The DN is the largest ice boat class in the world, so named because the boat design won a contest sponsored by the Detroit News. The DN measures 12 feet by 21 inches and carries a 60 square foot sail. The little craft performs typically at two to four times wind speed and maxes out at about 60 mph. T he Association was incorporated in 1962 and currently boasts 2000 members in North America and Europe. Obviously, the sport is very big on the Great Lakes but Burlington, Vermont hosts the Eastern Regional Regatta, annually.
News is mostly old but there is activity afoot locally.
Links to the sites of far flung chapters of ice boat racers are a kick, especially the Polish site. The pictures of the sport on that site are works of art. Articles on safety, boat parts and construction, and sailing and racing strategy are interesting to read even if you decide never intend to take the plunge. The American Remote Controlled Surface Sailing Association site is fledgling with sparse info but there is a group forming in Boston with an e-mail address. I t figures that land sailing is mostly pursued on large expanses of hard, flat dry land.