Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

A fine day of sailing on a plate about two miles by one, five and a half inches thick, clear as glass. Got a little wet as temps climbed into the high thirties, but no one was complaining. Winds ten-twelve with wonderful gusts, right down the center. There were two Whizz, two DN’s and two Mini Skeeters. Match racing all around.

Black Ice to the horizon.

Ghosting along in light air before the wind came up.

Tyler’s first sail of the year. The image from the scouting party was just too much too bear.

Speaking of which, huge thanks to Eddie Zelonish and his group of skaters for scouting this plate on Saturday. Remember Saturday? -20 degrees with plus 20 winds? Just an amazing accomplishment.

With smiles no less! Such is the intoxication of Black Ice.

The wind held until dark, two DN’s duking it out ’til dusk.

A colorful fleet of ice yachts (and skippers) blasted through the drifts on Damariscotta today. The warming temps and full sunshine were a welcome relief after the past few days of hosting arctic air. The launch from Lake Farm worked well in spite of the rip-rap installed to prevent the ice from dragging the sand back into the lake in the spring. Imagine that…

Sailing from Lake Farm has been the traditional CIBC launch site for years. But recently the ice in the south end has been better and the Vannah Rd. launch has served us well The ice down there is often better, but today, as if to validate our commitment to Lake Farm, the conditions in the south end were worse. More and thicker drifts, fickle winds. There’s a rule of thumb in Japanese architecture that says not to put your house in the most beautiful site on the property. Leave that alone, let it remain beautiful, and then you get to think about that spot and go there for reflection.
So when launching from the north end we need to make an effort to get into the southern archipelago, into Deep Cove, and down the river. We have yet to do all that. It remains an elusive goal.

Yachts have decamped from the lake. The plan is to sail Thompson Lake, Oxford, ME tomorrow. Launch at the public ramp on Rt. 121. If you’re looking for a sign that this might be a good idea, sailing an unknown lake on black ice for the first time, know that just north of the launch, just above, is Wardwell Island. Hope to see you there around ten am.

Thompson yesterday. Looks like tomorrow is the best wind of the week.

This is the launch ramp. Not ideal. Bring wheels. A trailer will go down but might not come back up. But the good news is there is a waterfront restaurant just south of the launch, for which any old lake will receive one CIBC Gold Star.

Given the iffy nature of some lakes we’ve been watching and the open water on Jordan Bay, three clicks of the boots says “There’s No Place Like Home”. Have a look at this picture. Imaging that pattern flying past at a mile a minute.

The snow is what’s left of the few inches we sailed through a few days ago. It’s thinner, and still soft. Runners will move through it easily, especially with the nice southerly promised for tomorrow. It might change as it gets warmer, but for now it’s cold and dry.

Six and a half inches thick. Launch at Lake Farm. Most of the rest of the week looks promising,

Snow makes the world still. It makes iceboaters sit still, tending the home fire. But all I am asking, is give snow a chance. As we learned in Wisconsin last week, snow can be lots of fun. So what if all your gear is wet and you can’t find that dropped clevis pin. In the right conditions it can be amazing. Snow stilled runners today. It was just light enough and the ice just soft enough to create a running surface that made no noise. There was an occasional bump or crack, but aside from that only the rush of the wind. The entire lake was the same top to bottom.
Two Mini Skeeters and a Whizz sailed north to the top of the lake for lunch as the wind began to build.Then it was six miles upwind, though the narrows and into Deep Cove. Damariscotta Lake in a Southwesterly is perfect. The wind blows right up the narrows and most of the lake is upwind-downwind.

Big Tip Of The Hemet to Bob MacEwen for organizing this outing. And we were encouraged by yesterday’s bottom to top skate and ski made by Jamie Haskins, Abby Morrison and Dog. We came across their tracks many times:

Jordan Bay has froze and will probably provide a decent plate by Sunday given the deep cold for the next forty-eight hours. Winnie is also coming in around the edges.

The lesson from today is to take every long shot shitty forecast and just get out there and try, Your correspondent went today with minimal clothing, no lunch, no water bottle, figuring he’d be home for lunch happy to have warmed up the trailer bearings. They say “show up and pray”, but why isn’t it “pray and show up”? Either way, Bob made it happen today, in his own silent way.

A couple of boats will attempt to sail from Wavus tomorrow. The ice has not been checked today so it’s unknown if it has grown, or if the snow has insulated it too much. It might be a fool’s errand. If you want to come, call or text me. Wavus would like to know how many are coming., Meet at 9:30. 975-6908. Trailers can’t be put on the ice. Hand launch only. Ramp on north side (left) of the point, just past Anderson Hall.