Denis , Lee Spiller, Frank and I sailed a Grade 1 on Sebago a few years ago. Call it base line ice. When you have a grading system of one through ten, there needs to be a one, and that day was it. It was so rough and bouncy that the constant deflection of lee’s plank eventually zippered his hound right down the mast. I was well ahead by the time Lee’s mast went down and the thought of going back through that junk was daunting. Fortunately Denis and Frank are great at repairing nearly anything, so I just sat tight and waited.
The whole point of this digression is to allow us to argue over today’s rating. It came down to either a two or a three, so it’s getting a 2.5. We know it wasn’t a One because nothing broke. That appears to be a pre-requisite to be awarded a One. But let’s just say that if anyone sailing today had dentures, they’d be eating soup for dinner.
We did find a fairly clear lane for a fast run from the Narrows, where the wind shut off, all the way back down to the inlet creek. The two Whizz rounded up just at the bridge while their battered crew went to the Cafe for lunch. A downwind landing with a low bridge in the foreground is not for the faint of heart.

To add insult to injury, by the time we’d finished lingering over our lunch the ice had softened and the wind had died, trying to find its new position in the SW. We shoved through the slush back to the pits for slush runners, hoping for the predicted SW to fill in.

Bob MacEwan, Linc Davis and Dave Hoder had some good runs in spite of the conditions, Two young guys, Chris and Vlad from Portland showed up with an Iceabella design, from Sweden that Chris built around a windsurfer rig he had. It was their maiden voyage.

He built Cheapskate runners, made some good rig modifications, but by the time they showed up the ice was soft and the 1/8” Cheapie runners didn’t have a chance. They were mildly discouraged, to say the least, but a sympathetic sailor loaned them a set of slush runners and the boat just took off. Vlad characterized the feeling as “intoxicating”. Sounds like they are “in”.

Moral of the story is: never underestimate the value of slush runners, and no matter how poor the ice, a day on the lake with boats and buddies is never a bust!

Get out the snow shovels…