Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Lee, Karin, and probably Ramblin’Roger will be setting up at Raymond Beach later this morning and attempting to survive the wind and cold while exploring the plate. Your correspondent will be right here at his desk waiting to pass on the good news to the scores of ice-starved sailors. Tomorrow will offer less wind and warmer temps.
If the ice pans out as expected, we are planning to have our Spring Fling on Sebago this weekend. Food, racing and touring for all!

There’s the usual pressure ridge just off the beach, and the access isn’t great for trailers, but if it comes to it we can ask Mr. Nason to plow it for us, which he has bee happy to do in the past. Lee and Karin were able to step easily across the ridge. Just so there’s no confusion, we’ll be sailing from Raymond Beach tomorrow. Hopefully we can get over to Nason’s from there!

Raymond Beach, Jordan Bay it is:

Lee says the further out he went, the better it became. The launch area is a bit of of a mess, but we can drive onto the ice and set up out by the snow plow berm:

Forecast is full sun and full wind. Bring storm sails. We’re planning of arriving at around nine am.

Rambin’ Roger is back on the road again. He says he don’t know where he’s bound, but we can be sure it’s not south. Maybe he knows that Lee Spiller is on Sebago right now, reporting that with the cold scheduled for tonight the surface will be very sailable tomorrow. The forecast for the rest of the week looks great, too. Fresh breeze tomorrow and Thursday, some sun, high twenties low thirties, and cold nights to maintain the surface. Frank Able, I hope you were joking when you said that you leave for Florida tomorrow. Is your flight late enough that you could sail in the morning first?

Anyway, Lee will send photos this afternoon which will be posted here post haste. He will have a look at Nason’s as well. We’ll make the call on the best venue then, but plan on sailing the next couple of days at least!

Monday March 16. After a warm end to last week in 40-50’s and loss of a foot of snow on land and most of snow on the ice we had desultory snow and some rain on and off for most of Sunday, an inch plus of snow on land, and amazingly mostly gray ice on Chicky.

Monday morning it was 20 F. with gentle N wind. I tried to drive the snow blower down to the lake in heavy partially frozen snow. I got about 5 feet and it choked on the snow and would not move as the tires just slipped on the wet snow and grass. The snow was very stiff and over the top of the blower. Access to the beach will have to wait.

I drove down to the public beach, a quagmire of mud last week, frozen this AM but softening in sun. Ice covered with snow right up to shore, inviting looking gray ice with patches of snow in distance. I walked about half way across to small areas of shiny slightly orange peely ice and patches of wind packed snow 1-2 inches deep up to 50 Ft across, occasional scabs of frozen old styrofoam snow about the same size and a discouraging amount of 3/8 in. shell ice over 1/2-3/4 in. of air, no water or slush. But for the shell ice you might sail if there was enough air and you could stand coming back to the mud in the parking lot by the time you got through bashing around out there.

We need a warm heavy rain, but we are getting close.

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