Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Nova Scotia correspondent Warren Nethercoat sent this report of some very good racing. We’d love to see these guys on Moosehead next weekend!

Seven DNs came to Sherbrooke Lake today, including Doug Gaudet from PEI. We still hadn’t sailed the Snelly Cup, so the Fleet Captains decided that today’s number of entries warranted sailing for the trophy. Special thanks go to Terry Hayward for taking time away from sailing his Isabella to be our race officer.

Winds were right down the axis of the lake so we sailed 2 laps of a 1 1/2 mile course. We started sailing on hard ice that gradually softened over the course of six races, but most people were able to use 3/16th inserts until the very last race when a few changed over to 1/4 inserts. The wind started at about 6 to 7 knots and built to 10-12 as the morning wore on, so that we had adequate power to overcome the softening ice. But wind strength varied across the course, so taking a flier could make you a hero or a fool!

Doug Gaudet showed impressive speed upwind and down in the first two races, and led the series until the penultimate race, but as the wind built he lost his upwind speed margin – although he was blistering fast downwind all day. Going downwind was a challenge. It was easy to forget how sticky the ice was: gybing to too deep an angle would lead to near immediate stalling of the sail and loss of speed. There were lots of place changes, upwind and down.

photo: Terry Heyward, with a little bit of Dick Tracy in his genes when he decided to take pictures standing next to the leeward mark!

Bob Crinion won the championship in the end with consistency all day. Although Bob had but a single win, against two for Art and Doug, he was the only boat able to discard a third. But he was only a point ahead of Art Samson, and another one ahead of Doug Gaudet. Tyler Garland got the bad luck award of the day, first breaking a forestay, and then having the hound fitting fail on his mast.

We had our 6 races in by 1PM, and then retired to Howard Garland’s deck to bask in the sun and tell lies. This spring iceboating is wonderful!

Warren

DN 3786

It’s been a long wonderful winter and I’m out of superlatives. Besides, words can’t do justice to the wonder of Moosehead. It has the horizons of Sebago and the intimate geography of Winnipesaukee. It also has two feet of ice. So, speaking of Winnie, I am proposing a Hard Way Moosehead for next weekend. The forecast shows some warming followed by sub-freezing nights AND days later in the week. If the cold holds we could sail from Greenville to Rockwood, or visa vera. The warmth might smooth things out a bit, but quite frankly it’s not nearly as rough as Damariscotta two weeks ago.

The most fun was to launch the windward runner from a mound of hard snow and set it into a long easy hike. Even as the ice softened and we switched to slush runners, these mounds would still provide lift-off. The wind built nicely to a steady 10-15 from absolutely nothing. There’s not much that tries the traveling iceboater’s faith more than watching limp flags and straight smoke mile after mile. But it held all day, and outlasted us. Have a look at Denis’s video to see what we were sailing in; it really wasn’t as bad as it looks. As a matter of fact I believe that we risk becoming ice snobs. Sure, smooth ice is nice, but blasting around in sprays of slush, the boat all squirlly, and trying to stay powered up is an absolute blast. (I know, I said that last week…)

This is Mount Kimeo, a major landmark on the lake. It can barely be seen from Greenville, but will be the windward mark if we can pull together enough people for a Hard Way. Winnie Hard way rules will generally apply. Send me an e-mail directly if you want to come: hilltop.

This is what you’ll be seeing, and I think the surface will not be any worse. The only pressure ridge we found was small and easily crossed. We did not sail the proposed Hard Way route, so we will all be doing it for the first time. That’s one of the Hard way rules that won’t apply. The launch ramps at both Greenville and Rockwood are excellent with drive on trailer access. It’s about 15 miles as the crow flies.

So, put away the potting soil, get your survival kit together, and help inaugurate the new Northern Hard Way. The way it’s going, by the time I’m Stu Nelson’s age we’ll be doing this on Hudson Bay!

It was forty degrees all night, but just to see what had happened to the slush sandwich I went to Megunticook. The water was gone and the surface hard. There was even a skim of ice over holes I’d chopped the day before. The wind was blowing so I called Brian Lamb and he was there in ten minutes. We set out on plates first; that’s how hard it was. An hour later I was on Slush runners having a ball but Brian’s boat was stuck. We swapped boats for a while, this being his first time out this year. We were a bit nervous about getting off the ice as the day warmed to nearly fifty, so we packed it up and were home in time for lunch.

The edge is rotten of course, but the 14″ on the main plate remains. I guess the point of the story is to never assume anything when considering ice. Or, better yet, against all logic assume that the sailing will be great. And don’t forget the slush runners!

Tomorrow to Moosehead!

Moosehead has nearly wetted out and spies say that the surface is pretty good. Without knowing exactly what that means, myself and our Canadian friends Denis and Francois will sail there tomorrow. The lake is big enough for more than just us three so please feel welcome to join us.

We are working our way into April sailing. Local temps next week will dip back into the 20’s at night which might give us another day or two on Megunticook.

Intrepid president Buchholz did indeed sail on Chicky Wednesday. It had been in high 20’s and sun was screened by thin overcast. 9 inches of punky ice, plate hard on top. We walked on at Lloyd’s beach. Nice breeze. Nice sail. I was not feeling well, chest cold and indeed sat out the outing after biking around a bit.

Thursday AM, temp high 30’s, no sun, 5 inches punky ice at beach easily penetrated on third swipe of axe b ut still held me up, propabkl not tomorrow.

Late Spring sailing on Chicky is always limited by access. Public beach is gone. Lloyd’s lawn is slithery and beach will be gone shortly. Ice along Rte 17 seems to be up against steep rocky embankment and is tempting. I am very wary of that edge as it gets a lot of reflected warmth from the sun shining on its Western face. The water is deep there right up to the shore.

Go to Canada.