Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKZSCzg-IGc

Another epic day in paradise. The DN fleet completed the 2014 New Englands with hours to spare, while a dozen or so touring boats took long trips up and down the lake. We’re beginning to poke in to remote coves and explore the west side of the islands. The ice around the Twin Islands is tight, with an excellent puff blowing right down the straights. There is still a big open hole just south of the Twins, about a third of the way to the pressure ridge. And this lake just keeps on giving: one of the guys had a pair of extra track cars rattle off the boom somewhere between the bottom and the top of the nine mile, five thousand acre lake. Three boats headed back to find them, and with the help of the skaters (one of whom had nearly tripped over it earlier) they found them at opposite ends of the lake.

THis photo of the pits doesn’t do justice to the teeming masses of great boats and people who came sailing today. More boats will be showing up tomorrow, and the pit area seems able to accommodate cars and trailers easily. Sunshine, days in the twenties, nights in the teens, and wind all the way to Sunday. So when someone wishes you Happy New Year tonight, you’ll know that the start of this year could hardly be happier.

Thanks to Bob Lombardo for the photo.

Andre Baby has been busy scouting:

Hi All,

Bob Dill and I scouted Mississquoi bay off Venise en Québec today. Snow Ice is 6 to 8 inches thick, we didn’t see any hazards and drain holes have healed . Access from the beach was easy. The surface varies from smooth to pockmarked, 8 to 6 so I’d say overall it’s a seven. Course could be a mile +. Bob took many pics, which I will forward later. I would have sailed it today, but Bob didn’t have his boat.
Bob agreed the venue is fantastic.
I’m looking for sailors to join me tomorrow, then Friday and Saturday.

Anyone interested?

Best,

André Baby

514 426 4066

When you think of the number TEN, does Bo Derek still come to mind? Slowly slinking about in your cerebral canyons? It certainly makes sense, but for the four of us who sailed Pushaw today, the number TEN will forever be associated with this plate on this day. The best way to describe it is to imagine the sensation of freely jumping off a cliff and the silent rush of air and acceleration. That’s what peeling off was like today. Up and down the nine mile length of the lake. The wind was brisk, and had a nice angle for beating up into the north end. There is one active and one latent pressure ridge about a third and two-thirds of the way up. We established a windward mark at a buoy and as soon as one of us rounded it we all went deep, back south. One of the top five sails ever.

But, there are still two open holes in the vicinity of Denis and Wolfie’s demise the other day. Other small holes have all healed with 2″ of hard ice. Cold temps tonight will lock them in further. If the big holes skim over they will be impossible to see. There is a line of three orange cones to the east (on your right) as you leave the pits. There are at least three big holes behind them. The other two are about halfway across the lake adjacent to Lakeview Landing.

The NEIYA will be running the New England DN Champs tomorrow. Anyone with a DN is welcome to race. The course is on a well scouted plate with no hazzards found.
More boats will be showing up New Years Day, and there’s nothing threatening in the forecast until Sunday, with good winds throughout the week. If you don’t come get a piece of this before then, well, you might as well just move to Florida.

Aside from that, I’m speechless. Cooked by the sun, burnt by the wind, then, every time I sail I’ll remember this TEN.