When iceboaters talk about alignment it generally means getting those runners down to less than .000001” out. But the other alignment that’s just as critical, if not more so, is that of the stars. The weather stars.
Wind, temperature, ice surface condition, location. Our demands are very steep: we need a big frozen lake with a nice surface, plenty of wind, easy access, and we want it all for ourselves. A few fisherman around the edges are fine, but we want the whole thing.
The stars were as closed to aligned as they could be today on Moosehead. All of the above, in addition the one critical extra ingredient: good sailing buddies. Ones that really pull the sheet, know how to cross pressure ridges and are up for an expedition. And, as below, can dance a jig.

Launching at The Birches this morning, the obvious goal should be Kelly’s Landing for lunch in Greenville, twenty miles directly up wind. SE 15-20 with moderate gusts. Three pressure ridges later, and miles of lovely, flawless spring ice, a fleet of seven docked at Kelly’s. The French Guys, Nils and Guillaume, pulled in soon after the photo below. Left to right: Buchholz, Guertin, Sean Guiness, Dan Stillman, Michael Young.

This sail was the longest point to point in club history, as far as anyone knew. But, just to be sure that we had some kind of record we doubled down and set sail back up the lake in an endless cascade of lovely gybes, got to Kineo and took a right.

From there to the top of Northeast Carry all you see from the deck of an iceboat is horizon. But with that slant giving a deep reach we shot up there in no time, crossing three more pressure ridges. The ice in this giant bay was even better. No reason not to push the boat hard, go for maximum speed. Especially if the other guy is doing it. Lloyd Roberts sage words came to mind as I pulled hard to the very end of the sheet: “there’s no shame in driving your boat to the edge of destruction on the last sail of the season”.

Here, at the top end of NE Carry, Kineo is a small dot behind the guy on the right.

Also on the lake today were Dave Fortier, Tyler Vroman, and the Brothers Dimitrov with Renegade El Diablo and a Lockley. Don’t ask…

A special tip of the hemet goes out to Dan Stillman who is sailing Leo Healy’s old DN. Leo would have been honored and thrilled to see his boat take part in such an amazing tour, sailed by a guy who just started out the season in a Cheapskate. Leo was the founder of Winnepesaukee, The Hard Way. Anything we do on Moosehead holds a great debt of gratitude to him and all he taught us about how to get a fleet of iceboats from one end of a big lake and back intact. This tour logged a tad over 100 miles, boats and smiles intact.

Could this really be the end? To be stuck without ice and the summer blues again? Aretha is warming up, but there are rumors of a big lake in Quebec…

x