Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Hopefully this will help. There will not be a map given out at the meeting so if you need one please print one out.

The windward mark will be at the top (north end) of the lake. There is a small island to your right as the lake opens up into the upper bay called MAGS LEDGE. There is a green flag there. Round it clockwise, leaving island and flag to starboard. Once you round it beware two ice house melt pools, now frozen. They will be marked.

The leeward mark will be Moose Island, the big island at the bottom of the lake. There is an open lead on the south side. Two green flags are set outside the lead. Round the flags and the island clockwise. You can sail either side of Dollar and Hardwood, the islands just north of Moose but it’s suggested you sail the downwind leg on their east side and upwind on the west side. It will help separate traffic.

This course is 12 miles around. Do eight laps.

The lake as scouted today revealed no pressure ridges, no open cracks and no drain holes. There are some shallow healed cracks, and small open leads at some points but nothing major.

We scouted the ice, sailed and set the course and the wind has been ordered. All we need are a few good sailors willing to get their teeth rattled out. Surface estimated at Grade 4. Thickness 18″ and the launch ramp is RoRo.

Launch at Gould’s Landing. Start at 12:00 sharp. Skippers meeting at 11:30.

Looking north.

Looking south.

Big wind forecast. A better map will follow.

After scouring the state for a decent surface we’re placing our bets on Pushaw. It will be scouted in the morning and the results posted here as soon as we know.

Thanks to Denis and Frank for putting this together!

https://youtu.be/qWxVVBIuk7E

Looking to the weekend, both Pushaw and Kezar Lake appear to have fairly good surfaces and the forecast for both places is colder than what we’ll have on Damariscotta, with the best cold at Kezar. Big winds due north called for, which meants its coming right down the lake. Could be epic conditions for the I00 Mile Race.

Expecting pictures and a report later this morning.

It was pointed out today that we need to give James Lamb a finish position because he towed Milo Fleming across the finish line. It was Milo that brought this up.

This puts James Lamb in 10th with a time of 1:36:30 and bumps Ralph Ferguson to 11th.

Bryce Geele is W-20, not 21.

That done, a small fast group toured the lake today in a very strong breeze. The wind was south, which measurably changed the lake’s sailing dynamics.

The river section runs N-S, so short tacking down and then running back up was amazing. And doing it in tight formation with skilled fast sailors just added to the joy. We stopped for lunch to savor the place.

There were a couple of shifty, challenging lees but when back in the broads it was full speed, bent mast sailing. We set marks for scratch racing, ran laps to exhaustion and then tucked back into the back bays for light air technical sailing. It’s a magnificent lake to give us such a great variety of conditions.

The ice softened by 2:00 to full bore slush but with the big wind it was wonderful following behind another boat watching the ice pellets peeling off the runner into a big bow wave.

Marginal conditions for the foreseeable future. Rumors are tickling about Champlain and Canada, and now it’s time to start watching South Twin and Moosehead. Be ready!