Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

The Fall Meeting and Swap Meet of the New England Ice Yacht Association has been called for Saturday, October 26 at the Knights of Columbus Hall,17 Willow St. Westborough, MA 01581. Per tradition, our CIBC meeting will be Sunday 10/27 at Dave Fortier’s house in Biddeford.

Those of us from Canada and central Maine who are going to the NEIYA meet will be coming directly to Dave’s from there for an ice slumber party on Saturday night, often well stocked with duty free rum courtesy of our Canadian Buddies. Our meeting will be late Sunday morning, followed by an award-wining pot-luck lunch. All are welcome to all or part of the festivities, which include a tour of Dave’s amazing shop and all kinds of ice boat brainstorming and question answering.

The Swap Meet on Saturday is hands down the best place to find boats and gear. Bring what you have, come home with what you need! Note DN for sale below.

No, this is not a discussion of garbage disposal, but paring down the parts of the old B Skeeter Touch & Go to fit a new Whizz. The first chop went to the hollow spruce mast. We added a sheave, trimmed the halyard, and left the hound where it was as the Whizz rig carries its hound rather high. The spring board lost a couple of feet, and got shaved down to a flexible thickness. The carbon/glass on the top was left intact.

The plank needed to loose 3/4″ on the entire length. The bottom had carbon and glass so we took it off the top, routing slots all the way along. By taking a uniform thickness, the taper was maintained. By the way, the crown on this plank was so nice that we used it as a form to laminate a new runner plank for a gentleman from New Jersey who’s building a new boat.

The trusty and venerable adze took care of the rest in a very satisfying manner.

Touch & Go was built in 1960 by Chris-Craft, and the spruce is absolutely gorgeous. I do hope Frank will varnish it.

Then the crucial spring test. Frank is a bit on the large size, so I needed to stack blocks of lead atop the anvil to see if it would take the load. It flattened out nicely at 300#.

The old boat had these charming little pillow block chocks, which lined up very easily.

Putting it all together to measure for rigging for the first time is always a treat. I was sitting in the cockpit checking for boom clearance when my wife drove by and saw me. ” A bit early yet, isn’t it?”, she said. “I’m working!”, I yelled, but she was already gone, shaking her head.

Meanwhile, down in Connecticut, Paul Zucco is finishing up his Whizz. That’s the plank in glue-up on the right. He assures us he’ll be on the ice this season, so we should see at least a few Whizz races. This class does qualify as a C Skeeter, and there are a few front seat boats of that class being built. Cody Sisson got his on the ice last year. We could be in for some fun events this coming season.

As most of the followers of this site probably know by now, Whizz plans are available here, and include full size bulkhead patterns.

Lastly, congratulations to Robin Stevenson who bought the “fresh from the barn” DN special. He’s just getting started and already knows exactly how far it is from his house to Plymouth.

Think Building!

Fresh from the barn, #1141. Built in the 60’s with classic hardware. Two sails, two booms and a storm sail, a set of plate runners in a nice box, tool box and stands. Glass over wood mast. Covers for everything. Plank is nicely profiled.

Seat back flips down for access to the rear. Manila Hi-Grip sheet, un-tapered.

Plates appear to be straight, could use some rocker.

The boat is in Camden; I’m selling it for the skipper’s daughter. It’s a solid boat, all ready to go. Tell a friend! She’d like $900.00.

Bill: hilltop@midcoast.com

September Sadness by Jory Squibb

Megunticook, the queen of lakes
I sailed on a sunny afternoon
“Jump Rock”– so silent now–the screams
were just a thought, in the wavelet’s tune

Those children sit at quiet desks
I hope their learning’s half as fair
as the wonder of a trusted launch
–feet first–out into the empty air

At last, this lake is mine alone
though shared with mother loons and young
we no longer fear the boats and skis,
yet i’d rather share this precious plum

At the lake’s far-distant Northeast edge,
the high red sail, I hoist with ease
and glide with puffy clouds, before
a rare but gentle Northeast breeze

Some subtle shift has come about:
these grey-lined clouds, they hint of fear,
of the worry that every creature feels
in the shortening days, this time of year

The green-brown lake of our summer days
a darker hue, this season brings
is it algae, clouds or the angled sun?
or a mystery deep in the realm of things?

My balloon-like spinnaker once aloft
has always brought an excited hail
from loungers on the docks and decks
“Honey, look, a sail, a sail!”

Is there for every thing, a time
to jump, or sit so painfully still
a time for lazy sun-drenched days
for jackets zipped against the chill?

A time to muse, in the waning year,
what havoc the coming cold might bring
and even to wonder if one will feel
the greening of another spring?

The world has finally learned that sailing fast is fun! The Americas Cup is taking place right now in San Francisco and is being sailed with, for all intents and purposes, seven ton iceboats. The tactics and techniques are all iceboat racing, including the speed. These guys are on foils at over forty knots, jibing foil to foil, and peeling off at the windward mark.

Best news of all is that the Americans, who were down three races to zip, just won their first one today. The racing is tight and exciting, broadcast live on NBC. With the Kiwis on the defensive now, racing the next couple of days should be epic: 4:15 eastern time.

Think Foils (and of course, ice)