NMNA. Called the DN because plans were first published in the Detroit News. It's a very large racing class in the mid-west. Ice blades included.
NMNA. Called the DN because plans were first published in the Detroit News. It's a very large racing class in the mid-west. Ice blades included.
In reply to 914Driver :
I got to sail a competition DN (on ice) on a breezy New Years Day in 1985. Can confirm that you need to wear a snowmobile helmet and they corner like a sports car. It’s not hard to get one up to 50+ mph.
I grew up sailing small boats. I would love to get a run in one.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
It was an absolute hoot! My boss at EB was a huge sailor, we used to run Thursday nights on his Hunter 25 in the Thames river across from EB. He was always going on about missing “hard water” sailing. As mentioned above, I found out what he was talking about. Tacking up wind at speed would shove you against the side of the cockpit in a way that’s hard to describe.
My boss (Al) being an engineer’s engineer would set his boat up every time. He had a special jig for sharpening the runners and would use a dial indicator with a long extension to make sure the rear runners were exactly parallel. As I said even almost 40 years later it left an impression.
When I was really young, there was one of these parked across from my aunt's house. I stared at it all the time, but I could never figure out what it was.
The ad mentions a regatta at Loring Air Force Base.
I know what a DN is and have been in one and larger ice boats. I have never seen one with wheels.
When I first opened the listing my immediate thought was, "where car you even find enough pavement to run one of these?" My fist thought is the former Air Force Base in Oscoda, MI that they used to autox at. Then I read the ad which seems to imply that the answer is you need an Air Force base.
Locally we have just one place that come to mind and that would be the parking lot of Cedar Point Amusment Park in the off season. But, they do a good job of locking up the parking lot in the off season.
Low tide on the beach here would be a super location (except that there would be no way to get permission). This was the place for land speed records before they went west to run on the salt.
I used to have a Skimmer (45 sq.ft.sail); out one day working it hard and two old guys pull up and pace me, hold up a bottle of Bourbon with a wave and smiles, sheet in and rocket off. Don't know what it was, but it had a red fiberglass body.
The club I belonged to had a Hudson River Schooner in a barn, bet it's still there. One of these raced a train from Albany to Coxsackie and won.
All were T in the front at first, later boats in the Northeast went to front steer and T in the back, the med-west didn't until the DN came along.
Skimmer 45. Wear a helmet AND goggles, ice chips popping off the front blade is killer!
That's beautiful.
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