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.

Third Coast Kite and Hobby
www.thirdcoastkites.com

New HQ NEO 11

We had a great labor day weekend this year, and it was made better because we received the new NEO 11 by HQ powerkites.

We tested the kite at Elberta Beach for water and the Lake County Airport for land. Though winds were light in both locations, this kite has excellent light-wind performance and generated surprisingly big pull for the conditions.

One thing we liked about this kite was that there was no pumping. Unlike LEI kites, a ram-air foil uses air entering through ports in the leading edge to pressurize the foil, helping the kite to hold its shape, and in this particular kites' case, allowing it to relaunch from water without sinking, as well as function equally well in summer or winter.

We really liked the ability to "reverse launch" the kite. When the kite is nose down, all you do is pull both the back-leader-lines with the reverse-launch strap, and the kite rises off the ground, turns over and when you release the lines, she takes off. You can use those same straps to land the kite; when you pull on the back-leader-lines, the kite depowers, you can steer it down and lands ready for take-off.

We'll be testing this and other kites in varying conditions and in combination with water, snow, and land gear - stay tuned for updates.