The autumnal tease begins. Ice has come and gone in shady corners of local lakes. The rain barrel has had up to an inch of black ice and each morning on the way past I’d give it a whack just to see it crack. So in spite of the nice Indian summer we’re heading in the right direction. Be thankful for that! The warm weather has been a guilty pleasure for long enough.
Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Ice Thinking!
Here’s a lightweight, DN powered, fast and comfortable Pocket Skeeter. Fuselage and springboard 75#. Glass/carbon mast, 1DL full power sail. Flat bottom makes for easy car topping.
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Harken blocks, tapered sheet, cam cleat, foot steering.
Lumbar supported recumbent seating, trunk behind for lunch, spares and throw rope.
Sarns 30″ black beauty plates sharpened and aligned, Hamel super chocks. Includes dolly and cockpit cover. Plank tuned for 150-170# skipper, can be made stiffer if desired. In Maine, $3500.00. Contact Bill: 207-975-6980
Thanks to the great efforts of CIBC Tech Guru Ryan Haskell and the generosity of Camp Wavus we now have an awesome view of Damariscotta Lake. Watch it freeze!
Go to the web site and find it under the web cam header.
This is a tough time of the year for iceboaters, so it might be adding insult to injury posting this video by Denis Geurtin from 2016. But what it actually does is to remind us of the splendor of our sport, and that every season has its highs and lows. And with this warm start to winter its a good shot of faith in the arm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AzTff3mBJs
Enjoy!
One of the take-aways from last evening’s NEIYA go fast zoom seminar was that cockpit time is the best was to improve your sailing performance . Doesn’t matter if it’s on ice, sand or asphalt, but the very action of fast sailing on other mediums translates to faster sailing on ice (I hope…). Today, at an undisclosed top secret air base in Massachusetts, a handful if iceboaters and landsailors got some terrific cockpit time in a solid 15 gusting to 20.
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On a recent post we featured a Lockey Skimmer tricked out for land sailing. It looked great standing still, and sailed very well most of the day. Sadly, the Lockley tubes weren’t up to the loads induced by the free standing Mini Skeeter rig. The Blowkarts, above, were flying 4.0 sq. m. sails while the Lockley was supporting a 5.5. Both tubes cracked right in the way of the mast step. But there was no mercy spared upon the old Lockley by either wind or skipper. She was driven hard all day, her heels well nipped by the Blowkarts. The whole idea was to search out the weak spots, and for that the conditions were perfect.
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The Blokarts are planning to convert to iceboating for this coming season, so if you see these two sails on the ice go introduce yourself and welcome Mike and BB to the club.
Cold is coming…
Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 