Safety
Common sense tips to help keep you safe on the ice:
1. Know the sailing and Right-of-Way rules. Pay your dues, join a club, get your copy of the RMA and Racing Rules. Study the racing rules until you really know them.
2. Never go out alone. Sail with a club or a friend. The DN Class does not advise sailing alone.
3. The ice is never fully safe. Always scout the lake with an experienced (if possible local) icesailor before heading out. Take surveys by drilling holes and measure the ice thickness and consistency. Never assume the entire lake is safe. Find out where the problem areas are before setting out.
4. Wear a proper helmet and protect your eyes.
5. Wear ice safety picks for self rescue.
6. Dress for warmth in layers.
7. Wear shoes with spikes to prevent falling on the ice.
8. Keep your boat well maintained. Check and recheck your boat during the day to make sure all bolts and pins are in working order.
9. When not sailing always use the parking brake.
10. Use common sense and good judgement. Avoid collisions at all costs!
*Please note that these icereports are not verified nor endorsed by the governing organizations of the DN Class – This is an unofficial service from sailor to sailor.
Rules
The Interpretations of the National Iceboat Authority
December 1, 1973
- The Sailing Rules and Race Management Rules are designed to provide a safe and fair race. The rules should not be used with tactical advantage a prime concern, but rather should be used to avoid collisions.
- Sailors should realize that iceboat racing rules differ from sailboat racing rules in a number of fundamental ways, most prominent of which are: starboard tack does not always have right-of-way; windward yacht has right-of-way off the wind; there is NO two length rule at an iceboat course mark.
- The rules do not allow boats to collide at the start or shortly thereafter and all sailing rules apply here as they do elsewhere on the course.
- Right-of-way rule #8 giving each yacht room to finish is for the ends of the line and is designed to keep the race committee from getting killed and to avoid general havoc in the finishing area. Port tack yachts shall keep clear of starboard tack yachts except at the committee end of the line where port tack must be given room to finish. And at the ends of the line a windward yacht must allow a leeward yacht room to finish.
- Once the forward most part of the yacht catching up from behind has come past the after most part of the yacht ahead, one yacht is windward, the other leeward. The yachts must then be governed by their responsibilities as windward and leeward yachts.
Insurance
Insurance Requirements
It is the responsibility of every sailor to arrange a Third Party Liability (TPL) Insurance to cover damage (body and property) caused to another person. TPL Insurance is compulsory not only for big international events, but for local regattas and trainings as well.
The TPL insurance has to…
- cover the liability of one participant to another with a minimum coverage of 500.000 Euro for a single occurrence.
- cover sailing with iceboats including race events and trainings.
- cover the sailing region, which can be Europe including the Baltic Sea and the Northern Sea or valid Worldwide.
- be valid during the whole duration of the event.
Proof of the insurance shall be provided by the sailor at the beginning of each season by uploading the PDF copy of the confirmation of cover to her/his account on the website idniyra.eu.
The Confirmation of Cover shall…
- be an official certificate, i.e. printed on the corporate letterhead of and signed by the Insurance Company.
- be printed in English.
- clearly show:
- the name of the insured
- the kind of the insurance (TPL)
- the liability cover (at least 500 000 EUR for each occurrence)
- it covers icesailing
- valid for race events and trainings
- territorial coverage (Europe or World)
- period of validity.
The dates should be indicated clearly, preferably writing out the name of the month or using the ISO 8601 date format (YYYY-MM-DD)
How to get an insurance checked – how to use it for online entry.
- Register or Login to your Account
- Navigate to the Insurance section
- Fill out the Insurance form provided and Upload your confirmation of coverage.
- The Insurance Manager will check your insurance.
- You can find your insurance status at the sidebar on your Profile.
- If your insurance is OK you can make an entry for a chosen event.
- If your insurance is not OK you will be asked to provide proof of a valid insurance.
- If you have no possibility of acquiring insurance in your region, you may apply for a “Single Event Insurance” and upload it the same way. This will only be granted for sailors from countries where we KNOW that they do not have any chance to get proper insurance or for a tolerable price.
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