Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

More fabulous sailing for which words can do nothing to convey. Endless ice, perfect surface, great wind, April sunshine, plenty of ice sailing buddies to share the joy. Still no pressure ridges. Denis and Frank had similar conditions at Lac Ste Francois in Quebec, logging 110 miles.

Once the fleet came to terms with the big winds, we headed upwind to Kineo for a farewell toast. Micheal Young brought along his vintage Raspberry Cordial for the occasion. The glasses were set into the ice so the wind wouldn’t take them. We were also required to bend down before the mighty rock to accept its offering.

Again the sublime run back down. Careful readers might get the impression that this sail is becoming routine, but it will never get old. Just be sure to stop at least once next time you do it, just to look around, take in the vast distances and marvel in the tranquility in the heart of the wind. The mountains in the distance make everything quiet.

The big news of the weekend is about the kids. Nine year old Charlotte Gabarino in her new Ice Opti, delivered by Uncle T, Zoe, 13, in her grandfather’s Lockley Skimmer (while he, Steve Kasloff, sailed Lloyd’s old Cheapskate).
and Luke Ralph, 18, who’s showed up now and then in the past few years. Each one of these kids turned in a stellar performance.

Luke joined us in the Long Way to Kineo in the strong winds and managed to bring both himself and the DN back in one piece. Exceptional bit of boat control while still sailing fast.

Zoe and Steve were the first boats out, and while the grown-ups dithered about what sail, or even TO sail, she was out there ripping it up. One of the skippers in the pits, eager to go, having not seen them in a while, went out to see if they were ok. Both yachts were zipping along luffing like mad but loving it. After a check up they peeled off in a flash to have lunch in the lee of an island.

What a good grand-dad.

And away she goes. Can you see the grin? We’ve had some exceptional ladies in Lockley’s this season.

Back in the Greenville Bay Uncle T was tutoring Charlotte in the finer points of iceboat sailing. She takes part in a summer sailing program just there, so knows about wind direction, tillers and such. That was Saturday. This morning she woke early and couldn’t wait to get back in the boat. Second lesson: waiting for the wind. It didn’t fill in until about eleven. Temps were forecast to hit 40 by 1:00.

We had a narrow window to get out as far as we dared and then get back. Seemed a reasonable shot to get around into Moose Bay and visit Bob Bartlett, owner of Lloyd’s old Cool Tool. Eben hadn’t see the old girl since hard head to head racing many years ago, so we went to pay our respects. Bob was in, working on the house. He offered a tour, but the slush clock was winding down so Eben gave Cool Tool a pat and we headed out.

Too late. The clock had run out. But the wind held, and with everyone wearing slush runners it was fine sail of shallow angles back down to Greenville.

The other clock has run out, too. It appears the season is done. Even with 22” of ice there, extreme warmth is about to beset the lake. So we caught the last train out of Greenville and bid the big lake farewell until next year:
https://youtu.be/tGcyru-aCZw

Because, as we all know, there is always Moosehead.

So sit back and listen to the Lady sing. Visualize your best sail of the year. It’s waiting for you right there behind your closed eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k33sINjn9o0

Great forecast, conditions getting better by the day. It’s a sweet bone tossed out by Mother Nature for we iceboaters. It was a challenging season; the least she could do is give us back to back weekends on The Big Ice.
We have six skippers own board so far. Just use the comment thing below to check in if you are coming.
The goal will be to circumnavigate Sugar Island, which we did successfully last year. Iceboater’s Banquet at Kellys Landing Saturday night!
Launch at Greenville Junction public landing.

Jeff and Paul had another epic day on the big ice. The south wind began to fill in late morning and allowed the boys a fast downwind sail back to Kineo. Then it was payback time, but unlike the NW wind, which makes the Greenville-Kineo run an upwind-downwind sail, the southerly gives you a slant. Twenty-five miles upwind with just three tacks.

As very dedicated DN racers, they used the day as a tuning exercise. With so much time and space on one tack small differences in the boats can be flushed out and changes made. The slower boat was made to go faster, and visa-versa. They did this all the way up and down the lake, learning valuable tuning lessons. Of course, they were also whooping with joy at the sheer unfathomable vastness of the place. Moosehead is SO not about rounding marks on a one mile course. It’s the place where racers broaden their horizons: literally and figuratively.

The only thing they missed was more boats. The welcome mat was out, but there are no takers. So it goes with us here on the lunatic fringe, but WE know…

The day was above freezing mostly, but the ice stayed hard except for a brief period when the sun came out. The runners began to break through, still a long way from home. But after about five minutes the clouds took over and the ice got hard again. Fascinating. Talk about sailing on the edge.

Meanwhile, across the border in Quebec, Denis went to check his camp on Lac Ste Francois. The lake has been a mess all winter, but today it looked pretty good. He rigged up and went for a sail.

He reports:
"I came to Lambton by noon today. I had to meet my contractor and the windows company. Everything was done by 13:30. So I went to check the ice. Nice surface, no more snow, mostly hard with some shell ice not very deep. Go: time to set up the boat! Wind was ok, just enough for the DN rig. And the skunners to sail over the soft spots and the shell ice. I was on the ice at 2:30.
Then the wind came stronger. That was more fun. And then it became even stronger. Still more fun! And then, it became like a small storm, with ice rain and snow. I don’t know if it was more fun at that time! But it was my fastest sailing of the winter!!…. with soft and shell ice and skunners. My shoulders are sore from hitting the sides of the cockpit! I had to stop at 16:45."

https://youtu.be/BfCOfjYaTDs

It’s hard to be sure, as always in this sport, but these lakes might not be done. Crocuses be damned: stand by for more big ice next weekend!

Just to get the feel of today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul2-2TCA-sE&t=6s

Minus the pressure ridges and big fleet. Where have all the iceboats gone?

While the big lake didn’t get as much rain as we would have liked, what’s there is hard. Greenville Bay has more snow than ice, easily sailed through with a fresh breeze, but once out in the main body of the lake and all the way to Kineo the surface is good. Not perfect, but hard, without much snow.

It’s a long beat to Kineo, but there was only one healed crack, no pressure ridges, no holes, all the way up. The small fleet mostly stayed together, and after a small celebration they decided to continue north, around to the back side of Kineo, or at least to drop in at The Birches to see if the restaurant was still open. DN’s have a hard time packing food.

Away they went, giving the mouth of the Moose River a wide berth. Soon there was less ice than snow, and not long after, it became pretty much all snow. Amazing how one can sail so far as to enter different climate zones.

At this point it was nearly thirty miles dead downwind and still blowing well into the twenties with gusts. Down we went. With just that one crack to think about we could bear away and let ‘em run. Just a point or two off downwind was plenty for fast sailing, but on particularly nice patches we’d give her another half point or so and away she’d go. Occasionally two boats would cross on their shallow angles and one couldn’t help but notice the pure joy behind the goggles of the other guy. If he went faster, you went faster. A wonderful feedback loop leading us all to well over a mile a minute.

What started in 2013 as a major expedition, billed as The Long Way: Greenville to Kineo and Back, has now become a routine long cruise before lunch. Last year we could have done it twice, but on the first run up we didn’t want to spoil the magic for the others sailors who weren’t there yet.

An interesting benefit of the warm winter with poor quality ice is that we have noticed far fewer pressure ridges this season. None on Moosehead, and at Dammariscotta only open cracks at stress riser points. None at Pushaw. The thick strong ice probably has much more power to heave itself up.

Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for a nice breeze, probably enough to move through the snow until you can break free onto the good ice. Jeff and Paul are at Kelly’s Landing. Check in with them if you are coming, or just show up early. Drive on at the ramp. We had the dubious honor of being the first vehicles this winter to actually drive onto the ice: Nissan, VW and Mercdes: and this in a community of big tough trucks!

Lastly, there are all kinds of interesting details in this photo from the early fifties.

Simple, yes, but with both hands otherwise occupied, how does one tend one’s pipe?

Hmmm