Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

DN Ice Yachts: James ‘T’ Thieler’s Top Tacking Tips – YouTube

Thanks to T for putting together this video with Mike Madge, who’s been interviewing other top iceboaters. The ifo is priceless and is a must see for all icebat sailors.

The ice at Damariscotta has leveled out nicely in the rain and warmth. Looks like we could have days of great sailing in the offing. Bobby Able is coming up from Long Island with his Mini Skeeter for the duration. Can we get all our east coast MS’s together for the first time? Could there be a Spring Fling a’coming?

Big winds Tuesday may preclude sailing, but we’ll watch the forecast and hope for some moderation.

Iceboaters don’t like to get wet, for obvious reasons. But when your favorite home ice has been no good all winter, and then there’s a quick window between the wind coming on and the rain starting and the whole lake is good to go then sailing hard and putting it away wet is what you gotta do. The Southerly filled in right on schedule and three boats headed upwind bound for the narrows. With a good breeze and miles of ice ahead that grade 3 ice didn’t seem so bad after all.
As always, the ice down south seemed just a tad less rough and we nearly made it to Deep Cove. Sadly, there was a pressure ridge that offered no quarter, so we bore off and ran for home. Downwind the narrows in a southerly is just about as good as it gets. Fast shallow gybes, searching to turn on the glassy ice alongshore.

That’s Milo coming down. He remembered loosing his phone last year in this very spot. It was found floating in its bag in the spring by a fisherman and he got it back. It’s also the place where he was initiated trial-by-fire to iceboating on a Lockley on ice worse than this.

There were some loggers working in the woods near the shore. They had felled a big pine onto the ice and it actually broke through a foot of ice when it landed. Would have been a bit of bad luck to have been sailing by there at just that time.

They were kind enough to mark the spot for us and others with a little pine nursery. That’s Ben Fuller in the background in his new Pocket Skeeter.

Back in the broads Karen and T were helping out the newbies. Sean was running laps in T’s boat getting paced by a Whizz, while back in the pits some old friends with an ice opti were getting tips on how to win the North Americans:

Don’t forget, it’s raining and these kids just kept at it, having a ball. Of course, they’re softwater sailors and it’s normal to get wet while sailing, right?

And it’s off to the races!

The rain will be good for the surface. Cold temps Monday night might give us something to smile about on Tuesday. Wring out your boat and stand by.

Apologies to anyone who came to Megunticook only to find no one there, Double apologies if you actually set up and sailed that crap. One run across the broads early in the morning was enough to make the call to shift to Damariscotta in spite of the smaller wind forecast. Most folks got the memo, but if you don’t communicate with any other sailors then you are out of the loop. One of the shortcomings of using this sort of web site to communicate is that it’s pretty much a one way street. It replaced a very burdensome and confusing email list, which had replaced the phone hotline. We have discussed different ways to have a more open system, but nothing seems to work as well all around. Text lists get big and confusing.
So for now this is how it works, or doesn’t, as the case may be. The best way to avoid that sinking feeling as you drive down to the launch and see no one there is to connect.

There are a few boats on the ice hoping for a morning sail before the rain scheduled for noon. Strong south winds predicted. Big winds, rough ice: be sure your nuts are tight.

Chickawaukee was the hoped for plate over the past few days, but today lt looks like Megunticook has better potential. Chicky might grade at a 2, but Megunticook rates a 3.5. It won’t be any worse than some of the crud we sailed at Tunk. Megunticok has more water in the upper layers which will freeze, whereas Chicky has drained and evaporated leaving styrofoam.

There will be a course set up and DN’s racing. Not sure if there will be an official regatta; that will be a last minute call. Just to either whet your appetite or keep you at home:

Looks like the moon as seen from a mile up.

This is as encouraging:

Launch at Bog Bridge. As can be seen the the final shot, the pits can be driven on. Those ruts will be hard in the morning. Take care.

How wonderful that after such a long drought we get two fabulous sailing days on a weekend. Saturday came with a dusting of snow and greater wind than forecast, and by Sunday that snow had begun to drift up and compact. Fortunately there was more than enough wind to blow through. Ideal conditions on an interesting lake for racing, touring and exploring.

A fleet of DN’s from Mount Desert showed up. They are good sailors and we look forward to luring them ashore for a regatta some day. As it turns out, that’s where the next good ice might be. Keep Friday open for possible racing.

John Hanson’s new Mini Skeeter had her maiden voyage. The boat was started as a high school project but never finished; John bought the frame and completed it. Note the low sail number. They are now well into the hundreds.

His best buddy took her for a spin. An eminent competitive yachtsman, he lit out after the first DN he saw and was attempting to reel him in when he sailed into the water. We don’t know, but some people think sailing in soft water is natural and that’s probably just what he thought. Aside from a bruised ego, no harm done. The water was poured out and the boat returned to service.

Considering how much water we had and the number of boats, only one swimmer’s not bad odds. Have a look at Mike Young’s track for the day and see if you can figure out where the water was:

The ice was good up to the edge so staying clear was simple for most everyone.

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On the map, the narrow tracks on the west side indicate short tacking up that side between the shore and the sea. Sometimes you’d be in the shade of tall trees riding the lift along the rocks.

Tunk is a beautiful and wild lake. There are no camps there. One benefit is that the ice is very clean. After two days hard sailing the runners showed no wear. It’s one of the deepest lakes in Maine at 220′, the reason it froze so late, missing all the early snow. Actually, having the middle open made for a nice element, like a big island that doesn’t block the wind. Doing laps around it was part of the great fun.

Indigo’s new owner Larry Mazoway had a new rig built and some other modifications and we are happy to report she sails splendidly. The worst of her nasty habits have been corrected.

Thanks again to Bob Lombardo for getting Tunk scouted and firmly on the radar. Photos kindly sent in by Jeff DiBelia, Greg Askins and Shaun Pinkham.

And the water: