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MARCH 9 - 11, 2001 Lake Vasman, Ludvika | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MESSAGE ONE: Monday 5th time 07:29:28 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: LEAVING ENGLAND Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 07:29:28 From Gareth and Chris 7.20 am sharp frost; -6 this morning. Latest from Sweden from Jan Fagerberg: "There are a lot of sailors from Germany, Denmark and Holland to escort you on your trip to Hamburg. The temp today (Sunday) is just below zero and very nice sunshine. Unfortunately there was some snow coming the last week so the site is not yet decided. I will have the reports tonight and try to make a decision after that. Looks like Eskilstuna and Sundbyholm, very nice place." Gareth K11 |
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| | MESSAGE TWO: Wednesday 7th time 09:00:35 |
From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: ON THE MOVE Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 9:00:35 Hello Just had egg from local market. Yum! Changing Chris' tyres to ice stud then moving, destination unknown. Will advise. Stayed at workers' bungalow. 
Gareth K11
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| | MESSAGE THREE: Wednesday 7th time 18:03:25 |
From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: WE'RE HERE Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 18:03:25 Hello Arrived Hotel Stadhotel, Ludvika, next to Lake Vasman. On 3rd floor, no lift. Had to empty car. Puffed out. Ice yacht rigged, 30km of ice. Gareth K11
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| | MESSAGE FOUR: Wednesday 7th time 22:32:45 |
From: "Ludvika Stadshotell" ludvika.stadshotell@telia.com Subject: LUDVIKA Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 22:32:45 Hello All Fairly boring trip over on the ferry, though we could not get away from the chef's special being recommended. We expected to be disinfected on arrival, but I think most were done in Cristiansand. Maybe we were done, but I was fast asleep having a lie in. Woke up at 9am had a shower, sent some text and went back to sleep. Two hours later felt rough for sleeping in, had another shower and a limp sandwich from the bar. Started on the 4th chapter on the physics of Star Trek. (a.k.a. the instruction book for "StarShip Discovery"). I need to read the manual as "StarShip Discovery" has an oil leak. Sussed out the leak is coming from the plasma injectors (diesel) warp drive. Seems OK but worried about the plasma leak.  The "STARSHIP DISCOVERY"... For those unaware, Gareth's LandRover Discovery was dubbed the "StarShip Discovery" by fellow British ice team member Howard Trotter on their last trip to the DN Euros in the Czech Republic last month). Arrived at Mariestad to the Finnish workers' bungalow that Chris (Williams) had booked in advance. We went to the restaurant down the road where the waitress was from Poland and spoke English, so reading the Swedish menu was not too bad... with help. Woke up at 7.30am, made cup of tea and went down the local supermarket to get breakfast. By the time we had that, sorted the cars out and were about to get the belt sanders out and do some tuning when two ladies rolled up, very concerned that we were there. With a certain amount of gesticulating we figured out that something was happening at 11am. Since it was near 10.30am we decided to "sling our hook". Turned out to be the local ladies coffee morning and we were in the middle of it! The Brit team made their apologies and started our drive to Ludvika some 200 miles away. Good fast roads had us arriving just before 4pm. We made the mistake of going to the first hotel we saw and asked the wrong questions. We'd almost completed booking in when the Norwegians plus a Swiss arrived. We asked where the car park was and whether there was a powerpoint for the runner sharpeners. With a negative reply we back pedalled and went to another hotel. Poor fella at the next hotel must have been confused as our first questions were: "Where is the car park?" and "Is there a powerpoint for our machines?" On getting a positive response we then asked if there were any rooms and how much! With that sorted out we had enough time to go back to the ice and assemble the yachts, ready for the next day's training. The lake is a little short? Only 30km long. It looks frozen as far as we can see. More info tomorrow. Hotel is well appointed and the fella behind the desk speaks good English, even better the place has broad band permanent connection to the Net. The hotel is willing to send emails along as they are Microsoft Word documents, so will have to stop drinking this Elephant Beer that has just been handed to me by Chris and keep typing. On the other hand... The beer has won... talk tomorrow! Gareth K11
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| | MESSAGE FIVE: Thursday 8th time 20:00:47 |
From: "Ludvika Stadshotell" ludvika.stadshotell@telia.com Subject: SCREWDRIVERS Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 20:00:47 Hello All Just been to register, but before that today's story... Last night went to a pizza parlour and had a very good pizza. Later went down to the local pub/disco. Found out the place is booked up Friday night as a load of Danish skiers are in town. Had a Mariestad beer, cost 50kr (Krona) - at that price had an early night. Thurs morn was up at 7am, showered and went out into the car park and we (Chris and Gareth) both got the large belt sanders out and set up in the car park. The power came from the boxes meant for the car block heaters. Chris' machine kept blowing the trip. Gareth's worked being a less powerful motor. Who else would borrow the hotel manager's parking slot (with permission), sharpen runners in the shoppers, car park at 7.30am. Manager is a nice guy who gives us access to the Net and email on broadband. After having some funny looks from the early shoppers we made our way to the breakfast table and did the usual doggy bag. Putting the cold weather gear on inside the hotel led to a sharp rise in body temp. Outside it had been a sharp frost (-2) on the car. Out on the ice a light wind was blowing, we rigged the yachts and made our way out on the ice. Ten or so yachts were also getting ready and two marks were set on the ice. Jan Fagerberg used my GPS to assess the sailing. For the worst case wind direction the distance between marks was 1.9 km. If the wind shifted it can only get longer. The condition of the ice was good if a little rough. Patches of snow had melted down to ice, but the undulations were still there. Sailing was a little bumpy but not dangerous, it just took getting used to. We both took part in mini races and did many circuits. Then we took a look down the lake almost around the island. Had a lovely cruise of nine miles. We both really enjoyed the sail. We cannot believe that we sailed more than 41.6 miles and a top speed 35.4mph. 
The GPS plotted course we sailed today.
Back in the hotel along with Jan (S300) and Mike (G706) we are having Screwdrivers courtesy of the Brit team. so expect the emails to dry up as we eat and drink (again!) talk later, maybe, depends how large the Screwdriver is. Looks good from here (hic!) Sorry no time to explain pics, some from the beginning of the day. Second-to-last photos is registration at the hut. Note the "comfort room" in the picture at the righthand side of the middle row. The last photo is of the Stadshotell taken in the 1930s. Gareth K11
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| MESSAGE SIX: Friday 9th time 07:53:41 |
From: "Ludvika Stadshotell" ludvika.stadshotell@telia.com Subject: THURS NIGHT MUCH LATER! Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 07:53:41 Hello All We are still waiting for the Norwegians. In the meantime I went out to try to find a bar at 23.15. The whole town is shut, not a drink to be had, so it's off to bed in a bit. As well all the hotels in town are booked solid. Even when we went Greek to eat tonight the place was nearly booked up. Friday looks like a day of chaos. 40 ice boaters are here with another 80 expected tomorrow. Will try to keep you updated. Great web site, hotel manager impressed. Pics look great. Will send some of the racing up tomorrow. The screen grab of our course sailing [ see Message Five above ] is some of the sailing done. 007 and 008 are the possible marks tomorrow. The highlighted course is our previous day's long sail to the island and back. The other more close ones are the courses sailed when racing from the start line to the two marks. Can you figure out where the marks are? Could be a good game of put the pin in and win the prize?? PLEASE NOTE: The screen grab below is Gareth's sailing course as plotted by the GPS on the first day's racing (Friday). [ see Image Below ] Norwegians just arrived time 12.14 am, Screw drivers are drawn etc, etc. Screwdrivers have been laid down and a welcome beer had. Now morning Friday. Start of racing is 12 noon. Just getting ready for the ice. Putting cloths on again and getting very hot. Expect more pictures tonight my time. Gareth K11 | ||||||||||||||||||
| FRIDAY'S IMAGES - DAY 1 OF RACING click on photo for larger image. | ||
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| DAY 1 RACING PLOTTED BY GPS |
Gareth's GPS plotted course sailed on the first race day (Friday, March 9). |
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| MESSAGE SEVEN: Saturday 9th time 10:55.00 Subject: MOBILE PHONE REPORT from LUDVIKA Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 10.55:00 Gareth reported by mobile phone at 10.30am Saturday that there was no wind out on the ice. Racing was postponed until midday and then, if conditions weren't favourable racing would be held over for a decision each subsequent hour. He said there had been snow overnight and it was now slushy underfoot. As well there was still some mist about with visibility down to around 500 yards. He was unsure of the weather prospects for the next two days as the area was inbetween two weather systems. The snow Ludvika had overnight was now over Finland and the predicted weather for the Ludvika area was for wind but accompanied by rain. Gareth said conditons were tricky yesterday (the first day) as it was difficult to find one's way around the course with the mist, snow and sleet. A flashing beacon on the top marker gave some guidance and relief. In one race the marker was moved and the pilots out on the lake weren't aware. Gareth said it made for some interesting sailing. Of yesterday's results Gareth said he had a "bummer" of a first race finishing around 36th. In the last race he made a disastrous decision and dropped his sail instead of lifting it and ended up having to stop and readjust everything. Chris Williams fared a lot better and Gareth, although unsure Chris' exact placing as results still weren't posted, understood Chris was around 26th. Expecting a full report later today. This Message Posted: Sat Morning 10.55am |
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| MESSAGE EIGHT: Saturday 9th time 18:28:34 From: "Ludvika Stadshotell" ludvika.stadshotell@telia.com Subject: BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 18:28:34 Hello All FRIDAY UPDATE: I notice from my track log that the top mark was moved at little further away on my second race, thought something was up when I had to pinch on the up wind tack. Friday night we were invaded by the Norse. We subdued them with several Screwdrivers. Later we went to the Grand Hotel for an unofficial meal - we all went for the 150 Krona two-course meal with pork. The place was packed out as the locals were out on the town as well as the Danish skiers who were in town. SATURDAY: The morning started dull and misty and no wind. We were down on the ice just before 9am. We rigged the yachts in the hope that the wind would pick up. The mist gave visibility of only 200 metres at best. A fine drizzle came and went. It was a day for buying and selling as the pilots milled about chatting to each other. There was a briefing at 10am putting the start off till 11am. That came and went and the pilots were told to go to the start line at midday. The snow had melted on the ice making quarter inch deep puddles with the frozen snow humps still raised. My digi camera has sucumbed to the soaking it had yesterday, when water ripped from the bag I knew I was in trouble. The camera's still takes pictures but seems unable to focus. That's it for any more pictures I think! Not fancing getting wet again. I packed the sledge with the drysuit and the tent in case the drizzle turned to rain. Half pushing and half sailing you had to find the start line in the gloom. There we stayed for the next four hours. What wind there was dropped completely and we all had to walk the 3.4 km back to the pits. We heard that the 15's (large two seaters) had a look at our sailing area here at Ludvika but opted to move on to Fishkeboda on Lake Hjalmaren. They had sunshine and Force 3 winds. We talked about our options. If the races were held today we could sail the full 30kms of the lake here at Ludvika on Sunday (tomorrow). Another option was to drive to Fiskeboda and sail there. A few Swedes are going home tomorrow anyway as they have to go to work on Monday. Just had the digi camera on top of the radiator for an hour. It seems to have recovered. I hope to take some pictures of what ice sailors get up to on Saturday night. Chris has an unofficial European board meeting so looks as if I will have to find some other ice sailors to eat with.. Well, It's past 6pm and I am finishing this with a "tinny" (Downunder term for a can of beer). Looking back at other regattas we have had it pretty good with sun and good ice with wind. This weekend is real ice sailing. You have to take the good with the not so good. The nice thing is that you still have a great gang of ice sailors who have the same problem. I am finally, at last, managing to connect names with sail numbers. Now the history lesson: Ludvika is the centre of the ABB Group's global power transmission Technolgly the main operations of six major companies are based here, the Swedish part of the segment is based here. These six companies in Ludvika together have the capacity to supply all the components needed in the high tech power systems. End of history lesson. Gareth K11 |
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| MESSAGE NINE: Saturday 10th time 10:55PM Subject: MOBILE PHONE TEXT REPORT from LUDVIKA Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 22.55:00 Just off the ice. No wind. Misty and damp, drizzle sometimes. Sailed 3.4 kilometres down to the start and waited 4 hours. Had to walk back all the way. Now having a cup of tea. |
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| MESSAGE 10: Sunday 11th time 10:40.00AM Subject: CELLPHONE REPORT from LUDVIKA Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 10:40.00AM Gareth phoned from Lake Vasman to report there was no wind but visibility was much better. He said the weather had turned to the south west and it had started to drizzle. It was hoped the wind would come later in the day but Gareth wasn't holding out much hope. Temperatures were warm, around 4 to 5 degrees above freezing. Currently they were about three kilometres out on the ice off the town of Ludvika milling around the mobile teashop and chatting. "We're standing and twiddling their thumbs," said Gareth. "There's a light rain, very fine drizzle. All the snow and sleet that fell a day ago has now melted and there's a thin film of water, about a quarter to half inch deep, on the lake surface." Chris Williams (K1) who joined the phone conversation said that the lake conditions were ideal and racing would be quick if the wind did come up. "The wet surface means less friction and makes it quite quick. The yachts will be that much faster," he said. "Someone just said that ice sailing was hours of waiting around in the cold, interspersed with moments of sheer terror! You have to experience it," he added. Gareth said the organisers were hoping to get three more races in for A Fleet - maybe four - and three races for B Fleet although, he said, with present weather there seemed little hope. He added A Fleet needed just one more race to go with the two already sailed on Friday to declare a result. According to Gareth about 20 per cent of the pilots have already gone home. Many of the Swedes have departed because of work commitments tomorrow. He and Chris Williams had originally thought they might head south this afternoon to Fiskeboda where the "15s" were sailing but the day had not gone to plan. It appears that the pair plan to pack and depart for home tomorrow. Gareth said that visibility was far better today even with the rolling clouds and light drizzle. "We can actually see the town today which is a darn big improvement on yesterday when everything was white, you couldn't even see the shoreline," he said. "I had to switch to the GPS to find my way home when racing finished yesterday. "People were going in all directions. We didn't quite know where we were going, walking and pushing the yacht in the mist. You just had to hope you were going the right way... it was a 3 or 4 kilometre walk." Gareth K11 |
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| MESSAGE 11: Sunday 11th time 18:28:34
From: "Ludvika Stadshotell" ludvika.stadshotell@telia.com Subject: SUNDAY'S REPORT... "HOT" OFF THE PRESS! Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 21:11:00 Hello All I am typing this report in the Stadhotel sauna. Chris is just putting the water on the stones... PHEW! Temp is 60 degs and just had a blast of steam taking the humid gauge up to 90%. Not sure what the PC thinks of saunas... oh sh*t, Chris has put some more water on... PHEW again. Just getting another blast. We need this sauna. Spent from 9am till 4pm out on the ice hanging around, no wind again. (bugger chris is at it again, another blast!) At least we could see the lake this time (bugger again, try not drip on the PC!) Oh hell, it's up to 88% and 65 degs. Going to have to bail out. Must be like those humid days in NZ. Out from the sauna and cooling down back in the room. Back to the day's report... With wind forecast we sat in the pits till 10am and we then pushed out 3km to the starting place. With no wind we waited and waited and waited. A decision was made to give up at 3pm. Meanwhile the fleet lost yachts one by one as they left the start area and made their way back to the car park. Most of those leaving had to travel home. For us Brits it was a rare pleasure to be able to sit it out, not needing to rush home or catch a ferry. By 2.30pm the total of 105 yachts was down to 34 yachts and at 2.40 the wind just picked up a little to enable some of the fleet to sail slowly. The grid was moved and the start line set up, only to have what wind there was disappear. At 3pm with no prospect of wind Jan Fagerberg called it off with the race to be concluded next week. Sadly we will not be there. We walked back the 4km to the carpark and packed up. Just dressed and it's 7pm so we better go and find something to eat before the town closes for the night. AFTER DINNER: Just back from the Chinese and it's 8.30 pm and the town is basically shut. There is the only desperate measure left!! Go to bed (what again, did that last night, or did I?) The British team splits tomorrow. Chris is going to Fiskeboda to have a sail if the wind is good and spend the night there, then onto the ferry at Ejberg on Wednesday. I've booked a ferry tomorrow night from Gotenburg to Keil so in the morning it's pack up, call at the local hardware store and see if I can pick up some of that useful winter gear, then onto Gotenburg some 5 hours drive, overnight on the ferry to Keil then the 2.5 hours to Hamburg and catch the ferry across the Channel at 4pm. After tomorrow it's down to the text messages on the mobile. PS Pics are at the start of the day and the few left at the end of the day. Last night pics are in the Chinese with the Germans. Gareth K11 |
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| SATURDAY'S IMAGES - DAY 2 OF RACING click on photo for larger image. | ||
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| SUNDAY NIGHT'S IMAGES - EATING OUT click on photo for larger image. | ||
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| MESSAGE 12: Sunday 11th time 18:28:34
From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY REPORTS Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 20:15.48 Hello All One thing I forgot to mention was that navigation on the lake at Ludvika is impossible by compass. The reason is that there is a large deposit of iron stone (iron ore) that runs across the lake. If you take a compass out I am told it wanders round aimlessly. So it was a good job we had the GPS in the foggy weather. For all the help in mailing the text and pictures Gareth produced a bottle of whisky for the guy behind the Stadhotell reception (I did ask his name but have forgotten). Chris gave the fella behind the desk some Newcastle Brown - he had not overslept for year, but the Newky Brown did the trick. There was a fire in one of the electric cables inside a tunnel that blacked out the top third of Stockholm and most of the underground was at a standstill. A hotel resident that had to go and fix it woke him. MONDAY: Chris was out on the carpark doing his packing at 6.30. I got up at 7am, had breaky and was on the road for 8.30. Since most stores did not open till 10am I made good time on the long sweeping roads. Made a decision to drive to Fiskeboda and see the "15s" as I reckoned I had an hour spare to get to Gothenburg. see images below It was well worth stopping off at Fiskeboda as a dozen or so "15s" were there as well as some Old Dutch sailing boats, some up to 120 years old. They had much the same problems as us. No wind!!! I took some pictures and made my way to Gothenburg. So if you had the time you could ice boat your way round Sweden going from one event to the next The ferry from Gotenburg to Kiel cost me another 700 Krona for being over-height on the roof rack. Now that a new bridge is open connecting Denmark to Sweden I will have to calculate which is cheaper. With the wet windy weather I was pleased that I saved the drive alone south and slept on the move. It was a lonely trip, as there only seemed to be the truck drivers on the ship. Arriving at Kiel at 9am I decided I had enough time to go north a little and look at an old U boat, U995. Took some interesting pictures and made my way to Hamburg. see below At Hamburg I arrived with 2 hours before check-in so it was out with the little motorbike and away. I went round all the side streets of the city centre. With the GPS strapped on the front of the bike and set to tracking I could zoom round the city without fear of being lost. Shopping looks really good with loads of large department stores and just street after street of shops. The great thing about the bike is that it keeps up with the city traffic but you have time to look at shop fronts. Left-hand turns were a bit tricky; the bike being small has to be ridden defensively. The best way at traffic lights was to physically lift the bike from one lane to another to get that left-hand turn in. In am sure some did not know what to make of it. As I weaved to the front of the queue I even had German pedestrians asking where I got it. As the lights changed I left the pedestrians to walk into lamp posts as they tried to watch me. It really was worthwhile as I got to know the whole city centre in one hour flat! Back at the ferry terminal the by-now-larger queue of cars had some amusement as I packed the bike up into its bag and put it on the back seat. I am now typing this, as I sail down the River Elbe, getting hungry so will talk later. Well it's later and I'm full of the "As-Much-As-You-Can-Eat-World-Buffet" there is hardly room for a beer but I am sure I might sort that out in a minute. Even run out of grapefruit juice for the Screwdrivers! The ship is surprisingly full. There are some English on a three-day return trip and a load of Germans outward bound on the same thing. The buffet was full and for those who did not book the Scandinavian buffet had blown it. The place was full and the only other place to dine was the cafeteria. There were one or two elderly grumpy Germans who found out they were down to "something and chips". They seemed to have the ability to make a lot of noise just near my seat. With a wry smile I sit tight and go for the seconds on the ice cream, making sure I get back before the waitress clears my table. The Polish crew really work hard and through no fault of their own get the flak. Time now is 1.00am and the ship is rocking and rolling, not from music but by a Force 6 outside. The main lounge cleared pretty quickly and the disco was left to the drunks who could stagger in time with the ship and stand still dancing! Out ide it was blowing a hooley with the ship steaming at 37km into the Force 6 the spray was coming right over the top. By now I had a mobile phone signal from Terschelling. Made a cellphone call to Mervyn and as I still had the number of the Brandaris Tower Coast Guard Station at Terschelling I gave them a call and they were chuffed that I rang them. I explained who I was and "did they remember the fireworks at the Euros last year?". That they did! Then told them that if they ;looked at their radar screens I was the blip some 10 miles out off the island in the North Sea. Coming back inside after making the phone calls I passed some very poorly people as the ship pitched and heaved. WEDNESDAY: Personally I slept well. Down at the breakfast I found many did not. Quite a few had recycled last night's meal and we filling up again as the sea is a lot flatter and the sun is shining. An elderly German next to me lit a cigar with his coffee, which had the Polish waitress at him straight away explaining it was a no smoking restaurant. He carried on, so the head waiter came and told him in German. The fella still carried till he finished his coffee and kept it going as he paid his bill! That put the waitresses in a bad mood, as they had to tell others to come back later as the place is full; again they get the stick but have to carry on. Any way I had breakfast (twice) and am now writing this up as I have 2 hours before arriving in Harwich. Gareth K11 |
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| U-BOAT SUBMARINE IMAGES Wednesday, March 14 click on photo for larger image. | ||
 U-Boat U995 |
 Another angle |
 Control Room |
 Diesel engine |
 Another view |
 Electrics |
 Torpedoes |
 Periscope |
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 Ballast valves |
 The galley |
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If you are further interested in U-Boat 995, visit www.deutscher-marinebund.de/start.html |
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| FISKEBODA - "15s" and 100-YR-OLD ICEBOATS Wednesday, March 14 click on photo for larger image. | ||
 20seater "15s" |
 "15s" pilot |
 100-y-o "boat" |
 Runner... |
 Tiller... |
 Brake? |
 100-year-old |
 Luxury...? |
 120-year-old |
 120-year-old |
 Class 3 |
 Ice boat |
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| MAPS of SWEDEN |
| SWEDEN [ left ], MARIESTAD [ middle ] and LUDVIKA [ right ] |
| click on map for larger image. |
 Sweden |
 Mariestad and Lake Vanern |
 Ludvika on Lake Vasman | |||
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