From Bob MacEwan:

Today was a stellar day on Damariscotta Lake with at least ten boats setting up at the Lake Farm for a day of sailing. I was worried that the lake would be crowded with fisherman because this is the free fishing weekend in Maine. But there wasn’t anymore than the usual number of fishing shelters and tip ups on the lake with plenty of room to enjoy the brisk southwest winds and sunshine on a classic February blue sky day.

The wind was mostly calm while we were setting up and you could feel the warmth of the sun as you worked to get your boat ready to go. There were two skeeters, two mini skeeters, three cheapskates, two Lochley Skimmers and Ed Zelonish’s little front seat skeeter. Also, there were couple of groups of skaters. I apologize to anyone else that was there that I missed.

The wind kicked in around 10:30 and built as the morning continued. I had rigged my bigger sail first and came in to rig my smallest sail just before lunch time. I’m guessing it was blowing 10-15 mph with up to 20 mph gusts. The strong wind was blowing the dusting of snow making small drifts all over the ice. The drifts got stiffer with time and you could feel a tug on your boat as you sailed through them. Everyone stayed on the northern plate and chased each other around. By 14:30 the wind was strong but short intermittent lulls were becoming more frequent. We all returned to the pits by 15:00 to start packing up to head home.