Note Taking 2.pdf ..read more

Don’t forget this coming Sunday at Damariscotta Lake Farm Inn, with a fine view of one of our favorite lakes: 11:00 meeting to be followed soon thereafter by a great pot luck lunch. And to get you back in the mood, another video from Dan Stillman: Sailing Toddy Pond 2:20:24 youtube.com Hope to see you there ..read more

We all know how important it is to be there for the new sailor: get him or her into a boat with the right gear and nurse them along until they are comfortable on their own It doesn’t take long: you know after a few minutes whether they are hooked or terrified. Dan Stillman is solidly in the former: A DN Shakedown Cruise youtube.com Spring Meeting Sunday, 4/21 ..read more

Yes, there is still ice to report about: eighteen inches of it! What’s interesting is that we got a water temperature reading yesterday from just under the ice and from twelve feet down. Both were between 33 and 34 degrees. One school of thought reasons that the water gets warmer under the ice as the days get longer and the earth surrounding the lake warms up, melting the ice from below in addition to the warm air working on the ice from above. If that’s the case, then we’re still a long way from ice-out. Jeff skated from Greenville Junction early yesterday, but the ice was getting soft by 8 ..read more

Late this past Friday it was looking like Easter Sunday might be a possible sailing day at Moosehead. Indeed, it was the only day before a major snow storm coming on Wednesday. But who, we thought, wants to take a long shot on short notice on Easter? Guillaume Bourdin and his girlfriend Maisie, that’s who. Since moving from Freeskates to DN’s he and his buddy Nils have been super gung-ho. Today was the icing on the cake of a great first season for The French Guys. Here’s his report: “The iceboat season almost made it to April. The ice on Moosehead this morning was rough but sailable. Mostly h ..read more

Early this past week Moosehead was shaping up to give us another great two days of sailing. Sadly, the weather had different plans. Bob Lombardo skated there Wednesday, reported conditions similar to what we had the week before. It snowed that night, and tomorrow they might get up to a foot. But the ice will remain and by the end of the month will rear up its black and wonderful surface. Seems we could be sailing in April. Given our wacky weather, what could be more normal? Meanwhile, here’s a video from Damariscotta Lake from earlier in the season. Damariscotta 3:1:24 youtube.com ..read more

As the end of ice sailing is the official beginning of ice boat building season, don’t forget that you’ve been given nearly a full month of extra building time. Bob Scribner is finishing up W-34 in southern Maine, Ryan Haskell plans to have his new Mini Skeeter on the ice next season and a couple of guys in the upstate New York group are stating on a pair of Pocket Skeeters. What do you have in your pocket? Just to get you in the building mood, here’s an article by Ray Ruge about building an iceboat in the sticks, during the war, when materials were hard to come by. "WAR BABY” – A Si ..read more

Dan Stillman made this video of our sailing at Moosehead the other day. Moosehead Lake 3:9:24 youtube.com Looking ahead, there doesn’t seem to be much hope. While there are occasional mornings below freezing, by and large all the days reach into the forties. With thinner than usual ice, it won’t be able to hold out much longer. One could park themselves at The Birches, sail the cold mornings, work remotely in the afternoon, and carouse with the locals around the fire in the evenings. That would be good living! But for the rest of us the sun has set on our season. With that in ..read more

When iceboaters talk about alignment it generally means getting those runners down to less than .000001” out. But the other alignment that’s just as critical, if not more so, is that of the stars. The weather stars. Wind, temperature, ice surface condition, location. Our demands are very steep: we need a big frozen lake with a nice surface, plenty of wind, easy access, and we want it all for ourselves. A few fisherman around the edges are fine, but we want the whole thing. The stars were as closed to aligned as they could be today on Moosehead. All of the above, in addition the one critical ex ..read more

Things appear to be shaping up for a day sail at Moosehead on Saturday. The snow that followed the rain earlier today fell on to the wet ice and mostly wet out. So now we have a nice grey surface. Temps are dropping below freezing tonight, tomorrow and Friday night. Chances are good that the plate will firm up nicely. We don’t know if the warm spell had any impact on the structural integrity of the ice, or what sort of hazzards there might be. Last weekend there was 16” at the Birches, but things change quickly this time of year. Be that as it may, the wind will be great, out of the SE, and cl ..read more