Long Pond Lakeville had boats yesterday and today, Webster has been scouted and maybe sailed today, There are A Skeeter bubble boats on Bantam Lake, and Leavitts Bay on Winnipesaukee was toured and explored Saturday while the DN’s held the Doc Fellows Regatta. It was very windy, so the race was called off after Oliver Moore spun out at the leeward mark and broke his collarbone. We wish him a speedy recovery in time for the worlds.

Meanwhile, it’s been a quiet week in Maine. All we could find worth sailing was Walker Pond. Not that there’s anything wrong with Walker! it looks as good as Winnie: a lovely sheet of hard black ice plagued with thin wind packed drifts. While the buckets of wind on Winnie worked wonders for those smart enough to show up there yesterday, we had a light sou’wester today with just enough oomph to keep you going. And Walker Pond is the only sailing venue I’ve ever seen with bleachers.

You can see how steep the approach is; the wooden structure in the foreground is the top of the bleachers. They cling to the cliff all the way to the ice. Imagine having the leeward mark right off the beach here? It’s a long way from everywhere (except Larry and Kevin’s) but it would be worth it just for the view.

Tom Childs just sent in this report of his Sebago scouting today:

Lower bay of Sebago is well-covered with ice. The shore-line area is very rough, but 3” thick according to the anglers who dare to go on it. There is a rough swath crossing the middle of the bay where the wind had broken up the ice, which re-froze. Further out, there is fresh ice…no telling how thick. This is deserving of further investigation! Probably sailable in a day or so.

Jordan bay is frozen all the way to Raymond Neck, there is NO activity on this part of the lake – no telling how thick the ice is! CAN WE GET SOMEONE TO CHECK THIS TOMORROW AND REPORT BACK? THANKS!

Nason’s Beach is wide-open water as far as the eye can see.

Lastly, we hear from Damariscotta that it’s afoul with trucks, shacks and ATV’s. Must mean the ice is good, but it’ll take a lot of weather to clean up the surface.

Thanks so much to Kevin and Larry for keeping this pond on our radar. You know it’s the only decent ice around when you see Bob and Karl skating. Earlier they had been skating a narrow river in the woods which was magical except for getting the occasional stick fetched up in the skate and ducking under low hanging branches. They were all smiles on Walker in spite of the snow. As a matter of fact, so were Kevin, Larry and your correspondent.