Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

From Bob MacEwan:

Today was a stellar day on Damariscotta Lake with at least ten boats setting up at the Lake Farm for a day of sailing. I was worried that the lake would be crowded with fisherman because this is the free fishing weekend in Maine. But there wasn’t anymore than the usual number of fishing shelters and tip ups on the lake with plenty of room to enjoy the brisk southwest winds and sunshine on a classic February blue sky day.

The wind was mostly calm while we were setting up and you could feel the warmth of the sun as you worked to get your boat ready to go. There were two skeeters, two mini skeeters, three cheapskates, two Lochley Skimmers and Ed Zelonish’s little front seat skeeter. Also, there were couple of groups of skaters. I apologize to anyone else that was there that I missed.

The wind kicked in around 10:30 and built as the morning continued. I had rigged my bigger sail first and came in to rig my smallest sail just before lunch time. I’m guessing it was blowing 10-15 mph with up to 20 mph gusts. The strong wind was blowing the dusting of snow making small drifts all over the ice. The drifts got stiffer with time and you could feel a tug on your boat as you sailed through them. Everyone stayed on the northern plate and chased each other around. By 14:30 the wind was strong but short intermittent lulls were becoming more frequent. We all returned to the pits by 15:00 to start packing up to head home.

Scout Jim Turner confirms that the launch at Branch Lake is clear with a nice ramp, and that the little snow will mostly blow away in the strong winds tomorrow. As far as we know, this will be the first iceboats on this particular lake. We’ll either find out why or discover a hidden treasure.

Remember scratch racing at Toddy Pond tomorrow. Might be more slide and skid than scratch racing given the wind forecast. But what fun!

There will be North American Championships training scratch races on Toddy Pond, East Orland on Monday and Tuesday.

Check with Paul Chamberland for details: 518-764-0005

Bob MacEwan plans to sail from Lake Farm tomorrow, setting up around 9:30. Come one, come all. If it’s too sticky, either use the big wind on Monday to blow through it, or try Tuesday:

Tuesday plans for Graham have shifted to Branch Lake, with Toddy Pond as a back up. We have a new sailor coming all the way from Limestone to launch his freshly restored DN for the first time. Let’s show him how it’s done!

From Bob yesterday:

Once again Dammy provided a great day of sailing. Bright sun with winds 10-15 mph and 20 plus mph gusts out of the northwest and a beautiful plate of ice made for great sailing until around 14:30 when just about everyone was spent anyway. Two Buchholz built skeeters, one mini skeeter, two cheapskates, one kite sailor and Eddy Zelonish and his friend Scott on skates with sail wings took advantage of the conditions. I judge the ice was grade 7 and it held up all day. Dammy could still be good following the forecasted snow if it is cold and fluffy and isn’t too deep.

Then from Ralph today:

Only one other boat today.
Gusty winds produced some fast sailing.

Bob was right!

If you want to go sailing and you don’t hear any plans from this site, just write in or call me the day before and I’ll put it out there. These two guys got lucky today and happened to find another hearty soul there.

No snow in Belfast or Ellsworth. Graham Lake is most likely clear and has great ice:

I’d like to organize a sail there Monday. Any interest? Might be a challenging launch.

Toddy Pond is also probably clear.