Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

The public access at Southern end of lake is a mass of frozen railroad tacks from trucks in slush. At the very left edge of the launch ramp you can get onto smoother ice. Lloyd’s beach is at the other end of the lake.
Lloyd’s beach at North end (140 Porter St.) has limited shore side parking for cars beyond driveway, park them in driveway.
4 WD vehicles just go down road in snow out onto lake and park over to right. Trailers go out on the ice, period. The ice is 2 feet thick, safe.
The ice has a thin skim of snow obscuring rough stuff, frozen truck tracks. The mid portion of the lake is not bad but is bordered at the further end by a waste land of bad railroad track like stuff. That is where the Westerly wind blows hardest and you are going fastest, be careful. This is not great ice overall but the best we know about in Maine right now. It should be OK through the weekend. I may not be around all the time.

Lloyd

—
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

If you were on Lake Chickawaukee today you’d know that the answer is ALL of them. It wasn’t the rock solid south west breeze or the deep ruts left from the slushmobiles, but some greater force. Maybe it was the last gasps of whatever it was that has made this such a challenging year.

There were four boats down the lake and a small gang eating beans around the fire when two sails disappeared within the same minute. The other two boats went to investigate and it turns out that Cheapskate had rattled loose one of the snap hooks securing (term used loosely) the shroud to the chainplate. First time iceboater Ted Vaughan, assisted by Frank Able, was able to make sense of the scramble of rigging, get the mast back up, and sail the boat home. Meanwhile, John Eastman had the wire pennant linking the shrouds to the hounds snap clean across. A very unusual break. A truck was dispatched and Clive towed home. So, after all this adventure the Able boys, Frank and Bob thought they could get back to some serious sailing. Bob pushed off first but came back moments later with his steering wheel in his hand. When he came to show it to Frank, we noticed a small tear at the tack in Frank’s new sail. He was the last to fall and now the ice was empty. For some reason, your correspondent had packed up earlier and Whizzard was safely in the trailer.

On an up note, however, we had four new sailors, all very excited to try sailing an iceboat. They went round and round taking turns sharing Cheapskate, and Ted Vaughan has this to say:

” Both Carolyn and I had one of those great experiences like our first flight or something equally exciting and revealing! WE definitely will be back for more! You are all so generous and enthusiastic! Having the “Cheapskate” is a terrific window into iceboating for first-timers like us! Thanks to you all! We want to be new members!”

In addition, this was launching day for W-5 GEE WHIZZ. Aside from the aforementioned sail detail, she sailed beautifully, with perfect helm balance, great acceleration, and very close winded. Nice job, Frank!

Sailing will be ON for the foreseeable future at Chickawaukee, but I would be remiss not to forward this announcement of EPIC sailing on the Hudson. A match race between the mighty stern steerers Rocket and Jack Frost? Sailing on the historical holy ground of American ice yachting? Touring down the Hudson watching the waterfront towns zip by? These conditions don’t develop every year. Make the drive! We’re iceboaters; it’s what we do! This from Bob Wills:

The Hudson River Ice Yacht Club will be sailing the Hudson River from Rhinecliff to Barrytown, if not Germantown! Fifteen miles of ice are within the realm of possibility! Thursday, Friday, and the weekend are the most promising days. For skaters, the ice is snow ice over black ice, so not perfect marathon conditions….But perfect for sailing!

Call me at 845.546.8375 for latest conditions. My intent is to be on the ice both Thursday and Friday, as well as this coming weekend. Currently, my boat, Orion, is at Rokeby. But colleagues have sailed from there to Rhinecliff this afternoon – so a ‘commute’ from Slate Dock is certainly a possibility – as far as you might want to go! Other planned launch points are Barrytown (from the property adjacent to the Red Hook Boat Club).

Be ready with suitable clothing for sub-20 conditions, and prevailing winds, or lack thereof. The Goddess of Ice Yachting is fickle, so be ready at a moment’s notice!

Jory and I would be on the road already were it not for other commitments. Yes, even we have those sometimes. So please go enjoy the extravaganza and let us know all about it!

Todays fickle but strong NW wind drove us hard across the bumpy and rut strewn surface of our dear home ice. We’re going back for more tomorrow. The wind might be light until the southerly builds in the afternoon ahead of the light snow. Could be a good day just to set up the boat and push it around for a while so you don’t forget how. Lloyd promises baked beans and a campfire on the beach at lunchtime.

Here’s what we have: better than nothing, and without this little plate that’s just what we’d have…

Let’s wish the best of luck to the home town boys T and Eben going for the Gold at the DN Worlds in Poland!

Chicky had the nicest looking slush, 4 inches of it, in midcoast Maine on Sunday. All lakes seen west of Rte 1 between Rockport and Damariscotta have snow on ice.
Monday morning there was enough frozen (30 F last night!) ice to stomp on without cracking, an inch or so on 2 1/2-3 inches of slush. By noon we were falling through sometimes. The surface looks nice in the central part of the lake. Monday night 10 degree forecast may not heal up the entire slush pad but likely OK for skating/icecycling and gentle sailing of light boats like Cheapskate. By wednesday likely all solid and ready for possible snow.
Access at public beach OK for carrying down bank, launching ramp was broken up by vehicles Sunday, should heal in a day or two, be wary. Lots of tracks around Southern edge of lake. Lloyd’s beach road opened Monday. By Wednesday should be OK to drive onto and park on ice. Ice reported 18 inches thick. Lloyd will try sailing Tuesday AM, company welcome. Might be good for the annual Chicky baked bean sail by the weekend if not too much snow Wednesday PM. Pretty nice ice in center of lake for short course racing and “reaching around”.

—
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

The seminal work on DN tuning and racing by Lloyd Roberts and Warner St. Claire is now available through the CIBC. This is the latest edition, and all profits go to the Club.

Seventeen dollars to Lloyd Roberts, 140 Porter St. Rockport, ME 04856. Shipping included.

Local lakes are wetting out nicely. Chicky and Megunticook in particular look very nice. This morning Megunticook had a smooth grey frozen surface with 1 1/2″ of water below. Tonights low temps should button that up easily. We are bound to hear something from Lloyd regarding Chickawaukee this morning. Sailing tomorrow could be a long shot, but by Wednesday morning we should be good to go. Of course there’s a fifty percent chance of snow Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, from way down east Warren Nethercote sends this report. How is it that not only do they win the gold in ice hockey and have universal health care, but get the best ice in the known world right now?!

Bob Crinion and I sailed today at lake William (see photo), starting at about 1PM. The surface was smooth with about 3/4 inch of slush on top of a hard under layer. We didn’t try inserts but went straight to angle runners. It was fast running in the beginning and I initially had problems keeping the boat flat, but as the afternoon wore on the wind faded. Bob and I enjoyed our day out: I think it was my 14th day of iceboating this year.

Terry Heffler paid us our first visit at Lake William and reported that he’d checked on Grand Lake, which was in much the same condition, so perhaps we will get to sail there this year, cold weather willing. Tyler Garland arrived later and gave Bob’s boat a go, but by then the wind was in its fading stage. We should have gone sailing in the morning, both for wind and harder ice, but there was that little matter of a hockey game to watch.

Dave Whynott checked on both Sherbrooke and Mush a mush lakes yesterday. Both had benefitted from the rain and sun and were levelling out. The ice surface at Sherbrooke willl likely be the better of the two after a freeze, as long as Sherbrooke doesn’t get too much snow. In that regard, the forecast of 5 to 10 cm of snow mid- week is a bit discouraging. If any of the bigger lakes miss the snow we should begin to think about scheduling the Maritime championship regatta. Next weekend would be good, if we don’t get the snow.

Warren

DN 3786