The plate was quiet as the temperature crept into the low forties. The ice making machine was switched off. But there’s plenty of ice already, and while the straight at the south end of Hoyt remained tight all day, the two pressure ridges at the north end connected.

We all agreed that we had no circumnavagationalaspirations, so ran back down and shot through the Hoyt straight. The DN’s had set up a course at the lower end of the bay so we tacked north.

The warmth has melted away most of the snow, and what was left caused very little drag. The wind was up and down most of the morning, but then came on strong and reliable for the latter part of the day. It was still blowing as we broke down the boats.

Guy’s getting a good slice of it here.

On wet hard ice like this, even in light air you could get wound up.

Tomorrow appears to have some good wind in the afternoon, after that all of New England has snow in the forecast. How much, and what harm it will cause is anyone’s guess but we’ll have all week to figure it out and find something for next weekend.
This December has five Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. This happens once in every 823 years. The Chinese ascribe a fabulous Feng Shui to this. There has been DN racing on the first three. Are we under an Oriental spell? Find out next weekend. Things are lining up: