According to a reliable skater who heard it from the General Store, Sebago froze last night. There were light winds and sub zero temps over night, so it does sound plausible. With light wind ahead of the snow storm it will not blow out, but the snow will probably depress it, wet out the entire stack, turn to smooth grey ice and build strength and thickness all week.
Could be epic.
Racing is due to start Sunday for the North American DN Championship. Seventy-four sailors have signed up; mostly North Americans, but a sprinkling of Swedes and a portion of Poles have made the leap across the pond to join in.
As we prepare for yet another insult to our ice, it appears that the regatta site at Syracuse, Indiana will be just at the northern marge of the storm. They might only get a bit of snow, but the brutal temps that will follow will be challenging. Generally, racing will not take place in less than ten degrees, especially in strong winds.
We have a good New England contingent and wish them, as well as all the others, the best of luck.
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The New England Champs are in the bag, we’re shoveling snow and looking at a bleak week. But Bob Strezelewicz and the gang have had a great run on Quabog; here it is in his own words:
Hi Bill
I would like to be a weatherman, they can’t tell you what is coming 12 hours away.
Friday gave us the best ice of the season, you could have sailed in a fart, but we had 25 to 30 it was quite fast.
Saturday we got up to 1 inch of snow and no wind, so we did what ice sailors do, stand around and wait for wind.
About 11 the wind gods came to us,we set up and started sailing in 10 mile of wind , then the snow came,so hard it was a whiteout.
Sailed for an hour and the wind quit,not like this has never happened before.Now the fun of putting gear away in 3 inches of wet snow.
GOD i love this sport.
Bob S
So it’s tune up and repair time. Bob Scribner, builder of Whizz #34, is mounting his chocks and has borrowed the CIBC alignment triangles. He is in South Portland, so if anyone in the area needs to check and correct alignment, contact Bob and use the triangles.
scribner Bob <gb36.721@gmail.com>
Just be sure they find their way home to Camden.
There is good ice under that snow.
Dan, Mike and Jim had a lovely day on the ice recently and got some newbies to boot!
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Lloyd always taught us never to go out and just “reach around”. You never learn to sail an iceboat properly. For that you must sail an upwind-downwind course. It’s true, of course, and there is usually a good option for both. Great Pond, like Megunticook, offer great upwind-downwind touring courses. But when the wind backs into the west, Megunticook becomes unstable and frustrating (i.e. this past Monday) but Great Pond becomes a reacher’s paradise. With miles and miles of excellent ice and winds in the twenties one could do full laps of the entire lake with only an occasional tack or gybe. And it’s a big lake.
There is one six mile stretch from deep in the southern marshes to that bay with the sandy beach was run at over a mile a minute in one shot, past islands points and lovely scenery. It only took six minutes but if felt timeless.
The line-up included Ben Fuller, Denis, John Hanson, your correspondent, Bryce, Chris Malliet and Nick Pagnon with Jory’s old Bluebird. Missing from the shot is Dave Fortier. We got a bit worried and went searching, but he was found high and dry and still sailing fast.
The star of the day was Bryce Geele with his DN powered Cheapskate. Huge performance upgrade from the Sailfish rig. What’s next, Sarns plates and a bendy mast? Way to go, Bryce.
Looks like a combination of light rain and snow over the weekend but if we don’t take too big a hit then early in the week looks good. Go find a lake and check it!
Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 