Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

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.

DN sailors need not pay any attention to this post unless you’d like to do a bit of eye rolling. There’s no way around it: big boats are heavy. In a fresh breeze on a big lake there’s no place you’d rather be, but when it comes time to set up, break down or just put the boat on stands for the night lifting the plank (with the legs, not the back!) needs to be done with care lest you snap something. Here are a few Skipper’s Little Helpers.

The one missing from the gallery below, which is also very effective, is a simple parallelogram When flattened it slides under the plank, and then the handle moves it into more of a square as the plank comes up. The geometry is such that it goes over center and locks.

The one above was invented by J.R. Pepper. You slide the stand under the plank in flattened form and then simply haul on the small tackle and secure with a cam cleat. Something slippery on the feet of the stand will make it go easy.

This is a bit more complex, but also elegant. The geometry should be self-explanatory.

It also locks over center so you can install or remove a runner, eliminating the need for stands during set-up.

And if you happen to have a worn-out shovel, this is the perfect use for it. Does not lock over center, but it’s only a shovel: what do you expect?

For those still thinking ice, here’s a rather gloomy shot of Dammy at Vannah Rd.:

Aside from the obvious, Jim’s photo has a wonderful winter in the English countryside feel to it.

News from Moosehead and South Twin is looking good. Rain through Friday at both lakes will be followed by clear, cold and windy days. Stand by to self isolate in the Great North Woods.