racing-blokart

[racing-blokart]

Do you love the wind and tactical racing? Then this event is for you!

We invite all sailing enthusiasts and adrenaline seekers to gather at Nida Aerodrome on 8-10th November for the Open Baltic and Lithuanian Blokart Championships 2024. This unique event will see participants racing on identical Blokart landyachts, ensuring a level playing field for everyone. Whether you're an experienced sailor or just getting started with land sailing, this championship is the perfect opportunity to test your skills and experience the thrill of sailing competition!

What can you expect?

Dynamic and exciting races.

A fun atmosphere and great company.

Ideal conditions for both professionals and beginners.

The chance to participate with rented equipment if you don’t have your own Blokart.

Important details:

Event dates: November 8-10, 2024

Location: Nida Aerodrome, Lithuania

Rental options: Those without their own Blokart gear will have the option to rent one.

For registration and more information check here: https://lt.regattas.eu/regatta/obbc-2024

Don’t miss this opportunity to challenge yourself and enjoy an active weekend in nature! The wind is already booked ;) – we’re waiting for you in Nida!

[racing-blokart]

Open European Ice-Blokart Championships 2024

The Open European Ice-Blokart championships took place on January 26-28 and demanded special patience from the organizers - from the beginning of January, Lithuania and the surrounding European countries were covered by a thick layer of snow, which in some places reached more than 20 cm. The search for suitable ice for this championship was long and persistent. A week before the competition, the Lithuanian reservoirs looked the most optimal - they were chosen between the Curonian Lagoon in the west, Lake Paežeriai in Vilkaviškis and Lake Rėkyva in the center of Lithuania.

Finally, the cyclone that arose at the beginning of last week brought relief and dark clouds - heavy rains melted the snow and only 2 days before the start of the competition, the organizers could capture the location of the event - Lake Rėkyva in Šiauliai with a 22 cm thick ice cover without snow.

Foto: Rolandas Laurutavičius

Close to 30 sailors from Lithuania, South Britain and New Zealand gathered on the ice to catch the wind.

If on Thursday during the training the athletes simply flew on the still wet ice, then on Friday - the first day of the championship - the sailors could only walk on the surface of the lake, because the promised breeze did not blow any stronger. Even the lightest - ultra-lightweights, who have completed 3 races - barely moved.

On Saturday, it was decided for the athletes to advance the starts. From 8 o'clock in the morning, an average wind of 4-5 m/s was blowing, which made it possible to race a lot - 5 races for each group - and gave the sailors speed and racing excitement.

Foto: Rolandas Laurutavičius

Athletes sailed the upwind-downwind course by zigzag maneuvering. Races were won by athletes who were more technical and reacted better to the wind speed and its turns. Correct tactics were also important, which allowed the leaders to "exploit" the wind that was not disturbed by the opponents' sails.

Blokarters ran at the highest speeds in the leeward part of the distance - even when the wind was only 4-5 m/s strong, they reached a speed of up to 40 km/h. This means that due to the laws of physics, Ice-blokarts more than doubled the speed of the wind. However, in order to reach and maintain maximum speed, athletes had to employ developed skills and observation, especially in light winds.

Foto: Rolandas Laurutavičius

Jonas Mažunavičius, a local athlete sailing in Rėkyva, confidently won in the ultra-lightweight group, scoring 8 points. The middle weight category was also dominated by Greta Kalinauskaitė, a pupil of the sports center "Atžalynas" from Šiauliai, who defeated Karolis Atkočaitis from Neringa, winning all but one of the races. Perhaps the fiercest fight - point to point - took place in the heavyweight category between Vykintas and Matas Mizgiris. Everything was decided during the last run, on Sunday - after turning the windward mark on the last straight of the distance, Vykintas managed to sail more tactically. He managed to catch up and overtake Matas and cross the finish line first. With this victory, he tied the score on points and became European champion. In the super heavyweight category, Lithuanian also dominated - Antanas Golubovskis from Nida sailing club "Vetrungis" defeated the representative of N. Zealand, Stephen Weir, scoring 5 points and won gold.

TOP3 results: Ultra lightweight Production

Jonas Mažunavičius (Šiauliai), 8 points.

Teresė Mizgirytė (Neringa), 16 points.

Matas Jorudas (Šiauliai), 19 points.

Mediums Performance

Greta Kalinauskaitė (Šiauliai) 5 points.

Karolis Atkočaitis (Neringa) 9 points.

Louise Weir (UK) 17 pts.

Heavyweights Performance 1. Vykintas Mizgiris (Neringa) 7 points. 2. Matas Mizgiris (Neringa) 7 points. 3. Gediminas Petrauskas (Priekulė) 14 points.

Super heavyweights Performance 1. Antanas Golubovskis (Neringa) 5 points. 2. Stephen Weir (N. Zealand) 9 pts. 3. Andrew Hartwell (D.Britanija) 15 pts

Detailed results: https://lt.regattas.eu/regatta/ice-blokart-euros-2024

[racing-blokart]

Open European Blokart championships 2023

On October 4-8, at the former Royal Air Force Base in Llanbedr, North Wales, United Kingdom, the Open European Blokart championship took place, where Lithuania was represented by 9 sailors, of which even 4 won prizes.

More than 90 pilots from 13 countries of the world, including even New Zealand and the USA, came to harness the frequent stormy winds of North Wales to their sails.

9 sailors defended the honor of the Lithuanian team. Asphalt is the most common base for landsailing for Lithuanians, but upon arriving at the championship venue, the size of the airfield was surprising almost 2 km long and 50 m. wide runways - the territory allowed the organizers of the competition to create technical and interesting distances in relation to the wind.

With rain and strong winds N. Wales did not disappoint the sailors - on the first two days of the competition, there was a 8-12 m/s south-west wind, which the sailors caught at speeds of 60-70 km/h. When flying at such a pace, it was important not only to control the sail, which is the athlete's only "engine", but also to drive accurately, especially during turns.

However, the result of the race depended significantly on the precise start - while turning the wheels and keeping track of the time, the athletes wait for the start signal, which allows them to start the distance. If you rush in too early, you'll have to go back and chase everyone, and if you're a couple of seconds late, your opponents will already be several tens of meters ahead.

At the start, the sailors competed in a distance of 8-12 minutes, during which, depending on the strength of the wind and the configuration of the marks, they covered 2-3 laps (4-9 km) and finished the race by crossing the finish line.

The most emotions for the spectators were the turns at the bottom mark without controlling of the sail and the scenes at the turn signs, when the athletes flew off the asphalt onto the grass due to excessive speed.

If on the first day of the championship - Thursday - the athletes were drenched in rain and fought against unexpected gusts of wind, then on Friday the wind steadily weakened and the rain ended. Moderate to light wind conditions tested the patience and skill of the sailors on Saturday. Although Sunday was forecast to be sunny and almost windless, the wind picked up and allowed all sailors to put themselves in the championship round after 10 races.

Greta Kalinauskaitė, who was leading in the lightweight standard class from the beginning, lost her leading position on the last day of the competition. Because during the drive, turning the sign, she flew far into the meadow and after collecting many penalty points, she fell to the German athlete Alex Bruhn, who won the first place. The third place was won by another Lithuanian athlete, Austėja Mizgirytė.

Gustas Stankevičius, who competed in the heavyweight standard class, did not do very well on the first day of the championship, but the athlete adapted to the harsh sailing conditions and consistently improved his results, and after a great start on the last day, he finished first and became the runner-up, losing only to the local athlete Stephen Cooke.

The most titled blokarters competed in the heavyweight performance class, among which were European and World champions and vice-champions. Even 3 Lithuanian representatives started in this group - Gediminas Petrauskas, Antanas Golubovskis and Matas Mizgiris. Matas led from day one, but John Nicholson, hot on his heels, took the lead after the 9th run on the penultimate day. On Sunday, the final day of the championship, the wind forecast indicated that there would be no wind. However, the wind started blowing and the organizers started the 10th race, which Matas Mizgiris won and became the European champion.

In the middle weight performance class, Vykintas Mizgiris was just one point short of the bronze medal, he took 4th place among 17 athletes in the championship.

After returning home, the Lithuanians will rest and then start preparing for the championship of Lithuania and the Baltic countries, the starts of which are scheduled for November 10-12 at the Nida airfield.

[racing-blokart]

Lithuanian Blokart team in conjunction with Lithuanian Ice and Land sailing association and VSI Irklakojis is proud to announce 2022 Ice-Blokart Europeans are going to take place in Lithuania at Rekyva lake. The biggest Ice event will take place from 25th to 27th February on epic lake Rėkyva which has hosted numerous international ice sailing events, most prominent of which were DN and Ice-Opti European and World Championships 2018, 2015 and 2011.

Ice sailing season started as early as mid-december, 2021 and we hope for great ice conditions for 2022 season.

Fly to Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas or Palanga and Ice-Blokart rentals will be available at the venue (first 30 foreign pilots will have priority).

Or drive your team car with all your Blokart gear to Kiel, Germany and take an easy overnight ferry to Klaipėda, Lithuania.

Notice of race and registration here: https://lt.regattas.eu/2022-ice-euro

Join the Hottest event with Coolest people!

[racing-blokart]

Open Baltic & Lithuanian Blokart Champs 2020

POSTPONED.. Due to worsening covid situation OBBC2020 is postponed until the next notice. 

.

.

Just hope we can make it!

14th-15th November, 2020: small event, No spectators, No Blokart pilots dinner, though some great racing outside in fresh air at Nida aerodrome.

FIRST time we’re having Blokart Performance fleet! Performance is around 25% faster than Production Blokart due to Carbon mast, POD and other class legal accesories ;)

We have no doubts that Iain Percy (GBR) would love to join our Baltic event if he could make it!

We closely monitor situation and are getting ready for apparent wind fiesta in Nida. Stay tuned.

NOR and registration here: https://lt.regattas.eu/regatta/1567

[racing-blokart]

No-Ice Blokart Worlds 2020

Rainy and cold Kaunas accomodated No-Ice Blokart Worlds 2020 at Aleksotas aerodrome. Racing was held on a nice but bit bumpy asphalt area of 150 x 250 meters.

46 pilots from 6 nations (LTU, GER, FRA, ESP, SWE, NZL) competed in production class 5 weight categories in various wind conditions: from close to no wind in Friday till 35+ knots on the last day on Sunday.

Closest battles were in observed in middle and heavyweight categories were Juan Galmes Sampol (ESP) and Herve Perrot (FRA) won their titles.

Detailed results are here: https://lt.regattas.eu/2020-ice-blokart-worlds#/results

[racing-blokart]

Venue confirmation for No-Ice-Worlds 2020 - Kaunas Aleksotas aerodrome

We succeeded to secure as a venue Kaunas Aleksotas airfield with a big asphalt area with almost unobstructed wind!

Let the wind blow!

Venue coordinates: 54°52'39.2"N 23°53'08.0"E

Enter to airport via Europos pr., entrance point: https://goo.gl/maps/ZhoQvv8tLRY2WoUD7

Results will be published on regata site: https://lt.regattas.eu/2020-ice-blokart-worlds

Live meteo: http://aleksotas.eik.lt/meteo/

Please find here a NEWSLETTER No. 1: download (PDF)

[racing-blokart]

No-Ice-Blokart-Worlds 2020 metamorphosis

We experience the Warmest ever Winter in Lithuania and Northern Europe..

Temperatures being all the time well above zero, Nida hasn’t received ANY snow yet.

Not a better situation inside of the country - all the lakes are in open water, rearly there is frost at the nights.. No change is forecasted in following days. The first ice possibly to be discovered is located only 1200 km towards the North (63rd parallel North), in Finland.

So the organization has taken decision to rename our event to No-Ice-Blokart-World Championships and to hold it on the asphalt on the wheels.

We are working on several options: our primary work is done on 150x300 m asphalt field in Kaunas with unobstructed clear wind, secondly we’re looking at 60x3000 m abandoned airfield “in the middle of nowhere” which requires 40 min. drive to the hotel in the Mažeikiai city, and lastly as back-up our much used Nida’s asphalt airfield 30x800 m. More details to be published soon!

So disregarding this surprize from nature we’re waiting for you all in Lithuania! We’ll have some superb racing in 9 days time!

P.S. Be sure we won’t give up and for sure will build a plan for a 2nd Ice-Blokart Worlds ON ICE in 2021!

[racing-blokart]

Ice-Worlds already have 47 registered pilots from 6 countries

Registered pilots list from 11th January leaves only a few vacancies for Ice-Blokart rentals in each category. So hurry-up and register yourself for a coolest Ice-sailing event ever!

[racing-blokart]

Registration to 2020 Ice-Blokarts Worlds is open

We are happy to announce that the registration to 2020 Ice-Blokart World Championships is now open!

Fill in this form and join the biggest Ice-Blokart sailing fiesta in the World!: https://forms.gle/47NnVQKJ8oNUJeD2A

Download NOR here: PDF file

[racing-blokart]

OBBC2019 was a blast!

This weekend Open Baltics & Lithuanian champs was held on Nida airfield asphalt. 36 pilots  from Lithuania had great fun racing in medium winds on saturday with 20 heats for 5 weight divisions.

It was the warmest OBBC ever, as we had 10C degrees in mi-November for the first time!

Ultralights were “robbed” from their planned last 3 races in light winds on sunday as the wind didn’t appear at all. Though everybody enjoyed great atmosphere friendships and sunshine.

For the 2nd time 3 pilots from different weight categories could register their teams to win Etno Team Cup. This year again the cup was won by Mizgiris family (Matas - heavy, Vykintas - lights, Asutėja - ultralights) with 19 pts overall by putting a superb performance on asphalt!

TOP3 results

Ultralightweights:

1. Rojus Stankevičius (2 pts.), Šiaulių s/m „Atžalynas"

2. Vitalijus Pašakinskas (3 pts.), Šiaulių s/m „Atžalynas"

3. Austėja Mizgirytė (6 pts), Neringos sporto mokykla

Lightweights:

1. Vykintas Mizgiris (6 pts ), Neringos sporto mokykla

2. Nojus Volungevičius (7 pts ), Elektrėnų sav. sporto centras

3. Greta Kalinauskaitė (13 pts ), Šiaulių s/m „Atžalynas"

Middleweights:

1. Antanas Gerasimavičius  (7 pts ) Elektrėnų sav. sporto centras

2. Vytautas Talalas (12 pts ), Panevėžio jachtklubas

3. Karolis Atkočaitis (12 pts ) Buriuotojų klubas „Vėtrungis“

Heavyweights:

1. Gediminas Petrauskas (7 pts), Buriavimo mokykla „Žiemys“

2. Matas Mizgiris (7 pts), Lietuvos Blokart komanda

3. Antanas Golubovskis (15 pts), Buriuotojų klubas „Vėtrungis“

Super Heavyweights:

1. Gediminas Baltušis (6 pts) Panevėžio jachtklubas

2. Vytenis Zagorskis (9 pts) Elektrėnų sav. sporto centras

3. Romas Adomavičius (12 pts) Buriavimo mokykla „Žiemys“

Etno Team Cup:

1. Mizgiriai (Matas and Vykintas Mizgiris, Austėja Mizgirytė) – 19 pts

2. ESSC (Vytenis Zagorskis, Antanas Gerasimavičius ir Nojus Volungevičius) – 23 pts

3. Šiaulių buriuotojai (Gustas Stankevičius, Greta Kalinauskaitė ir Rojus Stankevičius) – 34 pts

Detailed results: http://www.irklakojis.lt/blokart/obbc2019-results.pdf

[racing-blokart]

Open Blokart Baltics 2019

You are more than welcome to join our apparent wind fiesta which will take place 16-17th November, 2019 at unused Nida airport!

Blokart Racing Clinic will be run on Friday, 15th November by 2019 European vice-champion Matas Mizgiris for those who are new to Blokart sailing or want to improve fast sailing skills. Neringa city will celebrate its anniversary, so come over with your whole family!

Download NOR here: PDF

Don’t be late and register by sending an email to info[at]irklakojis.lt with this data:

Pilot name, surname: Phone number: Blokart class: Production/Performance Gender: Male/Female Weight, kg: Insurance: Yes/No Blokart (production) rent: Yes/No Blokart Party: Yes/No

[racing-blokart]

Trijų nidiškių triumfas Europos vėjaračių čempionate

Spalio 16-20 dienomis Prancūzijoje, Saint-Brevin miestelio paplūdimyje įvyko Europos Blokart klasės vėjaračių čempionatas.

Susirungti į savo bures pasikinkius dažnai štorminius Biskajos įlankos vėjus atvyko virš 90 vairininkų iš 14 pasaulio šalių, tame tarpe net iš N. Zelandijos ir JAV.

Lietuvos komandos garbę gynė 4 sportininkai: Nidoje besitreniruojantys Antanas Golubovskis (vidutinio svorio kat.), Vykintas Mizgiris (lengvasvorių kat.) ir Matas Mizgiris (sunkiasvorių kat.) bei Gustas Stankevičius (vidutinio svorio kat.) iš Šiaulių.

Čempionatas vyko ant lygaus ir kieto paplūdymio smėlio - plačioje Atlanto vandenyno atoslūgio zonoje. Ypač stipriais vėjais garsėjanti vietovė buriuotojų neapvylė – pirmąsias dvi varžybų dienas pūtė 8-15 m/s vėjas, kurį pasigavę vėjaratininkai lėkė 60-70 km/h greičiais. Skriejant tokiu tempu svarbus buvo ne tik burės valdymas, kuri yra vienintelis sportininko „variklis“, tačiau ir tikslus vairavimas, ypač posūkių metu.

Tačiau kiekvieno važiavimo rezultatas smarkiai priklausė nuo preciziško starto – sukdami ratus ir sekdami laiką, sportininkai laukia starto signalo, kuris leidžia išvažiuoti į distanciją. Įlėksi per anksti – reiks grįžti, ir vytis visus, o jei suvėluosi porą sekundžių - tavo priešininkai jau bus išsiveržę keliasdešimt metrų į priekį. Po starto signalo sportininkai turi 8-10 minutes distancijoje, per kurias, priklausomai nuo vėjo stiprumo ir ženklų konfigūracijos, įveikia 3-5 ratus ir finišuoja kirsdami finišo liniją.

Daugiausiai žiūrovų ovacijų kėlė virtimų ir „suktukų“ vaizdai prie posūkių ženklų, tuo tarpu patys sportininkai atsipirkdavo tik prastesne finišo vieta – vėjaračio konstrukcija ir saugos diržas patikimai saugoja nuo traumų, kurios šiame sporte yra ypač retos. Vietomis pasitaikydavo ir didelių balų, kurias kirsdami vėjaratininkai paskęsdavo sūraus vandens pursluose.

Po 10 startų Vykintas Mizgiris (14 m.) įtikinamai nugalėjo lengvasvorių (55-70 kg) kategorijoje bei užėmė labai aukštą 4-ąją vietą absoliučioje standartinės klasės įskaitoje, kurioje varžėsi 24 dalyviai. Antanas Golubovskis laimėjo trečiąją vietą vidutinio svorio (70-82,5 kg) kategorijoje ir atitinkamai 3-iąją vietą absoliučioje įskaitoje. Gustas Stankevičius iš Šiaulių užėmė 7-ąją vietą toje pat svorio kategorijoje.   Matas Mizgiris startavo itin konkurencingoje performance klasės sunkiasvorių (82,5 – 95 kg) grupėje, kurioje iki pat paskutinės dienos apylygiai kovėsi net 5 sportininkai – naujazelandietis T. Stillefors, Pasaulio čempionas ispanas J.E. Coll, Anglijos čempionas C. Moore ir prancūzas E. Charpentier. Matas laimėjo aukštą 2-ąją vietą, nusileidęs tik vietinias sąlygas puikiai pažįstančiam prancūzui E. Charpentier. Bronzą laimėjo Britanijos paplūdymiuose rungtyniaujantis ir daug titulų iškovojęs britas C.Moore, dabartinis Europos Blokart asociacijos prezidentas.

Šįvakar namo sugrįžę lietuviai ilsėsis ir po to pradės ruoštis Baltijos šalių čempionatui, kurio startai numatyti Lapkričio 16-17 dienomis ant Nidos aviacinės aikštelės asfalto. 

TOP3 rezultatai: (užimta vieta, taškų suma, atmetus 1 blogiausią rezultatą) Lengvasvoriai (iki 55 kg), standartinė klasė

1.             Vykintas Mizgiris (Lietuva) 8 tšk. 2.             Marylou Thomas (Prancūzija) 16 tšk. 3.             Loic Pochet (Prancūzija) 27 tšk.

Vidutinio svorio (70-82,5 kg), standartinė klasė

1.             George Spindler (Ispanija) 12 tšk. 2.             Herve Perrot (Prancūzija) 13 tšk. 3.             Antanas Golubovskis (Lietuva) 20 tšk. ... 7.             Gustas Stankevičius (Lietuva) 56 tšk.

Sunkiasvoriai (82,5-95 kg), performance klasė

1.             Eric Charpentier (Prancūzija) 15 tšk. 2.             Matas Mizgiris (Lietuva) 21 tšk. 3.             Chris Moore (D. Britanija) 24 tšk.

Detalūs rezultatai: http://laptiming.eu/event/56da6c3e-decf-4dca-9d37-1afd0ecccbbe 

[racing-blokart]

Photo: The winners of European Ice-Blokart championships 2019.

A fantastic outcome after we struggled with colder than predicted air destroying our ice on Gargždai lake. Though the last call to go to Kaunas lagoon which got superb conditions proved a huge success!

Final results are here: http://www.irklakojis.lt/blokart/euro2019-results.pdf

Well done European Ice-Blokart champions - lightweight Vykintas Mizgiris, middleweight Karolis Atkočaitis, heavyweight Matas Mizgiris, Super heavyweight Andrew Etherington!

[racing-blokart]

Venue change for European Ice-Blokart champs 2019: Nida is rejected due to safety reasons. We will race on Gargždai lake Skaidrusis. More news in the newsletter No.2: click to read here.

Registration is closing 9th February early morning - hurry up!

We expect around 30 pilots to scratch the ice.

2 dutch, 1 french, 1 german, 3 swedes, 3 brits and 3 Estonians are on the way to Lithuania and good dozen of Lithuanians are sharpening ice skates.

So we are waiting for you to join the party!

[racing-blokart]

Ice scouting for European Ice-Blokart Champs 2019.

Please find here Newsletter No.1: download PDF

p.s. Please send us size of your T-Shirt asap!

See you in 2 weeks time!

[racing-blokart]

The first ice is already here. Welcome to Ice-Blokart Europeans 2019. Join the action!