Here’s little beauty on ice to get us through the coming grey, wet, heat wave.
https://finland.fi/life-society/magical-ice-skating-video-from-northern-finland-wows-viewers/
Looks about like the conditions from last year’s worlds in Sweden.
Steve White sent this reconnaissance photo from yesterday:
Black ice is breaking out everywhere after a few days of good solid cold. Chickawaukee has a half inch as does Great Pond, Unity Pond and Messalonski.
The south end of Damariscotta has also flashed. Our web cam at the north end is yet again AWOL. Sadly, it may be all for naught as the temps rise and rain and snow are coming. It will be in the high forties and raining on Christmas Day with no decent cold until after the first. The hottest year on record is showing no signs of cooling its heals at the finish. Wednesday is our only hope if the snow on Plymouth gets wetted out tomorrow.
But Dolby Pond, also known by the wonderful name of Dolby Flow, has four inches of ice as measured today. The northern part is older grey ice and the southern part is all think, hard and black. Sadly for sailors there is minimal wind until the weather moves through, at which point the plate will change. Also, it’s in Millinocket. Not that far, and very skateable. Thanks to Bob Lombardo for the tip.
Lac Ste. Francois in Quebec has also offered up four inches topped with a lovely frosting:
Sadly for us it might as well be Siberia. And sadly for the intrepid Quebecois there is zero wind forecast for at least two days. It’s been a tough year on many fronts, but this on top of it all?
That’s the situation in Maine. We wish all the DN racers at the Central Regionals in Michigan the best of luck and the strongest of winds.
Had to check it out, loaded the DN onto the car this morning and drove on up. When I arrived there was a lone ice fishing couple out on the ice at 1130. I walked out and talked a bit, they had indeed hooked a couple of pickerel. I felt just a bit of a breeze so checked the windcast, found that they forecast a BIT of increase. So, I chose to set her up. I set the DN up and used my 3/16 inserts that were perfect as the powder depth was just shy of 1.5 inches. The wind increase as forecast was not happening so had a nice nap time in the sun on the ice. Then broke her down and loaded her up and drove south. I wanted to include a couple of photos, but having a bit of trouble with my wordpress skillset.
Turnout for the Linc Davis was up by a third from last year. Four DN’s raced on smooth hard ice, full sun and ten degrees. Wind was a wonderful 8-10: low enough to keep the wind chill at bay but big enough to bend masts and hike. Thanks to Bryce Geele for running the racing, taking photos and counting laps.
Race 1:
Guy Pollyblank:1 Bill Buchholz:2 Jim Gagnon:3 Tyler Vroman:DNS
Race 2:
Bill Buchholz:1 Guy Pollyblank:2 Jim Gagnon: 3 Tyler Vroman:DNS
Race 3:
Bill Buchholz:1 Gy Pollyblank:2 Tyler Vroman :3 Jim Gagnon:4
Racing was close, with wind shifts and light spots giving many lead changes. The ice was 3+” and flawless, except for a thin spot deep in the marshes.
This lovely plate of ice is just at the northern edge of the latest blizzard track. If only an inch or less falls it will probably blow clear. We’ll check in with the spies later today for an update and post it here. Friday looks good for sailing, Saturday offers light and variable at this point.
Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 