Recognizing Bob Dill and the Iron Duck

Published on December 31st, 2020 by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Sailing News Bob Dill is the kind of guy the National Sailing of Fame needs more than Dill needs to be inducted (but he does need to be inducted), and while he sits in the vast pool of nominees, Ben Dolenc produced a film I wish all the great adventures in our sport could claim. Bob Dill is that kind of adventurer, and this professionally produced narrative shares a tremendous story of how he and sidekick Bob Schumacher went on to build and sail the fastest wind-powered vehicle in the world. From ideas born in the late 1980s, their tinkering in Vermont would lead to a 30-year odyssey that crisscrossed the United States for a test of initiative and ideas on the desert playas of the west. Once there, they’d wait for weeks, idling in their motorhome for the ideal conditions on the noted desert track of Ivanpah in San Bernardino County, California. They ultimately were rewarded, setting a new World Land Sailing Speed Record that lasted ten years, with Dill piloting their land yacht Iron Duck to a speed of 116.7 mph on March 19, 1999. When Richard Jenkins improved…
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