For the fifth day in a row the little pond is still great. A totally different surface, but the ice is was still good. Some new boats and faces made for yet more good times.
J.P Gervolino had his wing boat going. Good thing he wasn’t there the other day!
Looks like a beautifully built boat; let’s hope we see more of him this season.
Here in Maine we get complacent and take for granted our long tours of lakes with compelling geography. The goal is always “can we get there”, and more often than not, we do. But, as we all know, this is shaping up to be a rather challenging year, so when Bob Strzelewicz called in his ice report for Quabog we were out the door. It’s only a tad over five hundred acres, but it was ice. And once you’re in the boat and sailing it doesn’t really matter how small the lake is. And the best was to control traffic on a small lake? Set marks.
Wednesday gave us a delightful variety of weather: full sun, small wind, big wind, snow squalls and half a gale to top it off. The pond was covered with a half inch of light snow in the morning which was very easy to sail through. But as the day warmed and the wind built it began to soften and get wind packed. And then the wind really kicked in. There’s nothing as dramatic as sailing in a whiteout, tearing away downwind at windspeed, moving along with the blowing snow with the sensation of not actually moving at all.
Below you can see the ice beginning to appear. By the next morning all that was left of the snow were a few small drifts and the relief impressions of runner tracks from the day before. There was a wonderful grid at the windward mark.
And with every good gale comes some carnage. This poor fellow had the head of his headway tang bolt break off, but assured us it was well worth it for the white knuckle ride that preceeded it.
Putting the boats to bed. Getting the sails down in that wind was a two man job.
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The moving after, a dozen or so boats showed up and things got back to normal. We scratch raced around the marks, socialized in the pits, had lunch in a wooded lee: all the usual fun. People came from all over, so it was a great chance to catch up and try to figure out what was happening with the weather.
Tom Gloudemans had his new DN Skeeter out for its maiden voyage and juding by the big smiles it was a success.
This is a Mini Skeeter with as proper stern. Not only does it look good but it gives a place to hang the blocks for your DN rig. Give it a good bendy mast and a decent sail and you have a nifty cartoppable skeeter. Weighs in at 75#.
Last but not least, our ice scout and host on Quabog, Bob S. Thanks for the ice check Bob, and Val for the terrific venison meatloaf sandwichs:
Thanks to Jackie Mushinsky for the great photos!
Big wet-out coming tomorrow, then cold again, so keep a lookout and Think Ice.
The International Skeeter Association, the ISA, is planning on having their annual regatta next weekend at Puckaeway Lake, Princeton, Wisconsin. This amazing lake has provided a wonderful venue for the Western Challenge a few weeks ago and this weekend the Western DN champs. If the weather holds, which it appears that it will, the ISA’s will be called ON for next weekend.
Anyone with a Skeeter is welcome to come. Info on the regatta can be found here: website There are Renegades, Nites, and A, B and C Skeeters. Anyone who has not seen a fleet of the mighty A’s jockeying for position at the downwind mark needs to put it at the top of their bucket list. Most of the boats we sail here in New England, aside from the DN’s, are Skeeters, and most of those fall into the C class. So far we have three Whizz packed and ready to go as soon as the final call is made, as well as a group of A’s, B’s and C’s from southern New England. Go Team East!
The thing about iceboaters is that we all struggle with the question, sort of like Mr. Hamlet, “to go or not to go: that is the question. Tis a far far better thing to have driven to Wisconsin and lost at racing than never to have raced at all.”
For you will not actually have lost at all: nay, you will have won new friends, seen old ones, and loved a new lake. As a club who mainly tours and explores, racing can be a little intimidating, but if you think of the iSA more as a festival than a race you’ll ease right into it until you find yourself coming in hot at the downwind mark with the biggest frozen grin on your face and you’ll be home. You are, after all, an iceboater!
A nice fleet of ten boats chased light and variable winds up and down the lake all day, almost to sunset, and across cracks and a small pressure ridge that ran up and down a good portion of the lake. We flagged a crossing with Jim’s new day-glo green flags. This is the best, most visible color we’ve used so far.
There are large plates of ice just like this, punctuated by some rough stuff, but considering how lean our season has been thus far no one is complaining. The access and parking is excellent, and the forecast is offering us a bit more wind for tomorrow, NE, right down the lake, ahead of a snow storm moving in by dusk. It appears this will be it for a while. Reports from Mallet’s Bay indicate lovely ice as well, but getting buried soon.
Where to next? Wisconsin?
The launch is seven miles north of the turn off Rt. 27 at Steve’s Appliances. Can’t miss it.
White patches are hard.
Lake is 12 x 1.5 miles. NE wind Monday will be blowing right down the lake. Marks will be 11.5 miles apart.
Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 