4LIYC Geoff Sobering, left, 3rd, Dave Lussier of RI, 2nd, and 4LIYC Jim Nordhaus 1st of the 2023 Blokart North American Championship.
Congratulations to Four Lakes Ice Yacht members for taking on the dirt at last week’s 2023 Blokart land sailing North American championship at Ivanpah, Nevada.
Land sailing has become a popular way to wrap up (or extend!) the ice sailing season. In recent years, the list of ice sailors making the pilgrimage to Ivanpah for the NALSA or Blokart regattas has been increasing.
In the Performance Superweight division, Jim Nordhaus took first place, Geoff Sobering placed third, and Brad Wagner placed 5th. Jim also took first place overall. Lars Barber took 4th in Performance Middle Weight, and Wayne Schmeidlin took 4th in Performance Heavy Weight. Wayne’s grandson, the veteran junior sailor Aiden Schmeidlin, won the Performance Light Weight division.
The surprise of the regatta was Wayne’s grandson and Aiden’s younger brother, Alex, racing for the first time, winning the Production Lightweight division against some seasoned sailors. Alex was a natural and was at ease even in some big wind. We hope to get Aiden and Alex to learn how their land sailing skills transfer to the ice next season.
Nina Fleming and I were co-PROs. It was our second regatta of the season after working the 2023 DN World Championship on Lake Kegonsa. The cold weather made this event feel more like ice sailing, though we generally don’t have to worry about 75 mph wind gusts on Lake Kegonsa as we did for the day racing was postponed at the Blokart regatta.
The expanding cross-pollination between land and ice sailing benefits both communities and helps to grow both sports.
