Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

It’s been a messy start in Ste. Aurelie, just across the border in Quebec. There are two lacs there: Abenakis and Joli. Joli is smaller, shallower and colder. Abenakis is larger and tends to freeze later. We’ve had some wonderful early sailing there in recent years. But they have had everything in the book weatherwise this season and at last reports the lacs were frozen but the surfaces a mess.

But Denis had a hunch. Here’s his report from today:

Hi Guys,Yesterday, we had a little bit of rain in the afternoon. And at about 8;00 yesterday night, I thought: what if the mess described by Frank in Ste.Aurelie has improved during the week, with the mild temps that we had all week? So I called him and asked if he would come with me in the morning to see it. I had the feeling that I was missing something…

So we headed there early this morning, even if Frank was 90% sure that it would still be a mess. But I wanted to check the little 10% left…

Surface was a 5-6 grade, but on 5-6 inches of solid ice, tight to the shore. No hazards, no open water. Solid as a rock. We did not bring the boats, so we came back in town and packed the boats and headed back to Lake Abenakis. We sailed all afternoon with the perfect wind for our DN rigs. Very nice day for our first sail of the year. I am so sorry that I did not know about this ice before this morning in order to let you know before….

And even more sorry that the forecast has changed again for Jackman with this snow coming tomorrow….

His reference to Jackman is Wood Pond, which we’ve been watching for the past week. The ice looks very nice on the web cam. The snow forecast for tomorrow had been canceled yesterday and we’d hoped to sail Monday. Alas, the snow is back. Lots of it. Denis was going to scout it tomorrow and we’d have posted the plans here.

Plymouth Pond has been such a loyal friend to the CIBC for so many years, and today was no exception. There’s a long view from the road as you crest the final hill on the decent to the pond. Yesterday it was white, this morning it was black. The snow had melted in the full sun yesterday with temps in the high thirties. Not having to set foot on new ice covered by snow was a great relief.

The downside was that we’d lost half an inch of thickness. The rule of thumb when using an ax to check the ice is that if the blunt end goes through you will, too. Well, the blunt end went through, so I simply swung it more carefully. Gagnon and I donned skates and sounded our way across, finding a consistent two inches, with three back in the marshes.

It was cold and windy and the ice felt marginal, but we just had to rig the boats, go for a sail, and then we could go home. But we all know what happens then: the adrenaline rush which has laid dormant for many months kicks in and the next thing you know you’re sheeting it in, hiking and spinning out, grinning ear to ear.adrenaline

And then Dave Fortier showed up, suggested we have the Linc Davis regatta, and so we set up marks. All thought of marginal ice were well banished at the start. Five races were sailed.

Results:

Bill Buchholz: 1,dnf,2,1,1

Dave Fortier: 2,1,1,2,2

Jim Gagnon: 3,2,3,3,3

Lloyd Roberts also showed up, but decided to take a spin in his old Cool Tool rather than set up the Cheapskate. Breck Holladay was working in the area and had wisely packed his Lockley Skimmer, which showed a remarkable turn of speed.

The ice will build a bit tonight, but due to a poor wind forecast all the boats came home and there are no plans to sail tomorrow. Might be a great day for a skate, though.

Two and a half inches black ice coated with a half inch of soft snow. Tonights temps should give us three inches plus by the morning.

This has not been scouted. The first arrivals will need to skate the plate and check it out.

Looks tight to the horizon. The area around the bridge, which is often open, is froze, as is most of the back bay. Forecast looks good for Sunday as well, although less wind.

It’s probably safe to assume that Plymouth is frozen, but when I tried to conform before driving up there I called our spy Laurie Nichols. Turns out he wasn’t there. He died last February. The conversation with his widow was awkward, to say the least.
At the same time snow has been threatening all day. Not sure if it hit, but will check with the store in the morning. An hour ago this was the situation:

This is a great site; the next image was for 7:00pm and showed no snow. Could it have missed? Anybody ready to sail on short notice?

And we’re not talking about the rain barrel variety. Here’s Tolman Pond in Rockport this afternoon. Don’t know how thick it is, but at the moment it is surviving a very strong northwest wind. Tonight will be in the single digits.

Tolman Pond has generally been fairly reliable as a proxy for Plymouth Pond, so it might be time to rouse the sleeping spys. The long term forecast isn’t wonderful, but it’s fine to hope and fun to imagine the possibilities.
A few years ago we had Plymouth come in on a Thursday, thicken nicely on Friday, and we sailed it all weekend. It was penciled by Sunday afternoon and gone Monday.