Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Moosehead didn’t quite recover as nicely as we’d hoped, but that didn’t stop the DN gang from setting a course and scratch racing for two days. Which was ok because we couldn’t even make it to the first pressure ridge, the snow was so thick. David Frost and Martha Crosdale came from Michigan, Hugh from western NY state, and the usual NE suspects: Thieler, Atkins, Stanton, Demerest and maybe one or two others. Not bad for the last weekend in March.

And a very special tip of the helmet to Alex Innus from the Hudson River club for bringing his hundred year old gaff rig stern steerer. As far as we know, there hasn’t been a proper stern steerer at Moosehead for over a hundred years. Alex was good enough to take Peter, Kelly’s general manager, for a number of great sails. Peter has been very good to us over the years, sending pictures and ice reports at a moments notice. They sailed until the ice softened today.

But the Whizz guys had heard of a fabulous plate in Quebec at Lac St. Francois, home ice of Denis Guertin. A neighbor had got his attention with an amazing picture of the lake. Denis couldn’t believe it, considering only a few days before it had looked hopeless. By the time he had confirmed the condition was very good we had become rattled out at Moosehead so we packed up and headed to the border. He was right: as we rounded the last turn and gazed down at the lake it was all grey as far as we could see. And it’s a big lake.
We talk a lot about how to grade ice, and what the numbers mean. A TEN can be defined by ice that when sailed on, the sailor can say with confidence there there is nothing more to be asked of the ice. Nothing can be improved. Everything about it is just perfect. And so it was. Strong winds, three fast boats and endless miles of flawless ice. Add to that a restaurant on the lake with a Sunday afternoon dancing floor show serving up a great lunch and the whole experience is a ten.

Under the bridge and up the river, a fun dogleg to the 100+ mile day:

An iceboat is a miracle. Three to four times the windspeed? How can this be? When you are wound up sailing fast and you have nearly ten miles at a mile a minute to reflect on these things, the mind has time to step outside the boat and watch it go. The sheet is bar tight and cleated, you calmly adjust your goggles, maybe scratch your nose. Blasting along for so long becomes normalized. And you can build this ship yourself. Simply unbelievable. Indeed a miracle.

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T will be setting marks tomorrow for scratch racing. Launch at Greenville Junction.

A gaggle of DN’s will be there, come join the fun rounding the marks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiWJxeiX88g

Here’s a nice video about what the Sarasota guys are up to and how they arrange their iceboating. They’ve upped their game over the past few years with more aggressive scouting, some new and upgraded boats and better communication.
Meanwhile we are on pins and needles waiting to see what joy the rain tomorrow will bring to Moosehead. Stand by!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtEvrvxIp-Mfe

Fifteen boats showed up today at the big lake. Brisk SE winds pointed right up the middle: to Kineo. Three Whizz and a Lockley bore away heading north. Steve Kozloff in the Lockly eventually realized the hole to windward that he was digging was getting too deep for comfort and he headed back.

The three others continued on, rounding two pressure ridges easily at their ends, but the next to last one was a bit more work:

We thought we were home free now, but hubris is a dangerous thing to have on board when sailing this lake.

We took a vote on whether this qualifies as a completed Kineo run, and two out of three said no. We could not cross that one right behind the boats. So we made up for it by a circumnavigation of Sugar Island, a sweet accomplishment that the club has managed only once before.
While we had partly sunny skies, off to the south it looked ominous:

Indeed, the further south we went the darker it became until it was snowing.
Rounding the point for the approch to Greenville we say the bay dotted with sails. Snow or no snow. What a warm welcome from a big tour. The ice down there was some of the best so the fleet felt no need to travel. Not everyone carries this affliction.

Dan Stillman had his camera going so hopefully we’ll see some video of the rest of the fleet. It truly a great turnout with fabulous conditions.
Looks rather bleak for the following week. But no significant warmth yet so stand by for round two. There are rumors of one of the big stern steerers from the Hudson just aching to be on Moosehead. Wouldn’t that be a great shot alongside Katahdin?

The old steamship is having some major work done but will be back at work for the summer.