Hey Folks- Looks like we have ice on Bantam Lake in CT and several other places- Fingers crossed that we can get a regatta in this weekend-
Stay tuned for news on all that-

In the meantime take a look at this article about Silver Fleet champ and NEIYA Secretary Karen Binder and her big week in Illinois:

Bristol woman is a fast-rising ice boating star | EastBayRI.com – News, Opinion, Things to Do in the East Bay

Bantam has grade 8 ice with some powder drifts here and there. Fun to hit at 50 mph, and more spectacular to watch.

Sail safe!

John

DCL Ice Report #11

2021 – 2022 Ice Sailing Season

DCL Ice boat FUN!,

Ice Sailing knows no bounds!

WOW! All of our combined wishing and praying finally paid off! We now have had three great days on the DCL ice this season.

Saturday dawned warm and too windy… but six sailors showed up and rigged in preparation for predicted great sailing on Sunday.

Sunday, as predicted, started out cold with really good ice… however, it was under 2” of unpredicted snow. 11 DN total rigged and the fun began… sort of…

The predicted 10 mph wind decided to sleep in and we spent the morning introducing several new sailors to Twice as Nice Sailing, On the Ice!

Joni Palmer, like always, went all out and had a fire pit going, food and drinks. Several others showed up with food and drink as well, Jacob Feisley, Tom Johnson, David and Karen Meehan, Ed and Beth Halley, Sue Wolffe and… Cheryl Shafer with HOT brownies… the IceMan could smell them all the way out on the Lake!!! Thanks everyone! We all had a great lunch and even greater camaraderie with our sailing friends! Wonderful!!

Mother nature made a big yawn and finally got up at lunch time. With the wind now on, everyone had a blast! Our new inductees into the pleasures of ice sailing got some great fast sailing in, after a morning of getting familiar with the DN it worked out just fantastic!

Tom Wolffe brought Scott Hollander, Jill Bennett brought Alex and Lisa Pline all had several runs and came in smiling!

Austin Latimer brought his Dad, John with their DN. They bought it two years ago and were finally ready to make it go… and boy did they! Same for Mark Haraway and Colin. Colin gave up a day of flying, or so he thought, until he and Austin started flying around the lake on their DNs!!!! Welcome to the clan guys!

Jake Nill and his family, Sarah, Brice, Bodie and Colby came out. They had spent Saturday out in the wind and soft ice practicing with their skates and hockey sticks and did again Sunday. Brice and Bodie sailed and came in claiming to have been thrilled to the edge of being terrified… but came down on the side of WOW! FUN!!!

Christy Barowich, Gail and Eric Von Eckartsberg, and David Klueter stopped by to watch the action too.

We had very few breakdowns, thankfully, but the I interesting one was Ed Halley way out in the middle of the lake watching his mast hound bolt go drifting down into the snow… followed by his mast and sail….. Ever reliable Quoc Tran was out on his snowmobile and he came by and towed Ed in. Ed got another bolt and was soon out blasting around with Greg Shafer, Dave McVeigh, Ralph Kemp and the rest of us. Ralph said… well, I will be able to say “I tried it” but he left saying “I’m hooked!”

David Tuel, IceMan, Jacob F. and Tom J. spent lots of time in the slot doing short windward, leeward “races”… What a great time and what great conditions! See our tracks picture.

Bruce Spinnenweber worked with David Meehan and got him up to speed… he and Karen were all smiles!

At the end of the day tired and happy we were all very thankful for Rob Pumphrey’s extra trailer… Hahaha.. all three trailers are now full to bursting!

So much fun was had, a few dedicated Iceboaters left their boats rigged for Monday and Tuesday sailing… taking full advantage of the great, rare and fervently wished for conditions.

Next weekend is also another possible good day…stay tuned… Be There!

See everyone on the DCL ice!

THINK ICE!!!!!

IceMan

US 5576

We have this report on Bantam Lake, CT as of Monday morning, February 14;

“17 boats on the ice, I’m the first here, measured 1.5” of light fluffy snow 50 yds off the pits. 11 degrees, blowing 15 with gust upper 20s. The sailing will be quick, the snow on the ice is of no concern. Tomorrow: winds 9 – 20, temps 11 – 27. You can’t sail it if you are not here!”

As always be safe and have fun!

Here is additional information for tomorrow.

Thanks to Bill Bucholz for the report.

"The surface hardened right up nice last night and is now ready to go. Looks like about a 5.5-6. We will be launching from Lake Farm Circle. Here’s how it looks today. Sixteen inches of hard ice. No idea what happened with the cracks and ridges out there in the north broads from last time, so consider that plate unscouted for now."

Here’s how it looks today. Sixteen inches of hard ice. No idea what happened with the cracks and ridges out there in the north broads from last time, so consider this plate unscouted for now.

If you can take the day off go sailing in Maine. Remember no ice is totally safe, check in with others for hazards, and do not sail alone.

Karen Binder
NEIYA Secretary

This morning I checked my email and texts and answered the usual I want to try iceboating and where is the ice questions. I looked at my phone, as I do each morning, and was pleasantly surprised to see 21 degrees. Well, unfortunately, google or whoever was parting data to me played a mean trick. The real temp was 46. Was I disappointed? Yes, but know that somewhere we sail was indeed 21 or less and even colder overnight. As we know a good overnight below freeze will set up a previously dismal-looking plate of ice.

Just a couple of NH venues to get you thinking. And yes, many other places in CT, MA are in refreeze mode.

The cold is returning and with it multiple opportunities are on the way next week. Trusted ice checkers are out there this weekend and Monday. Remember we are in a transitional period and it takes time to heal and refreeze. With the predicted cold we should be in business early next week. If you do not already check out Maine-specific reporting on the Chickawaukie site.

Andover Winter Fest press – Here

This past Sunday the NEIYA attended the Andover Winter Festival. Peter Boyton and I set up our boats and Paul Zucco had a table with plans and building material examples. We fielded questions and planted the seed of speed in the young and older in the crowd. I may be biased but it looked like kids were more interested in sitting in our boats than checking out the fire and rescue vehicles that were nearby.

The aim of the festival was to get people out and enjoy winter activities.

As iceboaters, we interact with others on or near the ice. Spreading the word and understanding iceboating activities is very important. I had ice safety conversations with the personnel from the Andover Fire Department. They were very interested in our activities and specifically about our concerns for safety.

Thanks to Bob Douglas and the rest of the Andover Conservation & Recreation department for having us back again this year. We look forward to coming back next year and hopefully we will get to put on an actual sailing demo.

Thought of the day. People are afraid of the unknown. Spread the word, be good lake guests and respect other ice users and those that live nearby.

Be patient, be Safe, and Think Ice,

John
DN5023
John@neiya.org

Hey Folks-

While we are waiting for some good conditions please take a look at these photos and video from the 2022 DN National Champs regatta.

Do some recon! See what people are using and how their boats are set up, how they are sailing them, and what seems to be working.

Sean Heavey and Gretchen Dorian did an amazing job schlepping out onto the ice to capture the action- please support them by purchasing a few photos for yourself or someone you care about!

Click the links here to take a look:

Sean Heavey:
Video- Chris Gordon and John Curtis are heavily featured, great footage from WI and IL- Good stuff!
2022 DN US Nationals on Vimeo

Photos:
Sean R Heavey | 2022 DN US Nationals

Gretchen Dorian:
2022 DN US Nationals – gretchen dorian

Hey Folks, Looks like one of those weekends where a regatta just isn’t in the cards- Warm temps, snow on the way, Valentine’s Day and Superbowl all combining for a Perfect Storm of regatta prevention….

Good news is we have reports of good ice at Quaboag, Webster and who knows where else- If you have sailable ice let me know at t_thieler@yahoo.com and I’ll do my best to get it on the website.

We will be keeping an eye on the weather as the week goes on- with a little luck we have some cold nights on the way which should tighten things up-

Have faith and Think Ice!

T

Hey Folks-

Good news as we have had reports of sailable ice- Just want to give everyone a general idea of what is going on-
Take all of these reports with a grain of salt as ice is never totally safe as we all know- Take all the usual precautions; Safety lines, ice claws, drill test holes, talk with locals, and work with at least one other person to see if sailing is a good idea.

There is some interesting weather on the way but if we are left with a sailable venue we will make another attempt at holding the Doc Fellows Regatta this weekend- Stay tuned….

With all of that in mind, here we go:

1 Webster Lake in MA was sailed yesterday and no issues were reported, in fact it sounds like a good time was had by all.

2 We have a report of 5″-6″ of ice on Long Pond in Lakeville, MA out on the Cape. I don’t know if it has been sailed or not but it might be worth a second look. Be aware of a pressure ridge separating the north and south parts of the lake.

3 Worden Pond in Wakefield RI was walked and drilled yesterday, we found 3 1/2″ to 6″ thickness and a sailable surface even if a bit bumpy

4 Deep Creek Lake in MD was sailed by the group out there, they reported good sailing through about 2″-3″ of light snow

5 We have heard rumors that Wallenpaupak Lake in eastern PA is frozen and possibly sailable.

If you have details on any of these let me know at t_thieler@yahoo.com or leave a comment here on the website-

Be safe and Think Ice!

Worden Pond in Wakefield RI was partially walked and drilled today.

The areas checked had between 3 1/2” and 6” of ice that was a mix of snow ice and clear ice. The surface is about a 6 out of ten.

We will take a more thorough look on Monday- stay tuned for details-

Think Ice! T

Rain and near rain has fallen and I like other iceboaters am happy to see some of the white stuff melting back beneath the ice. While our lakes are resurfacing, now is a good time to look back on the great sailing we got in over the past few weeks. Well, before the last storm anyway.

We were sailing on Damariscotta Lake as well as other locations in Maine. We were sailing on Masabesic in New Hampshire. We were sailing on Bantam in CT and a great run on Quabaog in MA.

Our fleet always splits up across New England and the country, for regattas. Last week was the DN Nationals.

It is always harder to travel when there is known good ice closer to home but travel we did. Many of you im sure were following the journey and read T’s recap so I will keep it brief. Nine of us traveled west. Myself, T, Karen, Jay, Eric, Sean Healy, Rick, Ed, and David Silsby.

The 2022 National results are here. Congratulations to Ron Sherry for yet another championship. It was a pleasure to see you smoothly navigate the course. Nothing like my hacking it up out there. All I can say about Karen Binder’s performance is wow! There was no stopping her over the course of two days with five consecutive bullets and the win in the silver fleet. You have all read Karen’s race prep articles and it certainly has paid off. Newcomer Sean Healy really showed some promise and was mixing it up rather well for someone who has not been on the DN line before. Ed Demerest with some of T’s QND tweaks was in the hunt and fighting. Jay Whitehair qualified into the Gold fleet for the first time had some great opportunities to see how that fleet rocks.

The NEIYA will be putting on an iceboat demo and Q and A session tomorrow at Pomps Pond in Andover MA. If you are nearby come and say hello and join in on the discussions. No there will not be actual sailing but as we all know if we can’t sail at least we can talk about it.

When: Sunday, Feb 6th
Where: Pomps Pond – 147 Abbot St. Andover, MA
Time: 10:00am – 2:00pm
And it’s free additional info here

We expect condition reports from all over New England after the weekend. Sout and West are looking good as well as some areas in Maine could come in with big ice. Stay tuned and as always report in with updates to myself other officers or committee members as well as directly to the site’s forum section. The forum has worked particularly well with hooking up people to sail with mid-week. On the forum do take note of when the info came in as some posts might look great but a little stale.

Think Ice
John
DN5023
john@neiya.org