DN Ice Yacht Racing Class