Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Bob MacEwan, John Eastman, and Lloyd Roberts did not go West to avoid snow, we stayed here to play in it. John tied a double reef into his big Mead which was just right for the 20+ gusts. The two Cheapskates just went sailing. At mid day the powdery drifts were 2- 6 inches deep and exploded nicely on impact from all those pieces of 2X4 driven by the awesome power of 75 square feet of sail propelling a tapered step ladder. We had forgotten how docile the Cheapy is in heavy air, just let the sheet out a bit and drive around, satisfying acceleration with no hiking, no white knuckle loss of control. John cruised around sedately at twice our speed. Visibility was very limited, it was nice to be on known good ice. Sorry, no pix. Wednesday may be nice before the snow stiffens from wind or possible rain Thursday.

Snow is keeping to the east of the Kennebec, so we’re on for Great Pond. Public boat launch at SW corner of the lake, just off Rt.27. The lake has not been scouted, so if you come, come prepared.

Looks like the snow that’s on its way will graze the coast and downeast, putting Dammy right on the line. We hope to sail there tomorrow, but rumors about great ice on Great Pond are filtering through, so that will be our back-up venue if we have snow on Damariscotta in the morning.
Ramblin Roger is in town so we need to get him on some big ice before the snow hits later in the week and he’s forced to retreat back to the tropics! Dammy at 9:30-10:00.

Bryce Geele accepts the Cheapskate World Championship Cup from Bob MacEwan, previous holder. Cheapskate Commodore Lloyd Roberts looks on with approval.

It was very clear this morning even before the eyes were opened that the predicted southwesterly gale had made landfall. The house was shaking and the trees were a’hum. Hard to get motivated for one more day on the ice with hard winds. The arms needed a break. But Denis was here from Quebec to go sailing, no matter what. At least it wasn’t cold. And then Eben Wilson called from the lake to report that the trees were barely moving. Some forecasts predicted that the offshore gale would not penetrate too far inland; sounded like they were right.

In the way nature sometimes shows us her sick sense of humor, she waited until we were just about done setting up before turning on the fan; we unanimously shifted down to storm rigs. Six students from MIT showed up with one of the boats from the building class year before last, Phil and Amy Sheldon with the vintage Yankee, David Jones and his pit crew Justin and Roland with the mighty Hagarty, Paul with his new Icywood, freshly crowned CIBC Cheapskate Champion Bryce Geele, Skimbatter Mark Hannibal and a yellow mystery DN as well as Denis, Eben and myself.

The ice was an easy nine between the snowmobile ruts, but even they softened as the wind built and the temps rose. Or maybe it was just that we were in the air more than on the ice, or maybe the wind howling in the helmet drowned out the sound of runners bashing ice. Whatever it was, it sure was fun. As far as we know, nothing broke and nobody got hurt, The MIT kids are all soft water sailors, some even in the foiling Moth class, but nothing had prepared them for the rush of a powered up DN in a half gale. They set up camp on First Island for a great view of the boats and a quicker round robin turnaround.

The ice is so flat that instead of puddles forming as they usually do on warming days, the entire surface just became a film of water, and then later about half an inch deep. If we don’t get too much rain this will come through beautifully by Monday. Winds promise to be easier on the gear.