Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Each time she tries to sing either she slips on the ice or her lips freeze. And Moosehead Lake is so hard of hearing that she just can’t get through up there. Those three feet of ice covered with twelve inches of slush refuse to listen. Therefore, it is incumbent upon our club to go give it a shot. By Friday there will have been two cold nights, one low teens and one low twenties. We’ve had many “Miracles on Slush” before, so we believe this surface should firm up enough to sail on. Our snowmobile tour guide spy also reports he’s seen no pressure ridges.

That said, we offer no guarantees and no refunds. Just a notice that Denis, Curtis, Jory and myself will be at the Rockwood public ramp Friday morning about 8:00 and would love to see you there.

The view over the bow on Moosehead last April.

Map of Maine Public Boat Ramps | MapMuse

We’re a couple of days behind Chickawaukee with four inches of pencil ice. I could get through the dark perimeter with the kayak, but not the white center. Just for the record, four inches of white pencil ice will hold 160# and even withstand aggressive boot stomping. But you didn’t hear it here!

Here is a fascinating bit of ice crystal. The vertical part is the usual rotten formation and I believe the curving part, with horizontal crystals, is an ice fishing hole. They always freeze differently from the surrounding ice and now we see the crystals behaving oddly, like they really want to go vertical but just can’t get with the program.

I am looking out the window at a motorboat where the ice was yesterday. I was however the first boat (canoe) on the pond yesterday and had a nice trout rise to a vintage “daredevil”. A little residual along the SE shore will likely disappear by Sunday. Water temp 45 at beach, 8 long months to refreeze.

Iceman

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Sebec was our Ace in the Hole, but according to Bob Lombardo there are holes in our Ace. The web cam there was indeed looking very good; the best of the northern lakes for wetting out. But the next cold night there will be Tuesday, with days in the fifties until then and light rain on Wednesday morning. Seems like we’re beating a dead horse. There was a false alarm for Lac St. Francois in Quebec the other day: too much slush and not enough cold.

Time to take out the ear plugs and listen to the lovely lady of corpulence riffing on the coming of spring. She’s been in the background for quite a while but now has taken those few steps and moved twenty feet to the front of the stage: now she’s a star!

With that in mind, it’s safe to announce that the spring CIBC meeting will be at Lloyd’s house on Saturday May 3, mid-morning to late afternoon. Bring a dish to share for lunch and any interesting iceboat stuff to show or sell. Club business meeting to follow lunch. 140 Porter St. Rockport, Me 04856

All are welcome, members as well as potential members. We have a lot of followers here at the CIBC blog who tell us what great pleasure they get from following the iceboating. Now, one doesn’t need to be an iceboater to become a member of the club, although as a club that’s our ultimate goal. Also, one doesn’t need to be a member to enjoy the exploits of the club through our posts and photos. But to remain a viable institution the club needs a strong base of supporting members. Won’t you join today? Please send $20.oo cash to Lloyd Roberts, Treasurer, at the above address. Thanks!

Is there some ice somewhere being unused? Perhaps on a slightly-north-of-here lake?

here’s a reassuring report from that intrepid nordic skating duo:

We drove up to Sebec this morning because the webcam looked so promising and the temp was 16 at 5am. Most of the lake looked a nice shade of grey but the closer we got I knew things just didn’t look solid enough. Sure enough the slush-wich only had about 1″ on top. So we walked out further to get away from the in-flow or out-flow [whatever that is by Greeeleys landing] and it improved some but not enough to think we could actually skate without eventually taking a few diggers. Shell ice had already started to form and drain out underneath. Just too much material was on that lake to make a good transformation with the limited time there was. Could have been okay with 2 cold nights. Not happening this season on Sebec I am afraid. I am putting away my skate gear and its all bikes till November for me. See you next season
Bob

(This is Bob Lombardo)