Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Mother nature threw us a bone today with above forecast winds, full sun and thirty degrees. March sailing mid winter, but no one was complaining. In addition to the rack of Whizz below, there was a clutch of classic DN’s, Lee’s Gambit and Randy Rice with Back Fly Hammock. Black Fly 1 is still for sale, by the way.

The ice is about like this in the north end; the small drifts somewhat grippy. The other end was smooth grey ice with a light frosting of wind blown snow flowers. A pressure ridge, which became more difficult to cross as the day wore on, separates the two. We circumnavigated the entire lake and it appears to be tight everywhere. Access is carry on.

Ace ice pilot Jim Gallagher flew around today and reports: “I flew the lakes today – just checking. Biscay is open; south end of Pemaquid is open; most of Damariscotta is open or spring mottled. Yikes!”

The good news is the wind has died and the nights are getting colder. Hopefully something will develop over the course of the week. And if Wentworth holds together until the wind’s next blow, it’ll be the place to be.

Thanks to Lee Spiller and Charlie Sylvanius for scouting the lake!

Yesterday on Lac St. Francois:

“We have a nice plate of grey ice here in Lambton. 3” thick with some darker areas which are also 3” thick. There is a large area with open water, but easy to see and to avoid. The problem is to access this ice. There is slush under the snow, too thick to even try to sail through it. So we can’t get out of the bay. We tried to find another launch site nearby, but there is slush everywhere. So we decided to remove the slush/snow with a snow blower, and make a path to the ice. We hope it will freeze hard overnight, even though there is water coming on the surface by a small hole in the ice. Wind forecast is poor for tomorrow, a bit better for Sunday, and good for Monday. So we have some time this weekend to work on our «winter road» !! And the ice will get thicker too!”

And then today Denis reports:

“Our road froze hard last night. We should be able to sail through it. Water came on the surface and froze real hard.

No wind today, but we set up the boats, ready to go. Light air tomorrow but maybe enough to sail. If not, Monday looks very good.”

Viva La Persistance!

Four inches of snow ice is ok, as is a gnarly crusty surface, which because we are hungry would have been ok, too. But a random display of big open holes out in the middle was a confidence buster.

The holes aren’t apparent in this photo, and this lower bay just off the launch seems tight but it seems best at this point to just sit tight or go to New Hampshire. Our turn will come.

Lake Wentworth, NH, reports 3-4″ with thin patchy snow. Boats will be sailing there tomorrow. Launch site unknown.

Lake Monomonac on the NH-MA border is in about the same shape and there will be boats there tomorrow. See theneiya.org for details.

Lake Damariscotta is frozen from the south end up to a little over half way to the narrows. Three inches grey ice with 50% snow cover. Big lead on the south side of Mark Island.

Unity Pond has a similar plate of ice with reportedly less snow. Will confirm thickness in the morning, but it’s said to be completely locked in.

The best winds of the above options are Dammy and Unity, with Unity the better ice of the two.. Similar winds forecast for Sunday as well.

Anyone interested in giving Unity a shot tomorrow?

Below is Graham Lake, near Ellsworth. Jim Turner descibes the surface as chunky.