Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Nite sailor Bill Bunting sends this report on the spring meeting:

There is nothing like a good spring picnic with fellow ice boaters (joined by several tolerant wives) to soften the blow of the end of one ice season, and to start us all thinking about the next. For the second year running we were treated to the gracious hospitality of Fred and Ann Wardwell at their wonderful Searsmont farm (once the home of Ann’s father, the notable Maine author Ben Ames Williams). Once again Fred and Ann were ably assisted by their daughter Martha Goodnow (also an ice boater) who traveled from her home in New Hampshire for the occasion. All the food provided by the Wardwells and by other celebrants was tasty and excellently prepared, and nearly all was consumed. Bill and Frank were sure to stock up for their road trip the following day, figuring that they were traveling on ice boat business. On that note, my wife Jennifer appreciated that one piece of her apple pie was considerately left for her to sample. Our sincere thanks to the Wardwells and to other contributors.

Once again we all admired Fred’s barn-full lineup of vintage industrial wood-working machinery, crowned by the mammoth band saw which created such a spectacle when Fred towed it home behind his VW from somewhere between here and a Lake Erie a few years ago. Fred has set the mark or the rest of us — one can never have too many ice boats, or too many tools to build and repair ice boats (or four-masted schooners, for that matter).

Also in the barn is Ann’s father’s magical summer gathering hall, which again was our meeting site. It was decorated for the occasion with numerous enlarged color prints of President Buchholz’s spectacular photos from the past season. They are available for any ice boating promotional event, and copies of any or all can be ordered through Bill. Jory’s hat was passed for contributions to reimburse Bill for his expenses.

The chief topic for discussion, regrettably but understandably, was the dismal subject of xxxcensoredxxx, a problem for which we have no ready solutions. Two years ago, following the advice of people who supposedly know about these matters, we incorporated the club as a xxxcensoredxxx, which presumably protects members from being swept up in a xxxcensoredxxx if another member, or the club, is being xxxcensoredxxx. However, club officers are not so xxxcensoredxxx, and the xxxcensoredxxx we purchased provides xxxcensoredxxx for them. Last year the xxxcensoredxxx nearly doubled, while the doubling of dues, to pay the original xxxcensoredxxx, cut our membership significantly. With the xxxcensoredxxx monster eating up all the treasury, the future of Lloyd’s wonderful and inimitable newsletter — which we suspect is why a number of our far-flung members were members in the first place — is placed in jeopardy. All members present were in agreement that this has left us in an intolerable situation. Between now and next Fall’s meeting the officers will conduct further research regarding options, beginning by contacting Mid-Western ice boaters to see how they are handling the situation.

The attendee who came the greatest distance was John Stanton, our web tech guru who has guided our growing presence on the Internet, and who, I believe, came all the way from Connecticut. The Mainers who came the farthest were Dennis Glidden and Peter Ashley, from York. The would-be attendee who tried but did not make it was Chris Conary, who, carried away by the spring weather, headed out on his faithless BMW which went dead in Union.

Buchhholz and Frank Able were full of plans for a Sunday roadtrip to MA to pick up a partially finished Whizz fuselage and parts salvaged from a defunct skeeter to combine into Frank’s new ride — next season is already well underway! (editor’s note:) Bill and Frank clocked 600 miles on Sunday, picked up two partial boats, and Bill will begin to morph one into the other as soon as the work tide receeds. Stand by for project up-dates. As always, iceboat.me welcomes all manner of iceboat building and repair projects to share.

Respectfully submitted,
Bill Bunting

Curtis Rindlaub has finished his video of our sail on Moosehead.

Also, don’t forget the CIBC meeting and potluck next Saturday, April 27 at Fred Wardwell’s.

It’s official: the 2013 Moosehead Long Way is in the books. Of ten boats starting, six made it the thirty-five miles to Mt Kineo and back. How windy was it? Well, we didn’t see dogs getting blown off their chains, but Lee Spiller has to get the raw balls award. He was sleeping in his van at the launch site, but had to move to a calmer spot because the van was getting so buffeted by the wind that he couldn’t sleep! And it’s not just about getting some sleep, but he must have been laying there awake thinking that he actually has to sail in this stuff in the morning.

And this is what the morning looked like: Did I mention we discovered a half inch of snow to add insult to injury?

How windy was it? It was so windy that at one point in the middle of the largest bays there was a shallow white-out of wind whipped ice pellets. The wind was scouring the surface of the smallest chunks loosening in the noon sun and just driving them in a blast-cloud.

Yes, that’s a pressure ridge hiding in the white-out. There were five pressure ridges between Greenville and Mt. Kineo, all easily crossed, some under sail once scouted by the first boat. The ice was very good, probably a 7. Peter Coward spent some time on a particularly fine plate doing speed runs while the rest of us were trying to keep our speed down! Denis Guertin’s brother, Yves, did the whole trip in a DN with a full sail and kept us amused with his gymnastics. He is an excellent athlete.

He nearly wore through the heels of a new pair of boots trying to slow the boat down!
Francois and Kate Morrone both busted stud plates, Denis and Lee both had rigs come down; the rest of the boats held together amazingly enough. Always tape your pins in heavy air. Steering pins included!

This is Mt. Kineo in the distance, our windward mark. The ice was as good as it looks in this picture. The roster: Warren Nethercote, Denis, Yves and Frank, Curtis Rinlaub, Lee Spiller, Bruce Brown, Kate Morrone, Dave Fortier, myself, and the hard-core bros Lamb and Coward.

The happy gang in the shadow of Kineo, too tired to set up a proper line. We sailed into this cove and all just coasted to a stop in a silent lull. There wasn’t a breath of wind in there, and it took some work getting back out with the little storm sails. But once around the point it was fifteen miles of delightful downwind sailing. We had to brave a reach every now and then but generally it was nice and deep. I did get way ahead at one point and thought I should beat back up to the fleet, but a couple of minutes of that was enough so I peeled off and continued sun bathing.

Aside from the ridges and the drain hole over which Denis unintentionally flew his windward runner there were no major flaws. If this is what we can expect from Moosehead in the spring, let’s consider cultivating our spies and make this an annual event. The one change we should make is to take Bruce Brown’s advice and have lunch at the turn-around.

Thanks to Curtis for the maps, Denis for the commemorative stickers, Warren Nethercote (8 hrs from Nova Scotia!) for finding the lodging, Kelly’s Bar for keeping us well fed and juiced, and Christian Jacques for scouting the ice last week which set this whole event in motion, and to everyone who had the faith to make the drive. Faith, after all, is just asking your heart to believe what your eyes can’t see and you mind can’t understand. It’s finally time for some well deferred boat maintenance, and maybe even a little gardening. And as you are sitting on the porch this summer sipping your gin&tonic, the ice cubes will be speaking to you: it’s not just mindless clink-vlink against the glass. What they are whispering to you is THINK ICE!