Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

The “Cheapskate Commodore” is humbled by the generosity of Bunting for donating this elegant trophy. I wasn’t sure whether the trophy included Junior the dozer as a stand. We will likely need a committee to do the annual polishing. The complexity of the Victorian motif contrasts nicely with the art deco Cheapskate, if there is any art in the Cheapskate. I suppose any class of recreational device becomes more complex with time and we have to accept the inevitable. Thank you Bill, first the name and now the iconic trophy.

Memory’s lost and found

When the days so clearly shorten
And the morning air is chill
And though summer’s toys are handy
they have somehow lost their thrill

It’s then my mind starts rovin’
And my heart begins to glow
as I touch the winter magic
I’ve been blessed enough to know

The world is vast and varied
with splendors great and small
tall mountains, roaring rivers
which capture and enthrall

But my smaller world is bounded
and my heart has special claim
to winter’s icy magic
(will it come this year again?)

From the blur of thing forgotten
the names and dates and such
comes the jolt of what’s remembered
when the flow of life was hushed

When the mind’s pedestrian effort
to fully know and to contain
was cut short by sensory input
from some strange and higher plane

we all could tell our stories:
Remember that misty morning light
when the ice was bathed in feathers
left by fairies in the night?

sailing miles northeast on Moosehead
touching runners six abreast
’til someone gained some inches
and we had to prove who’s best

No, I’m not quite sharpening runners
this warm September day
no use in going crazy
as the slow months slip away

but i’m reaping the rich harvest
and can feel my heart rebound
as i touch the jewels remembered
in memory’s lost and found.

Many of you are members of the NEIYA and will already have received these compelling words from John Stanton, but for those who aren’t, here you go.

Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on New England Ice Yacht Association Looking Forward To The Coming Season by NEIYA Admin With shorter days and cooler nights, we are all thinking about sailing iceboats and the miles of black ice we’ll find this winter. Just as there are a few months till we sail again, a number of things MUST happen and individual efforts MUST take place before groups of pilots can safely congregate and sail. We all know what occurs prior to setting up your boat in the pits and pushing off toward a nice plate: Someone watches as the lakeside trees shed their leaves. All manner of boat building advice and help is freely given. Boats and equipment are bought, sold, traded and loaned by fellow sailors prior to first ice. Runners are sharpened individually and en mass by skilled sanding volunteers. Someone watches as fog and mists wafted over the body of water in the early morning hours. Eyes are on the lake while morning frosts creep toward the water from the shore. People gaze upon the first mirror black ice to skim out from shore. Occasionally taking the long way to work or home to check on ice conditions. One or more people poke at the new ice with a stick even though they know it is not ready. Swinging blunt instruments upon the ice, a wise man from Rockport swears by the blunt end of an axe, and drills test holes. Talk to ice fisherman who are generally happy to break their solitude for a conversation about fish and ice. Scout with skates, or sailing carefully and stopping periodically to check grade and thickness. People report back results. Insufficient ice or unsafe conditions change. A body of water’s history plays an important role for future safe sailing. Who are those someones? Who are those eyes? Who spent countless hours helping others get ready to sail? Who communicated observations so that others would benefit? The answer is simple: Members of the NEIYA and the CIBC. Please remember this when asked to contribute time, knowledge and skills toward club activities. Ice forms all by itself but it’s a team effort to bring a group of people the ice. John Stanton DN5023 NEIYA, Vice Commodore john P.S. Our annual meeting, swap and lunch are ON for Saturday October 28th Westborough, MA Knights of Columbus Hall. More on that shortly. NEIYA Admin | 09/07/2017 at 6:12 pm | Categories: 2018 Season | URL: http://wp.me/p1814d-2fz Comment See all comments Like

The Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club has been offered the gift of a trophy cup for its flotilla of Cheapskate ice boats from W. H “Bill” Bunting, a long-time club member, and skipper of the Nite-class ice boat # 86,“Red Herring.” Bunting said that he was inspired to make the gift because “nothing warms the spirits on a cold, grey day as does the sight of a flock of plucky little Cheapskates with their cheerfully colorful sails.”

Bunting also wished to recognize the camaraderie evident among Cheapskate skippers. The economical little craft attracts not only beginning ice boaters, as intended, but also veteran sailors wishing to downsize. The design has proved to be cheap, able, and relatively foolproof, with superior light air speed and the remarkable ability to sail in heavy winds without reefing.

Bunting is leaving it up to the Cheapskate fleet skippers to decide how the cup should be awarded, but suggested that this might be done at the start the season. For example, while for one season it might go to the winner of a regatta, the following season it might be awarded to the skipper who accumulates the most days on the ice.

The trophy, appropriately, is constructed of components of little value. The cup itself, an old Reed & Barton “Morning Glory” silver-plated pot, is a remnant from the estate of Miss Daisy Vorhees, an elderly spinster and a family friend, and had long been gathering dust in Bunting’s attic. It is now mounted atop a vintage Saab hubcap found by Bunting many years ago in a roadside ditch. The trophy’s base consists of an inverted pie plate from Reny’s. A surrounding strip of plexi-glass is intended to represent a layer of ice.

Internal ballasting is provided by a hydraulic pump gear from a dismembered 1948 John Deere “A” tractor, and a sack of pennies. A five-gallon hydraulic oil pail will serve as a secure case for the trophy when it is transported to and from the winners’ houses.

Lloyd Roberts, dean of Maine ice boating, noted author of the book “Think Ice,” who is the de facto commodore of the C. I. B. C. Cheapskate fleet, and the current holder of the class speed record of nearly 48 mph, when informed of the gift, expressed appropriate appreciation. He noted that it “was larger than most ice boating trophies, but not all.” C.I.B.C. president Bill Buchholz, recalling that Bunting had suggested the Cheapskate name, commented that “it took one to name one.” He’ amused by the fact that the most humble of iceboats has a trophy nearly as spectacular as the America’s Cup itself.

The official presentation ceremony will take place at the club’s pre-season meeting in early November, at Dave Fortier’s house in Biddeford. In the meantime, the trophy is doing useful service as the radiator ornament for Bunting’s circa-1970 Allis Chalmers HD16-DP bulldozer “Junior.”