Wind In Their Sails: WISSA Plans Begin To Take Shape

From The St. Ignace News

By Mary Petrides 

 

Plans are taking shape, but St. Ignace Special Events committee members said they still need volunteers to help during the World Ice and Snow Sailing Association (WISSA) world championship in February.
Cheryl Schlehuber, who led the Special Events Committee meeting Thursday, January 5, said that while athletes and spectators will pour money into the city’s economy like regular tourists, it’s important for the community to support the event. The event is for residents as much as it is for athletes and spectators.

“We can make it for our community, which is what it should be,” she said.
This may include having athletes speak at schools, bringing students downtown to see the races, and allowing children of athletes to spend a day in St. Ignace schools.

Gregg Fettig, principal of LaSalle High School, was not at the meeting but said he hoped to attend future planning meetings before deciding how the high school would be involved.

“We’d love to do whatever we can to make it a good event,” said Kari Visnaw, principal of St. Ignace elementary and middle schools, who was not at the meeting. “They contacted us and told us that they had some ideas and were wondering if we were willing to get on board, and we said, ‘Absolutely.’”
She said Monday, January 9, that it was too early to talk about specific plans, but she did plan to attend future WISSA meetings to see how the schools could be involved.

The committee is hoping to find more sponsors to keep up with requests from WISSA organizers. Sponsorships could range from several thousand dollars to a family sponsoring one meal for an athlete. Sponsorships could be in memory of a deceased loved one.

“Somebody out there wants to sponsor this race because it’s being advertised all over,” Mrs. Schlehuber said.

Also under discussion are transportation to St. Ignace from airports, a speed gun with display board, a centralized information center open into the evening, establishing wireless Internet access downtown, and a snowmobile trip to Mackinac Island.

Events committee members met the snowmobile trip idea with reluctance.
“To be able to do that would be really cool, but the liability associated with it is not cool,” Mrs. Schlehuber said.  Individuals with snowmobiles could bring visitors to the Island, but the committee isn’t likely to include this in any official promotion, members said.

Dave Kunze noted that ice sailing athletes may be more interested in the Island than the ice bridge – “they know ice,” he said – and the committee could promote airplane rides to the Island instead.
Chief of Police Mark Wilk suggested that the committee focus on St. Ignace.
“If they want an Island experience, let the Island put it together,” he suggested.
Mary Beth Powers said she’s talked to downtown business owners and nearly all have agreed to decorate their storefronts with white lights.
“I think we’re pretty much covered,” she said.

Glen Memorial Baptist Church may be the centralized site for babysitting children of athletes, it was announced at the meeting.  Dave Davis, associate pastor of the church, was not at the meeting but said the church has to research liabilities before committing.

Jim DeKeyser suggested that any information on babysitting should note that it’s only for children of athletes and not open to anyone else. 

St. Ignace hotels were recently added to the WISSA 2012 Web site, Visitors Bureau Director Mindy Sands said
“Hotels should start getting calls very soon,” she said. 

In addition, she said, about a dozen writers from Travel Michigan will visit St. Ignace Friday, February 24, through Saturday, February 25. The writers will make stops in Gaylord and Sault Ste. Marie and will catch the end of the ice and snow sailing championships and the beginning of Youth Pond Hockey during their St. Ignace stop. Ms. Sands is working on an itinerary for them.

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World Ice & Snow Sailing championships will delight spectators in St. Ignace

From The Ionia Sentinel-Standard

 

ST. IGNACE, Mich. —

The gravity-defying world of ice sailing will draw athletes from around the world to St. Ignace in February, when the World Ice and Snow Sailing Association (WISSA) holds its 2012 championship in Michigan.

WISSA, launched in the early 1980s, alternates its annual championship event between Europe and North America. The event glides back into the United States for the first time since 1995 when it lands February 20-26 in St. Ignace.

Racers may choose to capture wind power using a kite, a wing (a hand-held sail similar to a windsurfer but not attached to the board) or the traditional windsurfing sail, with a mast clipped to the board. The WISSA championship is the only gathering where wings, kites, and sails compete at one event.

Dan Hill, event coordinator for WISSA 2012 and a Michigan resident, is largely responsible for bringing the event to St. Ignace. “I was on my way to the Keweenaw and stopped to eat at the Mackinac Grille. That’s where I saw the pictures of their Pond Hockey event. It was exactly the same as what we needed for our event – snow and an area of cleared ice,” he explained.

The competition requires both snow and ice to accommodate the slalom (ice), race course (snow), and, if possible, a marathon (snow). Weather permitting, this year’s marathon will take competitors to Mackinac Island and back. Sixteen acres of zamboni-maintained ice on Lake Huron is available from the pond hockey event taking place right before WISSA arrives in St. Ignace.

The only condition that rivals ice and snow for importance is wind and that, according to Mindy Sands, executive director of the St. Ignace Visitors Bureau, is what made St. Ignace and WISSA a perfect fit.
“St. Ignace has much higher winds than many of the other racing locations and they tell us that is extremely attractive to the participating athletes,” she said.

Average wind speed in the St. Ignace area is 26.6 miles per hour in February, according to Hill. “That wind speed has a lot of people pumped up,” the organizer said.

People are pumped up in St. Ignace, too. This city of 2,600 is skilled in the art of hosting winter events, including the Labatt Blue UP Pond Hockey Championship – an event that draws more than 5,000 people to the ice of Lake Huron every February. Sands anticipates WISSA will have a similar draw, creating a festival atmosphere both on the ice and around the town.

Aside from the visually-spectacular action on the ice, WISSA promises to be a spectator’s delight. When they aren’t observing the races on the ice or from the nearby warming tents, a variety of activities and diversions await visitors, including ice bowling, ice golf, sailing demonstrations, and live entertainment.

William Tuthill is the president of WISSA, a post he’s held since 1992. The Rhode Island resident will find himself in St. Ignace in February – his first time in Michigan, save for Detroit.

Tuthill estimates somewhere between 80 and 100 athletes will participate. “It fluctuates from year to year. In Europe, there are more participants from Latvia, Russia, Sweden, and so forth. In North America, we will draw mostly from the United States and the Quebec region,” he speculated.

It could be the wind or the UP connection to Finland, but a November 15 entry on the WISSA2012 Facebook page indicates that at least some Europeans will be present at the 2012 championship. The post reads “Team Finland had a meeting tonight. 6 competitors are already on their way to St. Ignace.”

International interest is one reason why Sands and Mark Sposito, chairman of the St. Ignace Special Events Committee, are working feverishly to pull all the details together. Planners were pleased to find out that their commitment to the sport of ice sailing will become an annual event even after this year’s world championship concludes. St. Ignace is slated to host the North American championship starting next year. Establishing a recurring event appealed both to organizers and key sponsors, including Kewadin Casinos.

“This is going to turn into a huge winter festival,” Sands said. “We are committed to creating a spectacular experience for participants and visitors, especially since we are the only city in North America lucky enough to hold this annually.”

Learn more about this year’s event at stignace.com or call (800)338-6660. To register for the event, visit wissa2012.com.

Reposted by Third Coast Kite and Hobby

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WISSA Puts St. Ignace on World Stage

2011-12-22

Brainstorming Session Tuesday: How To Meet Hospitality Demands of Ice Sailing Championship

By Mary Petrides

Athletes use wings and kites to catch the wind as they compete in snow and ice sailing events. (File photographs courtesy William Tuthill) With more than 100 athletes expected to compete on the ice of Moran Bay in the World Ice and Snow Sailing Association’s world championship in February — and national and international media reporters and a crowd of spectators coming along to follow the action closely — events organizers in town say that St. Ignace will be thrust into the international spotlight during the contests as it never has before, and they want to plan now to make sure that the town looks its best and is at its most welcoming, even in the offseason when some businesses and facilities are closed. Organizers are asking the public to participate in a planning meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday, December 27, at Mackinac Grille restaurant to help come up with ideas.
A Washington, D.C. crew working on a documentary about Great Lakes ice has rented the Colonial House during the competition, Chris Green said, while event coordinator Dan Hill has spoken with representatives from NBC Sports, ESPN, and international media, who said they are interested in attending but have not yet committed to do so. He said WISSA draws between 80 and 200 athletes and he hopes for 1,000 spectators, plus spillover from the U.P. Pond Hockey Tournament.
Athletes participate in snow and ice sailing events in Estonia in 2007. With many competitors coming from Canada and Europe as well as the United States, staff at the Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, and members of the Special Events Committee are now starting to field requests for language translators and places to store and repair ice sailing equipment. They want to be sure to accommodate as many of the requests as they can.
At the WISSA world championship, athletes on skis or skates will use the wind they catch in kites, wings, or sails to power themselves across the ice in Moran Bay Monday, February 20, through Friday, February 24. At least 32 athletes from northern Europe have already committed, said Special Events Committee Chairman Mark Sposito.
Ice and snow sailing is a more popular sport in Europe, and many of the athletes are well-known in their countries, said Cheryl Schlehuber of the Chamber of Commerce board.
“Some of these kids are really rock stars in their country,” she said. “Some are really famous.”
This includes Simon Gill of Salaberry de-Valleyfield, Quebec. Mr. Gill won the 2008 world championship in kite sailing in Val Brilliant, Quebec, in 2008 and also participated in WISSA 2009 in Riga, Latvia, said Will Tuthill, WISSA president. Mr. Gill won the world championship again in 2010 in Saguenay, Quebec, and came in sixth in WISSA 2011 in Oravi, Finland. He plans to compete in St. Ignace in 2012.
It is important to show that St. Ignace is vibrant and welcoming, organizers say. Because of strong winds here, WISSA’s North American Championship competitions are expected to be hosted here in future years.
“They’re not coming in at prime season. We don’t have lots of sunshine this time of year. We may or may not have pretty snow. Our streets aren’t lined with pretty flowers that time of year,” said Janet Peterson, director of the St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce. “How can we truly light up the community?”
Organizers are hoping to discuss downtown lights and sprucing up storefronts, even if they’re closed for the season.
The meeting is also intended to coordinate efforts among the Special Events Committee, Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Development Authority, and others working on the project.
The St. Ignace Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce have been receiving requests for French-speaking babysitters and garages for athletic gear in addition to the usual inquiries about lodging. The championship follows on the heels of the U.P. Pond Hockey Tournament, which fills the available lodging in town.
Mrs. Schlehuber said at least one person who doesn’t speak English has rented a place during the event.
“One of the ladies from Quebec speaks broken English. . . She spoke enough to say that her friend who was coming didn’t speak,” so the reservation had to be confirmed in French, as well as English. “It was very fun, and it was just an eyeopener.”
At the meeting, community members will also learn more about the event.
“It’s an education process … to better inform the community of what this is and the magnitude of it, and also what steps can you, as Joe Doe Business, take to be part of that positive perception that we hope people will go away with,” Mrs. Peterson said.

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WISSA 2012 Comes to Michigan

WISSA 2012

World Ice and Snow Sailing
Championship 2012

St. Ignace,  Michigan, USA

By KiteBoss - thirdcoastkites.com

This International event is being hosted in the USA for the first time in over 17 years!
This year's event will run from February 20-26th, 2012 in St. Ignace, Michigan, USA.

WISSA is the ONLY world event where wings, kites and sails all compete together on snow or ice, slalom and course. This event, which is the oldest event its type, will be celebrated for 32nd time right here in the United States.

The World Ice and Snow Sailing Association (WISSA) event is the longest running international competition in the history of windsurfing. It’s also the most prestigious winter sailing event in the world. Held every year since 1980, the event location alternates annually between Europe and North America. This year it will be held in the 3rd oldest city in the U.S., St. Ignace, MI which was established in 1671.

The best athletes in these thrilling adventure sports will meet in one city for an entire week. In addition to racing, champions and beginners alike will be able to interact in a variety of WISSA activities.