Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

So this is what a Spring Fling looks like: nearly forty boats touring all over the lake, a DN regatta under way, lots of wind & sun and the Ronkonkoma Long Island boys grilling on the beach passing out burgers and dogs. There was a small flock of SkimBats roosting in the lee of First Island with perfect access to the smoothest ice. Some of the cruisers made a great game of sailing deep and fast through the narrows, as far as the pressure ridge blocking the way at the south end, rounding up in a great charge of wind that lived there all day and pinching back out. The South Broads were not accessed.
We were treated to the company of Tom Nichols and Dan Clapp, tuning their A and C Skeeters. The lake could barely contain the orange A boat:

The DN Regatta was the Maine States, which David Fortier won. We’ll post the official results once they become available. Race committee was a couple of cheapskates, Lloyd and Bob MacEwen. Tip of the helmet to you guys for helping out:

Below, Dave and Doug dukeing it out:

It’s not clear what sort of cleats Doug Raymond is wearing, but they sure can throw up some ice:

For many people, this was to be the last day of the season. Southern lakes are done and the entire east coast is about to be hammered by a massive blizzard. By the time all that snow melts there will be crocuses peeking out of the melt pools and even our ice could be mush. We will, of course, continue to scour the big inland lakes for a good surface with enough ice under it. But Damariscotta Lake probably won’t survive. What an elegant and generous lake she’s been this winter. And after all she’s been through in these past weeks, to have the fortitude to get us yet one more session with wind and sun is way beyond what even the most optimistic iceboater could expect. And on a weekend! We wish her the best this coming off-season.

There will still be boats on the lake for tomorrow, while a few will take a chance on Pushaw, which is reported to be pretty nice. We say never to leave sailable ice, but leaving it with a wind burnt face and smoking runners seems like the best way to hold the memory. And if this is indeed the last hurrah, well then we couldn’t have asked for a better one.

Big thanks to Anita for hosting iceboaters at the Inn, and setting up a fine lunch for us today. Warming in the sunny window overlooking the lake with an excellent fish chowder on the board just put the whole day over the top.
These fantastic photos were taken by Mark Allen, of Jefferson. Thanks for sharing, Mark, and you’ll be warm again soon, don’t worry.

Lastly, in spite of all the fat lady implications above, we’re still planning on getting in the 100 mile race. Stand By!

The Maine Championship will run on DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME. “Spring Forward” and set your clocks ahead. It was 30F in the sun here Saturday despite near zero temp.

Half-thawed fingers don’t type well; eyes blurred from frozen tears won’t focus on the keyboard. But with thirty boats on the ice, there were a handful prepared to challenge the 20-30kt winds in four degrees above zero. Thankfully, it was clear, for when the sun shines all is forgiven. Sailing these conditions in gloomy overcast would probably have been unbearable. As it was, the best fun was to sail dead downwind to the far side of the lake at true wind speed, sun full on the face and feeling no wind at all.
Then, as long as you could manage to round up along the lee shore, it wasn’t such a chore to beat back upwind, close-haul and pinching. A few of these and then a warm-up and some socializing in the clubhouse made for a fine day on the ice.

Tomorrow’s wind and temps are forecast to be tamer, and then more so on Monday. There is a small murrmer of shifting to Pushaw for Monday as the initial reports of lousy ice have been de-bunked. We haven’t sailed this lake this year, so really should make the effort.
Thanks, as always, to David Lampton for opening up the clubhouse and welcoming all the traffic and trailers. We wouldn’t have survived the day without it!

Bob Lombardo and friends have been skating Pushaw. Here is today’s photo:

Some of us will be going up there Saturday morning, using Gould’s Landing at the south end of the lake. the skaters report lovely ice, but the lake is so large, they can’t make claims for the whole area, so caution will be the order of the day. Winds WNW in the high teens, so storms sails will be a good idea. The skaters will plant a car at the south end, and launch from the north for a one-way downwind skate.

Since there is talk of going to South Twin for Sunday and possibly Monday, one could stay over in the Bangor area and make a shorter leg up to South Twin.

Jory

Lake Damariscotta Sunday. Launch at Damariscotta Lake Farm. Skipper’s meeting PROPMTLY at 11:00, first flag at 11:30. Conditions are nice, weather should be excellent.