Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Our namesake lake is cooling at last. Water temp. Thanksgiving Eve is 39 F., air temp 40. 40 F. is the magic number when the water is heaviest and goes to the bottom of the lake in the “fall overturn”. Water colder than 40 stays on top until it gets to 32 F. and freezes, that is why the ice is on the top where we can play on it. This lake usually freezes around the last week of December, these days is is likely to be later by a week or so. I recall that the “heat of fusion”, think freezion, is something like 325 calories of heat that have to be removed from each cc. of water to get to ice. It only takes 1 calorie to cool a cc. of water a degree C., then a lot more to solidify it at 32 F. or 0 C. The “calories” you eat or expend on a gym machine are actually kilo calories, 1000 real calories. Our lake temperatures are not far from the ocean temperatures reported by ocean buoys in NOAA weather reports this time of year. We will have ice sooner or later. A small pond just West of Chicky had skimmed over yesterday and there were several geese standing on the ice with little piles of droppings under their tails, not playing, just relaxing safe from foxes and coyotes.

Lloyd

Frank and Denis are still at it, and they’d like some company!

“Frank and I sailed Lac Joli again today (already my 3rd sail on this lake this year!!). Ice was still very nice. Wind was light but strong enough to keep us going without having to run. Sunshine was just beautiful and warm. Obviously, we rigged our Whizz with the wing masts and full size Whizz sails. Frank had to be back in town for 2:30, so we stopped at 1:15 and packed the boats.

Tomorrow’s forecast is a little bit of rain, followed by some light snow, but I’m confident that the snow will not falll enough to cover the surface. So, maybe more sailing on this lake by the end of the week.

Lake Abenakis was frozen again this morning…”

Black Ice Friday anyone?

Denis and Frank had a great day on smooth ice and buckets of wind. They rigged DN masts with storm sails on the Whizz and blasted around the little pond all day, comfortable, fast, no hiking. Denis couldn’t say enough about the Whizz and how incredibly versatile it is. A few snow squalls came through but the plate was kept clear by the wind. You need a little excitement every now and then just to keep you interested on such an intimate plate.

The boats are set up on the ice for another day tomorrow. Wind isn’t supposed to be nearly as generous, but on ice like this it don’t take much. The snow forecast for later in the week looks like the real thing, so this might be it for a while. Sainte Aurelie is one hour beyond Jackman, just so you know how close it actually is!

Not bad for one of the warmest autumns in recent history. Not only was Lac Joli very sailable and bullet proof, it’s not going anywhere soon. Some rain Sunday will kill the krust, and cold temps into the week with no snow in the forecast might tempt others to make the trip. We set up marks and match raced to exhaustion. For racers heading to the western challenge this would be a great place to get in some cockpit time and refresh that muscle memory. On a NW breeze the lake is oriented perfectly, marks about 3/4 mile apart.

https://youtu.be/M9r4_AEKXZ4

Thanks to Denis for scouting this ice and for making the video. And merci beaucoup to Madam at Le Morillon for the hot soup and cold beers: Restaurant-bar Morillon et Relais du lac des Abénaquis Book a room there if you are going!

Two guys will attempt to sail this small frog pond just over the border in Sainte Aurelie, Quebec tomorrow and Saturday. Three and a half inches of good ice measured yesterday. An inch of snow fell today, but it’s starting to rain there now. What sort of mess we get tomorrow is anyone’s guess. Lake is on the left a couple of miles past town. If you miss it, you wind up on a woods road that leads back into the US.

This is the same pond we sailed early in the 2016 season, where we see Dave Fortier in the recent video by Denis trying to keep his face from blowing off. Similar winds are forecast for tomorrow. All welcome!