Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

We have all kinds of possibilities, but nothing for sure yet. I think there’s a good chance we’ll have something, though. Some lakes that were open when it snowed formed weak slush ice: 2” and can’t stand on it. Others were open and the snow dissolved. Those might build enough thickness of new ice. And then there are those that were frozen when it snowed. Today it is raining lightly, forming ice on the roads, and hopefully will do something good to the snow covered lakes before it gets cold again.

Specifically, Pushaw looks to be getting rain after a dash of snow this morning, and then a hard freeze tonight. Sabattus already was snowed out and based on the storm track looks like it got much more. Messalonski, near Great Pond, had a half inch of black ice yesterday. It lays on the rain-snow boundary so could go either way. There are some other lakes near Augusta that Karin Wilson is watching.

The web cam at Damariscotta is still out, so that will be checked by eye tomorrow. Lake Chickawaukee is still open. If we can find something, it looks like a stellar stretch of weather over Christmas. Dare we ask for a Black Christmas?

First, congratulations again to all the participants of the 2022 Linc Davis Cup. Ye Olde cup has been engraved with Guy’s name because who wants to wait until Spring Meeting to get the cup? The first name on the cup, from 1978, is Warner St.Claire, founder of the club. The rest are a collection of who’s who in CIBC history. The silver cup was donated by eminent yachtsman Linc Davis from his trophy collection. Since the entire cup is covered with names, Dave Fortier made the base, with room for four new plates. Let’s fill it up!

The winner and other racers get plaques, which will be mailed out soon.

Well done Gentlmen!

News from Quebec, Denis and the Thedford gang got together on nice ice in a good breeze He reports:

“We had a very nice day last Tuesday in Thetford. 2 sailors from Thetford were there, and 3 others came from Montreal. Ice was 7” thick, orange peel with a few ice bumps. I sailed a total of 64 miles at an average speed of 26 mph and a max speed of 56 mph (Yes, I bought a GPS last summer !!!). No wind yesterday. Rain and warmth today, cooling down tomorrow, followed by snow Saturday and no wind in the forecast for weekend. So that may be it for a while around here.”

Getting cold next week!

This Winni Spring Frolic document was discovered in the back of an old iceboat, along with a map of Winnipesaukee from 1975. It must be a very early Hardway, as the rules are very relaxed, to say the least. We have some new guidelines coming for that event, based on what we learned last season. Don’t get your hopes up for an eleven dollar dinner!
Document_2021-12-16_175758.pdf

Just like Plymouth Pond last week, we had a one day wonder on Pushaw today. The temps finally dropped back to where they belong this time of year and the lake wound up with between 2 1/4 and 2 3/4”. There were thin areas in the middle as well as some soft water pools. The ice in the photo below was smooth as glass.

Given half a chance this plate would have developed into a first class sailing venue. Sadly, weather is moving in with no easy outcomes.

Seven skaters and a set of twins in pram skated the west side perimeter from the bay south of Goulds Landing all the way around to the point at the entrance to Lucky Landing.

There was a massive beaver hut in the marshes.

You can see it in the background, the big pile of dirt, but what’s really interesting is the line of bubbles in the ice leading from the mound to the open hole, the Beaver family’s front door.

Thanks to Bob Lombardo for keeping an eye on Pushaw.

All eyes will be on all the lakes as this next system passes through. No telling what we might wind up with, but if it’s even half of this, that’s a five and we’ll sail it. We were treated to early ice on Sabattus last season, lets watch it.

xx

While the CIBC was opening the 2022 season right on schedule on Plymouth Pond with the Linc Davis Regatta,( the rest of the DN world was in Ashby, Minnesota on Lake Christina for the Western Challenge. Billed as the best ice in Minnesota the first weekend in December and put on by that state’s iceboaters, it’s a fun, usually unscored and unranked regatta. This year there were nearly seventy boats from as far away as Florida, Canada and New England. There were seven Yankees: T Theiler, Karen Binder, John Stanton, Eric Anderson, Chris Gordon, Chad Adkins and yours truly.

There was a wet snow Thursday night, coating the lake with a thin layer of slush and adding to the damage caused by high temps the previous day. The four inches of black ice had weekend considerably. Thankfully there was no wind Friday and the three involuntary human immersions and one boat occured close to shore. Aside from that, the day was lovely and everyone wandered around chatting, catching up and checking out the other boats. In spite of the lousy ice conditions a spirit of hope and joy filled the air.

Overnight temps froze the crappy ice and after a thorough check racing was on. Wind was 4-8, ideal for those folks who enjoy the technical challenge of light air sailing. Gold and silver fleet two lap races were banged out in quick succession with long starting lines seeming to vanish over the horizon.

Racing continued until dusk, when the wind died and many happy sailors could be seen slowly pushing back to the pits, obviously in no hurry to leave the ice, which stayed hard all day. The lesson here is that even the most marginal penciled ice can recover enough to sail on, with caution.

Saturday night brought more snow, big wind, and not much cold. The snow seemed to inspire the ice to revert to pencils, and one hearty sailor quickly dropped a runner and his leg right through the junk. So everyone turned to and helped get all the boats off the ice and packed up. After many goodbyes, the desolation of northern Minnesota returned to the lake.

A big shout out to the the locals, who were friendly and interested and very welcoming. When the boat went through the slush ice, one of the on-lookers dashed off to get a boat to help with the recovery. Wherever we went for breakafast or dinner, folks would come over and ask how the sailing was. And everyone asked abut that boat in the ice, as it was right next to the road. It serves as a good reminder in these times that people are generally good and kind. Sadly, that’s not what makes the news. But a big iceboat regatta with folks from all over is one of the places you can see humanity at it’s best!