Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

At eight o’clock the ice was still hard, even though it was forty degrees. But we rigged slush runners anyway and pushed out past all the hazzards in the pit area:

The main body of the plate was sublime: hard enough to not create the slightest sound from the runner, and soft enough for the runners to bite. The overcast extended this sweet spot for some time, but by ten is was getting soft.

The surface will recover beautifully tonight if we get the forecast low temps, and tomorrow should be a stellar day. Is February the new April?

The only hazzards in the main body of the lake that we could find are drain holes, and this one large patch of black ice on the approach to the narrows which looked very suspicious. Bunting was good enough to stress test it for us. Suffice to say that he’s still dry:

She’s wet out and silky smooth. We expect the water will drain and evaporate overnight in the above freezing temps leaving us hard ice in the morning. Chances are good she’ll slush out at some point. Setting up at 8:00.

This photo of the ice yesterday is not out of focus. Looks biological, or something from the cover of a Jimi Hendrix album. Monday is still looking great.

Jim Gagnon and I skated from our launch site all the way to the narrows and back. The only flaw we found is this healed pressure ridge at the usual point-to-point location.

The surface is an easy eight, if not better. The poorest ice is in the pit bay. Absolutely first class plate, and it appears to go all the way to the south end. If only the North Americans organizers had known. Lack of intel on our part. Here’s even parking for 100 cars:

We’ll be planning on something Sunday-Monday, though Monday looks to be the better of the two.

The weather could change things, of course. Why are we not surprised. Jim will have a look late tomorrow when the light snow will have changed to rain, and our tears for having missed this…

Thursday Feb. 18 was slide out day on Megunticook for our barn salvage stern steerer “Whirlwind” shown here with Bob McEwan’s cheapskate for comparison. After a couple of months of light restoration by Buchholz (master boat builder), Roberts, and Eastman, involving refinish of mast and runners, new steering runner body, one coat of “Penetrol” penetrating preservative on everything, salvaged replacement halyard winch, extensive runner sharpening and alignment, new trailer wheels and boat cover, protective boxes for runners, whisker stays and spare parts we were ready. All original parts found plus a few spares, we are short only a few bronze clevises and cotter pins. Yankee sail recut and added to for trial purposes, the original sail is lost in time. This adapted sail is about half of the original area and seems appropriate for a storm sail. The whole exercise took a couple of hundred hours and several hundred dollars.

Assembly only took a couple of hours with intermittent help for unloading, mast erection, and sail raising. The ice was nice, wind brisk at times. With Buchholz at the helm and doing starting pushing, Roberts on the sheet, she pulled away sedately and tracked nicely across a mixed surface of silent ice and rumbling broken junk patches. The sail set nicely and non critically but not looking very historic with its square top and all that unused boom (about half) trailing behind. The ride was majestic with a modest turn of speed, probably 20 plus MPH. Twice the sail area or heavy air would likely have given sprightly performance.

None of the principals involved were looking for this interesting diversion, it, hiding in a local barn, found us. We are now looking for a good home for Whirlwind, ready with road worthy trailer (lights need work, of course) tested to 60 MPH. She is ready for casual sailing or serious restoration with all over refinish, new sail, perhaps conversion to original gaff cat rig. She seems to have been built by Buckout, a prominent Hudson River yacht builder of early 20 th century. The workmanship is lovely, all bronze fittings, fine wood, no rot, handsome in all regards. Call Bill Buchholz at 207 236 8048 evenings.

This was a rich day.Rich in wind, ice, people and boats. I can’t list them all, but throughout the day there were sails scattered all over the lake (standing on boats, thankfully). Megunticook is delightfully convoluted, yet around each point there were sails.

The ice did have some skimmed over drain holes and cracks, but I suppose that we’ve paid our penance at Winnipesaukee so there were no mishaps today. We did set out many cones marking the most serious hazzards; thanks Ben Fuller for bringing them all back at the end of the day. Nothing like a stern steerer for lightering duties. Speaking of which, we launched Whirlwind and Lloyd’s day became a microcosm of iceboating. Hours rounding up boat and gear, more hours assembling the boat and then a delightful quarter hour sailing. Had to get back quick to allow time for unrigging and packing. Isn’t that about how we structure our year? That’s Whirlwind below under cover. Video to come.

Thanks to Rankins Lumber and Building Supply for dropping off two staging planks on short notice so we could get the trailers off the ice.

We also launched the front seat DN for the second time, now with real whisker stays and it’s own plank. By all comments a great success. It’s a treat to look up and be sighting along the length of a well bent mast.

And we had our two sailing safari guys. Fred from Maryland, here in Maine with his Nite for a couple of months with nothing to do but chase ice. And Dave McKenzie from New Zealand, who was baptized in the chilly waters of Winni last week. Today he had a loaner DN, lots of boats to follow from which to take cues, good wind and ice a bit less hazzardous than Winni. By the end of the day he was hiking, spinning out, and seriously hauling on the sheet. Well done Dave. And the boat was returned intact and well packed.
A bit of background because it’s really a wonderful story. He thought iceboating could be a bit of fun, so he wrote to iceboat clubs in Europe, the mid-west and New England. He said we were far and away the most encouraging so he flew here, rented a car, called from Boston and said “what now?” Talk about pressure!

Moosehead was sailed today hoping it could become a venue for the DN North Americans, but serious shell ice nixed it. But the surface is good and if the shell heals we could be back for the Long Way. Damariscotta will be checked tomorrow in anticipation of a Sunday-Monday event pending outcome of Saturday’s sprinkles.