Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

We had a micro snow storm. Much of the morning a thin dust of snow drifted out of the grey overcast. The sun eventually asserted itself in afternoon but temps never got above 14. Wind was in the low single numbers. 6 ice boats rested peacefully and apparently their skippers did also after the sailing frenzy Monday. In fact no one was on the lake most of the day. What to do? Out with the icecycle and a brisk ride around the pond, mini studded snows humming across the lovely ice. Most of the old ripples disappeared in the warm wind of Sunday. There is now just a patchy film of dusty snow with micro drifts leeward of stranded leaves. Total snow on ice 0-1/4 inch.
At sunset riding around the Northern rim to the left of the anchorage there was a uniform layer of finely crystalline snow and looking toward the low sun an upside down semicircular crescent shaped thin rain bow preceded me along. This was similar to the circular “sundogs” seen around the shadow of an airplane against a cloud. Another winter treat.
We have 8 inches of good ice now and will be building ice for sure the next three days of near zero temps 24 hrs a day. We need a good base for the best of season March ice boating.
There is now a web cam at the Damariscotta Lake Assoc. office looking out onto the ice at the launch site. Go to: “www.dlwa.org/webcam.html”

Iceman

515AM…rolled out of bed….soooo tired of listening…..listening for the muffled rumble of the snow plow, weaving around our illegally parked cars on Central Street, Camden….still no rumble…..ergo: STILL NO SNOW…..ergo: if there’s wind, there may be an iceboating window, this frigid, 9 degree morning.

my father gave me a sailboat at age 8……it answered perfectly for an introverted boy in a large, boisterous family of girls….thus a life unfolded where sailing–the openness of things, the reliance on the vagarities of conditions not made by man, the lessening of distraction, and especially the practice of ‘un-knowing’, of acknowledging the mind’s limitations–became a drone string which resounded throughout.

and imbedded in sailing is the close close examination of weather….a survival-based addiction to weather-watching…..so let me take you on a trip: go to:

http://www.sailingworld.com/experts/windalert?cmpid=enews012512&spPodID=030

this is a site created by wind-loving hobbyists…scroll down to the map, enlarge it with the “+” to the left, and center it on penobscot bay…..these are real-time wind reports…..50,000 of them worldwide!… since we were sailing chicky yesterday, click on the arrow in the notch of rockland harbor. this is owl’s head airport’s reporting and is not far south of Chicky which you see in black above it. when you click on this arrow, you see on a graph what the wind has been doing, blue being average speeds and red being gusts. below the graph are the wind directions, again over time.

if you scoll down a few graphs, you’ll see the archives, and why we were having so much fun yesterday: go to monday 21 january. you’ll see that the wind never dropped below a 10 Knot average and often had gusts near 20 Knots. the wind was west all day, which allowed us to travel the whole lake, and it died at 430PM.

so put this site as a button on your desk-top, to check if the wind part of the ice+wind dyad is propitious for the lake you’re considering.

Then I walked out on megunticook, into the open south Broads…..beautiful ice, a little less smooth than chicky…..a punishing, boisterous wind blasted from the North. The sky had that lonely deep overcast, that makes you think of a chair by the fire, a cat, and a book. Back at the car, my hands were refusing to work, after 15 minutes of exposure….Today would only be possible with hand- and foot-warming pads….

this situation asks you: do you have a life outside of iceboating? i know i won’t go out there alone…..so…my only hope is Bill….perhaps he has a few shreds of existence beyond this obsession, which might call him into balance, into some sensible, warm, and cosy activity……

alas, my morning call to him yields a yellow, not a red, light: we agree that I will fix yesterday’s damaged bow runner, and we’ll rethink the day, in the 15 degree relative warmth and brighter skies of 1030….sigh….just tell me: by what strange alchemy do we persist in travelling contrary to our simple mammalian instincts?

…..before heading for our rendezvous on Chicky this morning, I walked out from Bog Bridge on Megunticook out to Fernald’s Neck. I knew, from sailing Chicky on Sunday, that the latter would be a quite good surface, and Megunticook, while sailable, was notably less smooth….
The puddles had fully healed in the 12 degree temperature, but the snow ice was more noticeable….So, although, I love and prefer Megunticook, I was now ready to throw in my lot with the gang on Chicky…..Besides, iceboating is almost as much about community as it is about the joy of sailing itself….
And Chicky had absolutely luscious ice, with a wind in the high teens, when I arrived there about 830AM….I re-hoisted my storm sail, left there the night before, and cruised around alone, gradually remembering Chicky’s frustrating wind patterns in todays NW wind. Gradually a large gang of ice fanatics arrived and we had one of those amazing days which stone you to your very soul, when there is absolutely no other hobby to compare. Here is the list of suspects:
Lloyd, of course, played host, and built a fire for cocoa
Bill Buchholz rigged and sailed his “Fast Piece of Furniture”
Frank Able sailed his beautiful gambit, built by Randy Rice
Jory Squibb in the fast and rugged Icywood DN
the indomitable Fred Wardwell sailed his new Gambit acquired from Stu Nelson
Paul Delnero from New Hampshire repaired and sailed his DN from the public landing
John Eastman, with his Mead in the shop, sailed his gambit. Bunting sailed his very well tuned Nite
Mark Hannibal skimbatted long and hard in the powerful wind
Scott Woodman, slowed by a troublesome back, crewed for Bill in Fast Furniture
Dave Fortier had his speeding bullet, the orange DN
Curtis Rindlaub from Peak’s Island sailed his DN and took pictures and videos.
Ben Fuller had his antique stern steerer Tipsy out for the first time this season >

Here is the Furniture with Curtis taking pictures.

Here is the lunch crowd: John E, Mark Hannibal, Scott the Guy and Bill Bunting, Lloyd, Bill Buchholz, Curtis Rindlaub.

Much of the excitement was generated by Fast Piece of Furniture, a reference to a woman of easy virtue, which was in her second shakedown. She has a wicked turn of speed, is a little faster than a DN, and makes a very dramatic spin-out on occasion, with an absolute avalanche of ice chips. Bill sailed her both crewed and alone. Aside from the two flickers, she behaved very well. The seating is comfortable, and the big steering wheel gives plenty of leverage so the steering is very slow and easy. You know exactly how Barney Oldfield must have felt with all that power at hand through those large wheels. With the double ended sheet, the passenger can either work as the sheet trimmer, like Fortier, or let the skipper do the work and just marvel at the whole thing and take video, like Curtis. As the skipper, being relieved of sheet tending duties is a great relief: all you need to do is drive her around and nod to the crew when it’s time to tack. Some get it, others don’t, but no one had their head taken off. For most sailors graduated from DN’s ducking under the boom is second nature. The downside of the double ended sheet is when the skipper lets out his end every now and then just to ease things a bit and the crew hauls back on his end eventually all the skipper has is a knot at the ned of the line. This is where faith in the crew comes in…

It was a day to go very very fast, if you wanted, with great ice and wind in the high teens and sometimes gusty. We were also visited by Lauren, who runs an Inn right on Chicky….see lakewatchmanor.com or call 706 6424. You can probably keep your iceboat right out in front, since the inn is right on the lake.

As is the pattern this year, snow is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. It might not be much, and will be dry, so it may disappear by the weekend. Keep thinking, and searching for, ICE!

R U Icing Today?

Dont shirk!
And be a jerk!

Come on out!
Raise a shout!

If not….Forsooth!
I speak the truth:

You’ll sing in June
The “Shouldda” tune