There are still some boats set up on Dammy, and with the decent wind forecast there could be some sailing. The snow is very light and dry, and judging by the web cam, there’s only a couple of inches. Breck sends this plea of desperation:
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Big tip of the helmet to Bob MacEwen for raising the bar. Just how fast will these things go? Is 50mph and 100 miles the next goal? Do we remember how hard it was blowing last Saturday?
Cheapie Speed record set on Damariscotta Lake on Saturday 1/28/2017
The wind was blowing 15 to 20 MPH out of the WNW and the ice was so smooth that it looked like someone had cleaned the entire North Broads with a
Zamboni. I thought I would try to see how fast my Cheapskate “Hat Trick” would go. Lloyd Roberts had set the bar at 42.8 MPH earlier in the
month and was on hand to witness my attempt. My first attempt was pretty wild with the boat hiking several times causing me to immediately let go of the mainsheet, so when I stopped to check my GPS I only had reached 39.8 MPH. On the second attempt I resolved to hold onto the
mainsheet no matter what happened, and Lloyd gave me his GPS to carry along so we could verify the readings from my unit. This time I did hold on to the sheet when the boat started hiking and to my relief the boat just stabilized on the lee runner and the sail dumped some air to allow the windward runner to gently come back down on the ice. I did a couple of passes and then stopped to check the readings from both GPS units. Lloyd’s unit read 45.7 MPH for maximum speed and my unit read 45.6 MPH. I know the DNs, Whizzes, Nites, and many other larger boats regularly go much faster, but 45 MPH on my Cheapskate was plenty fast for me. I spent the rest of the day just screaming around until I just couldn’t hold on any longer. What a Great Day!
Bob MacEwen
I made a several omissions in my race report. The first was that I did not list the names and sail numbers of all registrants for the Link Davis. The second was that I did not put names with the sail numbers in the results that I did list. I forget that not everyone has an IDNIYRA yearbook handy!
Name Sail# race1 race2 race3 race4 race5 total
Fortier 4690 2 1 1 1 1 4
Raymond 4272 3 2 3 2 2 9
Polyblank 4619 4 4 2 3 3 12
Adams 5249 5 5 4 4 4 17
Gordon 582 1 3 DNS DNS DNS 31
The remainder of the registrants DNF
Hope this clarifies for all. THINK NO SNOW! Dave
This one courtesy of Bill Bunting:
“Monday was ultimately another delightful day on our magical lake, but very different from the last two. Gone was the weekend crowd, with perhaps a dozen boats left on the ice. The plate was superb, the sun was bright, the company excellent — all that was needed was wind, which is the seemingly inevitable result when media people arrive. Today it was two very pleasant, smart, and engaged young women from the Bangor Daily News, a reporter and a photographer.
A weak and transitory westerly breeze appeared mid-morning, sufficient to prove to the press that iceboats do work, but it didn’t last long enough to give any rides. While we waited for another breeze we were entertained by the graceful figure-skating of the photographer ( regretfully I am too old to remember names). But patience was eventually rewarded, although not until after the press had headed back for Bangor, and the day was capped by a wonderful SW breeze as the sun descended that made the day worthwhile for those with the patience to hang in there. Then it quit as suddenly as it had come, although most everyone was able to sail or drift back to the farm.
Half a dozen boats owned by incurable optimists remain on the ice, awaiting come what may.”
It looks like the photographer is really moving, or taking a nap!
Bill Bunting
Quite a few folks set up today in spite of the low wind forecast. Sounds like it was worth it. Jim Gagnon sends this report, with pictures by Kate Morrone:
“15 + or – boats were sailing at times; the winds were light and shifty. We had a good time with the reporters from the BDN. The were very interested and asked lots of great questions. As the winds were light there were not a lot of great photo ops, but they did get some shots of all us as posers. They spoke with almost everyone there then headed out on to the ice. Bill Bunting attempted to give one a ride but the wind just did not cooperate. The photographer, who was on skates, entertained Bill and I with a little ice dancing. See video sent separately.”
Her article will be in Friday’s edition, outdoors section. I invited them to follow the web site and come back when more winds were promised for a better ride.
Back to business, the winds were calm at noon so I skated down to the South Broads to check the south entrance to the narrows. The ridge where the flag is posted is about the same but a crack has opened up running due south from the flag for about 200 feet then takes a left turn to the shore, it is 6 to 8 inches wide. This needs to be watched. The new ridge that is forming about 1/3 mile or so north of the ice shacks, before the North entrance to the narrows, seems active with a small hump forming about 20 feet in front of the flagging tape that was placed. This also needs to be watched. It was only about 3 inches wide.
The wind came up for about 30 minutes and we finished off the day with a game of chase around the north end. The wind died as we just made it to the pits in time to pack up.
If this video won’t come through on the post, allow me to say that when I suggested the reporters bring their skates, I had no idea…!
Thanks Jim and Kate for taking the time to send these in, and to Fred Greis for the hot dog and burger barbecue at lunch time.
Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 