Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

There is no getting around the snow drifts and the mounds of hard frozen slush. Sometimes a fairway will open up and the smashing and crashing goes quiet. We’ve become spoiled with lovely ice, and it takes a day like this to truly appreciate the magic of this season so far. The ice condition combined with the shifty gusty west wind made for challenging sailing, but it was sailing. Still not a better place to be on a February first than on a big frozen lake.

The worst of the speed bumps are in the south end, if softens somewhat as you go north and you’re left with just the snow, as above. Not a place to be on a light air day, which Sunday is shaping up to be. Winds tomorrow will be fine for blasting through.

Feast your eyes on this photo at your big old desk top. The phone just won’t do it. And for those coming sailing tomorrow, do know that every patch of white that you see here will slow you down. Best to have short 3/16″ plates.

Since the last post went out the wind has been working hard on clearing our plate. It’s had some great success, as you can see:

The scouring will continue all night and tomorrow. Winds forecast to be less than today, which ain’t saying much. There are some patches of hard un-wetout snow but we’ve seen them before and they don’t appear to present a problem. Looks like there will be good conditions all weekend. Cold and windy for sure, but isn’t that what we do?

Ice is tight to the shore. Trailers can be rolled on, but don’t drive on. Be sure to keep your rear tires off the ice. They will go through. Also, please be sure to park only on the lake side of the road. Last time the natives got restless when we nearly blocked the road.

Here’s the situation at Vannah Rd.:

Not as nice as yesterday’s shot, but it might be with a try.

Cold and windy will keep the snow dry and the rooster tails high. There will probably be a few folks there tomorrow.

All of New England seems to have been hammered by the storm yesterday. We were thinking that our next bet would be Sebago freezing in this coming cold snap. It very well might, but meanwhile back at Vannah Road:

Bryce sent this around lunch time today. It certainly looks possibly sailable, but then a late afternoon snow squall blew through the area and we don’t know how much fell here. A scouting party has been dispatched for tomorrow AM to ascertain the damage. ‘Tis the season of shades of grey. Stand by.

The wind forecast was wrong again, and agin, in our favor. As we packed up in the fading light the wind was still coming right down the lake as if to tell his that this will be it for a while and to keep sailing. But between the wind, sun and the fun were somewhat cooked. A small group made it up to the north end and found it to still be lousy ice. Not recommended.

The entire plate looked about like this, tempered by yesterdays warm temps. Along with the super dry air and razor sharp light it made for an extraordinary day.

As usual, weather coming, lick your wounds and be ready for the next round. What an amazing season so far…