Annals of Adventure–Goulash Eating…I Mean Iceboating…Hungarian Style: The 2004 iceboating world championships have been going on in Hungary, at Lake Balaton. Iceboaters must be a very laid back crowd because it’s almost impossible to find detailed reports and results. However, TWC did come across an intrepid UK iceboater named Gareth Rowland, who is posting reports and pictures to the web. From what I can tell, the racing has been quite variable, with light winds some days and dodgy ice conditions on other days. But the eating, apparently, has been very good. Here are some offbeat vignettes from Rowland’s Hungarian adventure:

Jan 18: “Yesterday we were invited to a Hungarian tradition of killing a pig and during the course of the day eating it. After it was shot the butcher got to work. First on the menu was the liver cooked in a nice sauce. We had to leave part way through to go to the ice and move our yachts as the ice near the hotel had broken up on the shoreline. We found a car park across the bay, nearer to the race area. Later I printed some pictures of the pig and returned to the party. By then they were down to the cutlets in a very nice onion and tomato relish. In the background the butcher was taking an axe to what was left of the pig and the bacon and skin was going on the barbie [BBQ]. Also on he menu with the pork was Hungarian schnapps to wash it all down. For a sweet nibble a Hungarian donut was produced, but it was like strips of dough tied in a knot. You put your own jam on if you wanted. Damned good though!!…Tomorrow it looks like I may have to use the GPS and plot the area of safe ice as there is open water out there and I now have the ability to plot the track on a real map. There are also cracks and a large hole, so the Brits are hopefully going to provide an accurate map of the ice.

Time for another beer!”

Yeah, but what about the iceboating?….

First Competitors Meeting: “After a lengthy discussion which centred on the Balaton ice conditions and the access to the ice for the 200 competitors it was agreed that all the representatives would walk the ice and drill frequently to check the ice thickness and then return to the Committee to further discuss what they had walked and then make a decision by voting on whether we should stay in Hungary or move to Poland.”

Poland?

Jan. 19: “Temps did not drop last nite. Now 2.5 degrees. Cracks and holes in places. Can see open water from hotel. Not good. After some driving around we found the hot pools at Heviz. The central section had two hot pools of 33c sulphurous water that apparently is slightly radioactive. For many years they have been used for the healing properties (that should get rid of that nasty rash)!…After the warm swim we ventured out in the 1 deg weather and swam outside. This was chilly with cooler water – about 26 degs with weeds and little fish. It wasn’t long before we were back in the hot pools! On the way out the hot showers were of volcanic water so I am sure we smelt well of sulphur…Walking round the town of Heviz we found a nice cafe-bar that had Hungarian Goulash on the menu, so we decided on the goulash soup and a Hungarian beer. Not sure the waiter was impressed by two sulphurous Englishmen invading the place, but it was damn good.”

Uhh, Gareth, hope you’re not planning to have any (more?) children. But for the last time, what about the sailing?

Jan. 21: “With only 0 deg C the Hungarian police, who hold jurisdiction over the lake here at Balaton, did not want us to sail but oddly allowed the ultimateresponsibilityy to rest with the Race Committee. So the committee decided, so as to preserve future sailing on Balaton, and for the safety of 200 skippers, to suspend racing for the day. Throwing caution to the wind K1 [Chris Williams] and K11 [myself] decided to join the brave out on the ice in a moderate wind. At least the previous day’s “plastic ice” at the shoreline had hardened to allow a creaky\crackly access to the yachts….Rigged up we had to negotiate the cracking running 50 metre out parallel to the shore line. This had water in places and maybe ice underneath. Anyway we managed to cross it safely. Out on the ice it was good hard black ice with only small bumps of old melted and refrozen snow. I took the video camera out and mounted it on the front runner looking back with a wide angle lens then I had it on the tiller. I got some good pictures in the fast conditions. About 1:00pm we retired for lunch before we broke anything. We went into the local main town and did some shopping and had another even better Hungarian Goulash soup. It was served up in silver tureens and you were supplied the ladle and plates, spoons etc. We assumed it must be a very posh place as the bill for two goulashes and two beers came to 6000 Hungarian Forints [around 15 British pounds]. Turned out we were paying the bill for the next table!”

You get the picture (thanks, Gareth…and have anotherr beer, or four). Imagine how much fun iceboating would be when there is actual iceboating happening. If TWC can dig up any real results on the Worlds, or race reports, they will be posted….



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