Bristol has long been home to a lot of great “soft water” sailors — now it can claim one of the best on hard water.

In only her fourth year competing in the insanely fast sport of iceboating, Karen Binder’s goal was to qualify into the gold fleet. She did that, and more, taking the spot as the top female finisher at both the World and North American championships, held back-to-back last month on Lake Kegonsa, near Madison, Wis. In the whole field, men and women, Binder placed 32nd out of 105 at the Worlds and 13th out of 76 at the North Americans.

Competitive iceboating requires pretty specific conditions to happen safely. Obviously, you need a large, frozen lake, but you also need good visibility, not a lot of drifting snow, and wind — but not too much. DN iceboats (for Detroit News, originally designed in Detroit in the 1950s) the one-design raced by top competitors, move at 3 to 4 times the speed of the prevailing wind. That makes wind speeds of 22 mph the upper edge of a safe regatta.

The most challenging race of the two events was the last: the final day of the North Americans. A complete regatta requires three races, and after two were executed under conditions including snow and light winds, the third race was postponed to the next day — when the wind filled in. Snow drifts were forming on the course, and organizers twice postponed the final race. Competitors rigged their boats with smaller sails, and four of them, including Binder, took a test run, and decided that conditions were safe enough to move forward.

After getting a great start, Binder was hit by strong puffs of wind — not once but twice — at mark roundings. Both times, she spun out. “The second time I just closed my eyes and hoped I would stay in my boat,” she said. Determined to finish, she came in last. (Though she still finished high in the overall competition because so many sailors did not complete the race.)

“This is the most fun sailing I have ever had,” said Binder of iceboating, which is saying something for a woman who has been sailing competitively for most of her life. “It requires a level of focus that not much else in life requires. And it is actually relaxing on some level, because you aren’t thinking about anything else.”

Binder credits her partner James "T" Thieler of Newport, (who finished 8th at the Worlds and 3rd in the North Americans) with building her a competitive boat and training with her.

Several DN components can be sourced through Bristol-based manufacturers; according to Binder, Moore Brothers, a local composite company, produces the best DN masts in the world and are universally popular with the top European and North American racers. Though one-design, each boat is tuned specifically for the weight and body type of its owner; gear includes nine different sets of runners for variable conditions, and two sets of sails.

In addition to the sport itself, Binder is enjoying being part of the DN racing community, which she has found very welcoming to women (though she admits that she is unrecognizable as such when she is wearing her full kit on the ice.) She also notes that age is less of a barrier than with other sports — Most of the top sailors in the world are in their late 40s to late 50s, and there were even a couple of octogenarian veterans on the course last month.

“I think older sailors can stay very competitive in iceboating because you get better at choosing the right sail, trimming the sail in different conditions, and also choosing your runners which have different angles based on the ice and wind conditions," she said. "Some sailors have up to 30 runners of varying thickness, angle, and length. Selecting the right runners comes with lots of experience. So, in a way, it's actually sport where you can get better with age.”

Though Binder was the top woman at the 2023 Worlds, which earned her a world ranking of 13th (male or female), she notes that her win came in the absence of last year’s winner, Anja Fiedler. She is hoping to have the opportunity to meet Fiedler on the ice next year, when the event will be held in northern Europe.