Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

John went for a drive on the ice in his mini van this afternoon. He reports hard surface with some puddles. This was when it was forty degrees. Tonight it will be in the mid-twenties so it should be excellent tomorrow. I think this will be the end, so it’s soon time to remove those ear plugs and let the fat lady sing.

The Yankee fleet from NJ might be there. If you want to go, call around and see who else might be interested. This reporter can’t make it. Access is still good at the marina. The Birches will be closing Monday for the rest of the winter.

We’ll have our meeting and Pot Luck at Lloyd’s this year, Sunday April 10. Arrive mid morning to mingle and air out narcissistic dirty laundry. Meeting at 11:00 and lunch to follow. 140 Porter St, Rockport, ME 04856

Slight chance of sailing this weekend, we’ll post it here tomorrow.

We left our boats on the ice after the Super Deluxe Saturday on Great Pond. We listened to the weather reports and there were not really encouraging wind predictions, but we had big ice and cold temps predicted for another day. Jim Gagnon and I with our super DN’s, Fred Musser and Bill Bunting with their Nites, and Ben Fuller with Tipsy left our boats on the ice for the night. Jim and I agreed that there was no hurry in the morning considering the light air predicted. Calling each other when on the way to the ice was the plan.

The next morning Jim was the first to hit the road and he gave me a call just as Meet the Press was finishing up. I had wanted to watch that because Mitt Romney was a guest and I wanted to hear him explain and back up his Trump editorial of the day before that was pretty spot on and so was his Sunday morning explanation.

When I got to the launch site, a few others were there and rigging up so I got to it as well. Ben Fuller was there with Tipsy, tearing down if I remember correctly. John __ and Jimmy Mathieu showed up with their DNs. Jim was the first Super DN to head out and we all were close behind.

As we were setting up a gang of snowmobilers started to show up. We were not watching that to closely, but they sounded like they were drag racing from a spot adjacent to the boat launch area as far as they could go until they were stopped by the same pressure ridge that was a hazard to us iceboaters. Their machines were VERY loud and annoying, as was the smoke from the exhaust! I sure am thankful that they continued dragging for just a few hours, and I am so happy that they did not choose to cross over the ridge to where we were sailing.

At first the wind was light to nonexistent, so we were doing a bit of relaxing in our boats catching a bit of snowmobile exhaust on the occasional breeze. Eventually the wind picked up a bit and we were able to sail to the north end of Hoyts island to where the second pressure ridge was. The wind was blowing nicely and slowing down was not quite necessary as the ridge had flattened nicely. Jim and I sailed to the other side of the island just a bit then decided to sail back to where the others were, and that was a wise move as the strong wind did not last much longer, so avoiding the possibility of a very long walk. We all sailed around near the south end of the island and had a great time. I was happy to have remained on the ice for another day.

At 1330-1400 we decided to head back to the launch as it was Sunday and we all had to load our equipment for our drives home. Some of us loading boats onto trailers, some onto roof racks. We all help each other when necessary and that is another of the great things about iceboaters. I believe that Fred was the last to leave after Jim G. and I gabbed with him for a while about how much fun the weekend had been, and if the ice would last with the warm weather that was predicted etc. I had a 10 min ride to get to my niece’s 2nd birthday party. A nice party with lunch and CAKE before my ride home.
What a Super Deluxe Weekend!

Dave
US4690

This one from Fred Muser chasing Bill Bunting on Great Pond last Saturday. If you look closely at the end you’ll see Tom in the distance loose his mast. https://youtu.be/pk_h8YwaO5o

Denis caught the front seat DN up close on Plymouth Pond last week: https://youtu.be/zx9FbwNukEw

And if you are really bored at work this week there are more videos at iceboat.me. No predictions yet for next weekend, but we’ll be checking…

While the CIBC have evolved into primarily a cruising club, we still use the rules of the road. They are just as critical, if not more so, to maintain order in the way we sail: reaching around with the sun in our eyes driving the boats as fast as possible. Please take a minute every now and then to brush up on the rules. We need to assume the other guy knows them just as well as you do. Here’s a nice nod to Jane Pagels who worked long and hard to unify the rules across many different iceboat clubs.

News from the National Iceboat Authority

Jane Pegel has decided to retire from the Board of Directors of the National Iceboat Authority. We’d like to thank Jane for over 50 years of service regarding the management of our racing rules and ensuring safety and fairness is maximized in iceboating. Jane was one of the founding members of the NIA along with Elmer Millenbach, Wally Cross, Homer Seider, and Bob Pegel. Prior to the NIA racing rules, the various sailing clubs around the country had different racing rules which created confusion and hazardous situations on the race course. Jane played a key role as this group worked together to develop the NIA Racing Rules which have successfully served as the basis for iceboat racing since the early 1960’s. Please join us in thanking Jane for her many contributions to our sport!
We’re happy to announce that Steve Schalk has accepted the open position on the NIA Board of Directors. Steve is an experienced B-Skeeter sailor with many years of service on local and regatta race committees. Those of you who know Steve would agree that he is a reasonable and patient person who communicates well and always considers the needs of every class of iceboat participating in an event.

Here’s the North Ridge at Moosehead, taken by John and Tania. It’s Rick Bishop and the Cape Codders looking to cross. As you can see, the ice is always better on the other side.

And why are there four boats and only three skippers…?