Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

The nice grey ice received 3/8″ snow last night, some of which began to blow away. The wind came on stronger than forecast. The middle of the lake is an archipelago of open water but can be circumnavigated with attention paid to the occasional pressure ridge. The fleet made the bottom of the lake in a wonderful stitching of shallow, fast gybes. Jeff pulled in a few moments later in his 50’s DN.

The lake is completely undeveloped, and getting down here felt like an expedition. There was a tribe of natives around back of this island with a fire going and fish frying. They were friendly. The lake continues another mile from here, but the snow appears to be too thick. We may try again tomorrow.

Boats are on the ice, and there are enough competitive DN’s there to warrant setting a course tomorrow, so it will be done. Drive on pit area.

The grey in the background is soft, cold water.

It’s a bit touch and go with the snow in the forecast but a few boats will set up in the morning and see what can be made of it. If the snow is minimal, then Sunday will be the better of the two days, with more wind and some full sun.

Trucks are parking on the ice, so there’s no reason we can’t drive trailers down the ramp and find a clean place to set up.

With conditions across New England so poor just now we need every iceboater’s eyeball on the forecasts and web cams, and butts in the car taking boots to the ice. This is a collective exercise. Thanks to Bob Lombardo for keeping us up to date on Tunk.

We all can agree this has been an unusual season, but have you noticed what a winter of light air we’ve had? Ice surface notwithstanding, it seems the forecast has days in a row of light and variable. Let’s hoe March comes in like a lion and out like a banshee!

Down beyond Ellsworth, one of the deepest lakes in Maine has been the place to skate for over a week. The ice last weekend was super black, and then the ice storm on Monday dumped ice. It leveled out to a nice grey surface and the skaters are still touring. Some of the cracks and open leads from earlier have healed. The big open hole in the middle is still there. It appears right now that tonight’s snow will miss it. The wind forecast for the weekend is very good.

Hopefully we can get a couple of iceboaters to have a look at it tomorrow and then make a call for the weekend. It’s not a big lake and the access is still a question.

Sorry to bombard you with three posts in a row, but things are happening quick and we don’t want to miss any opportunities.

This lake is just off I-84 in southern NY state. A couple of DN’s sailed it yesterday, and now they are waiting to see what the storm does. Preliminary analysis says that a light dusting is all there is. Bob Strohm’s report is below.

Lake Mahopac, NY (Putnam County). 2 DNs sailed yesterday afternoon and scouted the entire lake. Ice surface is good, there are no hazards other than the typical bubbler issues. There are areas where quads and snowmobiles rutted things up but plenty of good ice elsewhere. Surface for the most part is hard grey snow ice and should be fine for big boats too. Dead calm this morning and only 2-4 predicted for today. Local weather has us getting 1-3 inches and others predicting 3-5. Just a dusting and not snowing at all as of now and it looks like it may stay south of Mahopac. Launch sites are both marinas; Mahopac Marine in town by Anthony’s Deli (now the Brooklyn Cafe) and McDonald Marine behind the Mahopac Library. Also a good new location behind the Tompkins Mahopac Bank also in town and close to food. BTW as of this past Monday night we thought we were done for the season (6″-8″ of snow over very little base), Tuesday’s weather was questionable and Wednesday sailable ice. There is an Ice God. I will post again later as this storm goes through. Hoping to get a good weekend out of it.
Bob Strohm <bob>

Bob Strezelewicz and John Raul ripped it up on Webster today. Bob scouted it a couple of days ago and found a nice plate.

Here’s his report:

“John Raul got out for the first time in 3 years. The ice was a 10 in some spots and 5 in others, frozen snowmobile tracks were a pain in the ass but there was enough good ice to keep us happy. Wind was a steady 5 mph with some good gusts.

It started snowing about 1 pm so we packed up, but as soon as we got our boats packed up no more snow. That’s ok; we were setting up at 8.30 and we had enough sailing for two old farts. Its 3:25 now and no more snow we will see what the night brings.”

Checking the forecast right now it appears Webster will have snow for the next twenty-four hours. We might have missed a good one. Don’t get complacent: keep scouting!