Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Surprise, yet another dawn at 33 degrees at the house, are the thermometers stuck? Meanwhile down at the iceodrome the slush is slightly firmer granular but full of water and at least 3 inches deep. The white patches are harder and crunchier but still the axe head just dropped dull side down half disappears. A brisk NE breeze makes one wonder if slush runners might work but I think they would be up to their hub caps, slow going and hard on the framework of the boat.
Meanwhile NOAA radio is looking for another 33 degree week of squalid damp air before the possibility of cooler dry air NEXT Wednesday, perhaps the long awaited Canadian High.
Out in the real world edge rot has started both here and at public beach. This may be partly due to snow melt as the water level is up a few inches. It will be plank time by next Wednesday. BUT, we might sail.

Slushman

A walk on Chickawaukee finds crunchy partially frozen slush on rotton snow ice 4 inches on old black ice 8 inches. The black ice is soft but not yet punky or pencillated. Slush runners might do today for a while.
The big problem is 5 degrees above normal average daily temps for last 10 days at least and perpetual precipitation, a little snow and rain every gloomy gray tepid day. The average daily temperature should be a little below freezing instead of a little above freezing which , surprise, degrades the ice.
One good Canadian high would put us in business for the usual glorious spring sailing of the second week of March, none in sight but we have another week to go.

Slushman

Regarding the recent posts, you know we’re in trouble when all we can come up with for content is workshop stuff. Conditions in Maine still don’t look good for the near future, and we all know what will happen in the (not too) distant future. But there was decent sailing in Massachusetts, on Quabog last Saturday, with Cody Sisson and Peter Coward both sailing new boats.

Here’s Peter with his Cheeze Whizz; the color is the same as that famous gourmet item. He couldn’t quite catch Whizz Kid, but even to come close on the first day out should have James looking over his shoulder.

This is Cody’s new pocket bubble boat, less the bubble, still in primer. No definitive performance reports yet, but chances are that you won’t be seeing much of this boat over you shoulder, more like over the horizon!

The rest of the New England fleet found Lake Wallenpaupack, in Pennsylvania, this past weekend. The A stern steerers and Yankees from New Jersey, a couple of boats from the Hudson River club, and the NEIYA DN gang all found room to move. The DN’s and Yankees scratch raced, while the stern steerers reached up and down the lake, five miles from pressure ridge to pressure ridge.. The A Stern Steerers from North Shrewsbury have been packed up since January waiting for the Northwesterns to be called on. They are now ON for March 10, but they haven’t found any ice at all in the mid-west. But in Penna, reports predict temps in the teens at Wallenpaupack this week, so if they dodge the snow it might be the only ice in the east that we know of. It’s a long way from everywhere, but come spring you might be wishing you’d made the drive. And if the A’s are back it could make it doubly worth it. Thanks to Andy Hudson for the photo.

So, stand by for more exciting posts, like “how to mouse-proof your sail bag”, and “re-packing trailer bearings”. And if you hear the strains of a corpulent woman humming a familiar tune, turn it up ’cause it’s gonna be all we get for a looooong time.

Scott Woodman provided the photos of how he does it. Same principal as Iceman, different details, more elegant, and shows well that the cat can be skinned various ways. Part of the fun of iceboating when there is no ice. Thanks Scott, nice pix.

Iceman