Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

If you are a member if IDNIYRA (and if you aren’t maybe you should be) please vote on the proposed rue changes. They will affect us all at some point. You should have received a ballot by email.

Pau Goodwin chimes in below.

This is from Paul Goodwin, a guy who knows and cares about the class- read and VOTE!!! My take on the 2020 Proposals – Paul Goodwin The first two proposals are to change specs that were written when the class first made the transition from wood to composite masts. It was clear at the time that the composite mast would make the older mast technologies obsolete, at huge cost to class members. This was justified because we were breaking the older masts at an alarming rate. The idea behind the minimum weight and balance point specs was to reduce the incentive to constantly look for the latest, greatest, high-tech (and expensive) composite mast material. 1) Deletion of the minimum weight for the mast – I think removing the minimum weight will not be good for the class. The intent of this spec is to discourage using exotic (and expensive) materials. High modulus carbon fiber comes to mind, but there are potentially more exotic and expensive fibers available. I believe eliminating the min weight will accelerate a technology war leading to lighter and more expensive masts. Sailors will have mast envy, with the perception that lighter is better, driving the cost of masts ever higher. My Vote: NO 2) Deletion of the balance point on the mast – The reason for the balance point was to make a builder put some of the ballast up higher in the mast, rather than building a super light mast with a big chunk of weight at the base. I think the spec is still valid. I don’t want to make it easier to build super light, expensive masts. In the overall cost of building a pre-preg carbon mast in an autoclave, the time and cost of adding ballast is insignificant. My vote: NO 3) Allow runners to be built of any material – I think this proposal has no merit at all. I challenge everybody to think about how they would use this change to design a runner body that reduces the cost, and at the same time remains competitive against the super stiff lightweight carbon bodies that will be coming when there is no restriction on design and material. The DN is not the class for a rule that allows unlimited use of exotic materials. My vote: NO 4) Amend the minimum thickness of insert plate to allow commercial material tolerance – This one makes sense. The reduction in thickness allows use of commercially available steel, which can reduce the cost and is easier to find. The change is so small that it is insignificant for performance. My vote: YES.

As if there were any doubt by this point, our spring meeting has been canceled. We will award trophies and appoint directors, which we do at the spring meeting, at the fall meeting instead. It’s too bad because we had lined up the use of the dining hall at Camp Kieve, with a nice view of Damariscotta Lake. Hopefully we can hold it there next year.

And while we’re down we’re getting kicked by the forecast from the northern lakes. They still haven’t wet out, and the nights aren’t going much below freezing for the foreseeable future. It looks like they will just slip quietly away. If I’m missing anything, please holler. Denis and Frank expect to sail again this coming weekend on Lac Ste. Francois, just across the closed Canadian border.

The closed border is a minor irritation to we iceboaters in Maine. Many countries in Europe are also closing or tightly controlling, the borders. But the real way to beat this is at a personal and community level. Simply don’t go out unless absolutely necessary, and then only with taking the precautions with which we’ve become so familiar. Did you know that the better quality shop dust masks carry the 95 level that we’re supposed to use in public? Check your shop: you might be pleasantly surprised.

Stay in touch with your iceboating buddies. Talk ice, boats, travel, plans for next year. Take this time to go through your boat and take care of that list you’ve so carefully made over the winter of repairs and improvements. Do it now while you have time on your hands and the season is fresh in your mind.

Keep the season in your mind by laying down, closing your eyes and re-running the film of some of the season’s most memorable sails. You’ll hear the clickity clack of the runners and your fingers and nose will begin to freeze.The G forces are what’s most heavily imprinted for me. Maybe it was an epic run to the the downwind mark and a perfect rounding if you are a racer, or doing fast figure eights around two islands if you’re a tourer. Or best yet the camaraderie in the pits after a great day on the ice. We all have them: keep them alive!

The low temps last night did more harm than good. Healed cracks opened up, some forming the start of pressure ridges. There was open water where there was none yesterday. All boats are off the ice. Nonetheless, there was fine sailing with better wind than was forecast and a nice fleet of boats enjoyed lunch on the sunny southern tip of Hoyt Island.

Were it not for the virus we might very well have been in Quebec with Frank and Denis. It would appear from the video they had much more reliable conditions. Sadly, even the remote little border crossings are now closed.

https://youtu.be/fjrVoguDcno

Thanks Denis!

A good iceboat racer will attempt to learn something from every race. A touring iceboater should do the same, especially with predicting conditions. Today we learned that even after a fifty degree day with a soft rain falling on spring ice the surface can come through hard with a mere few hours below freezing. The strong March sun didn’t make a dent in the ice all day, except in the pit area. And we had written off today as a bust, best for a quick scout and home for lunch.

But the entire lake, top to bottom, miles and miles of fabulous ice was just superb. Perhaps a 6.5-7. We did the whole plate twice, just to be sure. Both of the south-east arms are good, as is around the little islands at the top of Hoyt just to the east. The straight at the bottom of Hoyt is still open and cannot be crossed. The big crack across the east broads is still there, and wider, but by the dawn’s early light we could see that our flags were still there:

They were knocked down and froze in but did not leave their post! We raised them back up and the crack can be crossed close to the flags on either side. This could change overnight so don’t go blasting across without looking first.

Which brings us to the next two days, traveling and the virus. There are no hotels or restaurants in the area. Traveling is not advised at this time, and indeed, some of you reading this might be in a lock down situation already. For locals to come for a day sail for Sunday and/or Monday, please make your own call. The Irving convenience store a few miles before the launch is open.

Here’s a shot from yesterday at Pushaw. Bob Lombardo reports opening leads and pressure ridges developing but the surface keeps getting better.

We’re hoping for a similar surface at Great Pond without the hazzards for this weekend and into Monday. Warm temps and rain across the state today will help wet out the northern lakes, with Moosehead slightly in the lead over South Twin. We finally have some good boots on the ice at Moosehead who are very pro-active so I’m hopeful that after two years of not sailing there we’ll get it this year. (You can’t call sailing in slush up to the plank “sailing”, although it was fun for a while.)
Hopefully the rain won’t cause too much damage to the surface and edges at Great Pond. We’ll know more tomorrow and will post the news here.