Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

This just in from André Baby: andrekbaby@hotmail.ca Check in with him if you plan to go.

First, Happy New Year full of health, great sailing and prosperity.

Iceboating- wise, it looks like the first sailable ice for us in Quebec will be in Thetford Mines. There is already an ice base on Lac du Huit, and possibly Grand Lac St Francois, and colder temps are predicted from tomorrow onwards.

We are hoping to get a group on Lac du Huit (= Col By) on Jan 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Weather and wind looking good.

We will make a decision after talking to Mark Tarini on Jan 1st, DN sailor with house on the lake.

Anyone interested ?

Accommodations are at Hotel du Domaine, 5 minutes from the ice, spacious and modern rooms, great restaurant, reasonable prices.

Cheers,
André

Here’s a lovely video made by Dan Stillman, first time ice boater who took to ice like a bird to the sky. After a day on skates he took Jim Turner’s Cheapskate for a tour. Looks like a natural to me. Last week on Pushaw Lake.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HcC4f5IZIYZYHn_C06jgWGyIg8K1ieZp/view

Meanwhile, Bob S reports Quabog is locked in but the forecast doesn’t look good.
In Maine, Umbagog continues to generate positive reviews. Skaters are lapping it up. Its time to get some boats on that plate!

On a hunch Denis took a ride over to Lac Abenakis yesterday just to have a look. He had the foresight to hook up the trailer just in case. And Voila! There was a lovely orange peel surface on a twelve inch thick plate. The lake had been snowed on, rained on, thawed, froze, and back again.

Sadly, the wind for today is right around nothing, as it is for the next few days. Then there is that little holiday, and then some warmth and rain. But as of now this is the only plate of somewhat local ice we know. In desperate times we can stretch the meaning of local.
Lesson here: if you think there might be ice take the boat just in case!

In spite of our most optimistic plans for Pushaw later in the week, the lake is now wide open. Same for Plymouth. We’re back to square one, with lakes seeded with warm rainwater.

While you’re waiting, for those who missed the Skeeter discussion last week, here it is. It’s basically the history of bow steering iceboats from the 1930’s on. The presenters are Pat Heppart, Henry Bosset and Dan Clapp.

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Nearly two weeks ago the temps in Maine dropped way down. At the same time the wind quit for days on end until all of a sudden we had black ice everywhere. The skaters were going nuts, as were the iceboaters, but for a very different reason. Sure, we can skate, but wouldn’t you really rather sail? One of the lakes to flash was Pushaw. By the time the wind drought ended there was four and a half inches. A great rainstorm reduced that to two and a half, but the temps dropped again and the wind returned. For the past five days the plate has grown to five inches. Clear, hard black ice. For two straight weeks. Amazing. And there might still be more.

The quality of this surface cannot be exaggerated. When you watch this video by Denis Guertin , see if you can hear the runners. There is an occasional click-clack, but mostly silence.

The warm temps of the past few days have only improved the surface. Today it was more like flying than sailing. Aside from that one pressure ridge, the entire lake was flawless. DN’s ran laps for a while but then gave in to the temptation of big ice touring.
Richard Gluckman from Greenwich Village came, Ramblin Roger from Maryland, Paul Chamberland from Albany, plus others from all over New England. Thanks to everyone who kicked off the 2024 season on Pushaw. The bad news, folks, is it’s all downhill from here: snow, slush, shell.
But, in spite of anther big rain storm Monday this ice might hold up and come out the other side intact. Stand by!