There was a time not so long ago that the CIBC would all meet at one lake or another to sail or race. Often it was at Chickawaukee where Lloyd would have a fire going on the beach with a pot of bubbling baked beans. Occasionally there would be some inter-lake rivalry, one group wanting to sail here, the other there, but not often: there just weren’t that many of us.

But never in our memories of Maine iceboating has there been sailing on six different lakes on the same day. And if you count the pressure ridges that effectively make Damariscotta into three separate plates, you have eight.

The Nites are on Clary Pond, the Ruge Skeeter and a Cheapskate (how’s that for a pairing?) on Walker Pond, nine boats and a gaggle of non-feathered wings on Eagle Lake, a few on Megunticook dodging skaters, three on Pemiquid before the ice fishers stove it up, and two at the north end of Dammy, three in the middle and a dozen on Muscongus Bay.

It would seem that iceboating is alive and thriving. Sixteen MIT students came with their four DN’s, some from the tropics who’d never seen a big frozen lake before.

According to the forecast we’re not done yet!