Ice - Location

At present the annual World Championships, held by the International DN Ice Yacht Racing Association (IDNIYRA), alternates between suitable locations in Europe and North America. In Europe this is often around Stockholm, in Sweden, as there are numerous lakes within one hour's travel of the city. The advantage of this is that when the ice yachting season begins, the suitability of the lakes are reported by volunteers who monitor the ice coverage and report back to related web pages.

Enthusiasts can then decide upon the best lake to use on the very day they plan to sail. This information network would allow the Windjet team to base themselves in Stockholm and monitor all the lakes nearby before choosing the best lake for that day's challenge.

Another option for the team is North America or Canada where ice yachting on the great lakes is common. The advantage that these locations have over Europe is the thickness of the ice (often over 1 m or 3.3 ft) and the length of the season available for running.

In Canada, on lakes such as Great Bear Lake in the North West Territories, ice covers the entire lake, over 12,096 square miles (7.7 million acres or 31,328 square km) for 9 months of the year. This thickness of ice would be less likely to change rapidly unlike the thinner ice found in Europe, however the weather would be considerably colder with some areas experiencing an average temperature of -5.4 °C (22.3 °F), dropping down to a very chilly -29.9 °C (-21.8 °F) in the winter!