Loooking for Ice for North Americans

[rpotcova]

Now the search is on for suitable ice for the North American Championships.

There is suitable ice on Green Lake WI but as you all know conditions change quickly. (cross your fingers JJ)   Would be great to have a few options from each region.  Please respond here or to your regional rear commodore for all possible options.  Regatta committee will have a conference call tonight to take a look at all possible options.

For now, unsailed options are ok as long as your able to check it through the weekend.  Starting next week, we will only consider ice for the NA's that has been sailed on by a ranked sailor.  Must consider lake access, parking and municipal permissions as well as ice conditions.  Thanks.

Regards,
RP

[eric_anderson]

Yo commodore,
 We are looking hard in the East.

Today, Jordan Bay on Lake Sebago in ME is being sailed by 2 racing sailors Steve Madden and Dave Fortier- it will probably be the site for the Eastern’s on Sat.     Conditions currently are 6-8” of very smooth snow Ice.  There is good access to the site.  It will be sailed 3 days between now and Sunday.
Darmascotta is also being sailed, with excellent conditions reported.  This lake is marginal for the NA’s due to size, but would work in a Jam.  We have held the Easterns there several times.

Last weekend the northern End of Lake  Memphremagog which straddles the VT-Canada Border was sailed by 4 DNs.  In addition Eben Whitcomb and I  scouted the length of the lake in both countries .  The lake has one spot in the US side with good drive on access.  As of last weekend it had 15” of Snow Ice with up to 3 inchs of very stiff snow.
There are 2 other racing locations on the Canadian side near Owlshead Ski resort.  Parking is more of a problem but doable.  This site had 6” of black ice with up to 1.5” of snow in the drifts, about 50% clear.   
You can also launch in the town of Megog on the north end.  There is a yacht club that can potentially support us.   This had up to 3” of stiff snow in the drifts last Sunday
This whole lake got very warm last Monday and received ½” of rain.   The Canadians have reported that the north end is completely snow free smooth  grade 8 grey snow ice 14” thick.  We are assuming based on 2 webcams that the rest of the lake is similar.
The central area near Owls head is being skated tomorrow by Bob Dill and several other Nordic skaters, we will have a report back friday.  He will also look on the US side near Newport
The northern end in Megog is being sailed by several DN’s today including Jacque Charbeneau.  We will have a report soon.
We are going to try to sail the southern end of the lake Sunday, after the next rain to assess conditions.  Both the north and south end have  accommodations, either in Newport, VT or Megog, QC  We have identified access areas for both countries depending on where we go.


Bantam Lake in CT is being sailed today by Rich Crucet and several others from Long Island.   We are waiting on a reliable report from that lake.
Lake Champlain- South of The Champlain bridge is being skated today.   Bob Schumacher will look at outer Mallets Bay and the area called the inland sea.  Unknown at this time. 

At this time our best guess is Lake  Memphremagog VT or Canada  and Jordan Bay ME would be the best sites in the east.  The advantage of Memphremagog is backups would be Sebago and Darmascotta-  3, and 5 hours East,  Bantam 5.5 hours south,  West 2-6 hours is Lake Champlain on the Vt side and  Colonel By lake just North of Kingston, ON ~ 6 hours West.  This lake(colonel By Lake) is marginal for the NA's due to size.  Still trying to identify a suitable site on Lake Champlain
Lots of Rain Sat and Sunday throughout New England  This will potentially resurface several other large lakes in NE that are currently out of contention.  Clearly a fair bit of uncertainty with the upcoming weather. 
Sail Fast, Take Chances

Eric Anderson US 5193

NWS Forecast for: Newport VT
Issued by: National Weather Service Burlington, VT
Last Update: 9:26 am EST Jan 9, 2014
 
________________________________________
This Afternoon: Mostly sunny, with a high near 16. West wind 5 to 9 mph.

Tonight: Increasing clouds, with a low around 4. Calm wind.

Friday: Cloudy, with a high near 27. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph.

Friday Night: Cloudy, with a low around 22. Calm wind.

Saturday: A chance of freezing rain before 10am, then rain. High near 44. Light south wind increasing to 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Saturday Night: Rain. Low around 42. South wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Sunday: Showers, mainly before 7am. High near 43. West wind 9 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. Southwest wind 5 to 9 mph.

Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 41. South wind 6 to 8 mph.

Monday Night: A chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday: A chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. Southwest wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday Night: A chance of snow showers. Cloudy, with a low around 29. South wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Wednesday: A chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 34. Southwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
________________________________________
Point Forecast: Newport VT
44.94°N 72.21°W

Visit your local NWS office at: http://www.weather.gov/btv/

[rpotcova]

Best ice report ever!  Wish they could all be like that.

Thanks

[eric_anderson]

Eastern region ice report:


Best to worst:

Lake Champlain area called Inland Sea  North of Burlington VT

Access is excellent through sandbar state park, no access issues.  Skated today by Bob Schumacher (former IDNIYRA COMMODORE) . 
 This area was not sailed due to very high winds.   Attached are photos from today.  Ice still has water on it with a few small drain holes.  Ice skating was fabulous.  2 of the pictures are of the worst ice that we could find.  1.5 inch bump.  As you can see from the other pictures the plate is excellent. 95% will be smooth and black with the occasional bump every 75 to 100 feet.  By bump I mean not perfectly smooth.  We found a few bumps over 1” with a couple at 1.5”.  1.5miles+ by 2+miles plate.  No active seams.  Drain holes were all small under 3” except in an area we would not sail which has ice fishing holes that formed into larger drain holes.  Access would be through Sand Bar State Park.  This area has had numerous Eastern’s and New England’s sailed here.  12” black ice

This ice will be checked tomorrow to see how the water on the ice is doing.  It can be sailed Tuesday after it cools a bit, by bob S ,Doug Meril and perhaps some of the guys from  RI.  If Need be, Eben Whitcomb and myself can sail it Wed AM.  Accommodations in Burlington are no problem and there is lots to do there.
 
What the plate looks like
 
Worst of the bumps in the plate

 
Option #2
Memhememprog

Eben and I drove up from Maine on sat night, found a host hotel that can accommodate us and a banquet venue. 
Today we re explored ice access. The only reasonable access on the USA side was the Wamplers fishing access. this is drive on access with 15” of ice.  This area received ~1.5” of rain on Saturday.
We scouted the launch, access and sailing site via kicksled and Nordic skates.  Areas of the ice had up to 2” of water still on it, the water was being driven toward the eastern shore by 30 + mph winds.  it was so windy it was scary going downwind on the kicksled.   This was originally snow ice that last weekend had 4-5” of additional snow on it.  It is about 90% wet out, and about 10% hard bumps.  This would be sailable but rough.  Area that is sailable is about 1.5x1.5 mi, it is bounded by islands on the north, a pressure ridge on the south.     To get to the plate requires crossing a very wide pressure ridge but was crossable on the western shore. 
We did not scout the Canadian parts of the lake due to time constraints,  We had a report that the northen end was grey ice, hard and bumpy on Friday by Jacque Charbeneau.
I suspect the middle part of the lake in Canada, which was black ice with snow drifts as opposed to snow ice is the best, but we did not cross the border to check this plate. 
We found drain holes in 3 locations, one fairly near the launch that was a runner eater, and a line of them near where ice shacks bound one side of the racing area.  The third area was on the far side of the race area, again where fisherman had drilled holes.  We did not find any on  the plate we would race on
If this lake was a possibility, it would have to be re sailed on Wed to see how the water drained off of it

 

Sebago lake, ME
We tried to hold the Easterns here Saturday.  We scouted it extensively mid week- thanks Dave Fortier and  Steve Madden.  Eben Witcomb and I sailed it sat morning in the rain prior to setting a course.  this was full on drysuit  sailing, and very foggy.
Ice had  up to 3” of water on it-before the heavy rains came.  At times the chocks would just hitting the rapids.   It was fairly smooth 7+ inches of black ice in the race area, with some bumps that would be doable at high speed  but it was not perfectly smooth.  In the end there was not enough wind to race.  Since 1-2 Inches of rain were expected on ice that already had up to 3” or water on it, we decided this was not likely to pan out.  David Fortier will look at this ice again Monday to access.

Bantam lake in CT
No report, but we assume it is too warm and is toast, it is not that great a lake anyway.

[eric_anderson]

race area location

[Ken Smith]

Rich,

Almost everyone has fingers crossed re Green Lake.   The desired outcome wished for is split widely.

Ken

[Rick Lemberg]

Lake Wawasee,Syracuse In.
Lake Wawasee had a Great mealtdown over the weekend,all the snow is gone and no goose holes found yet.waiting for colder temps to harden up more. will know more when we sail,Their is a new hotel right on the lake that is large enough for most of the fleet and their is another one in town .This is just an update on our lake I will have a better report after sailing.the forecast is for steady falling temps and very little snow.    Rick Lemberg  DN4155

[eric_anderson]

Bob Crinion reports good ice on Lake Mushamush in Nova Scotia.  Nice lake in a beautiful location.  good support localy as the home fleet"nova ice yacht sailors" is quite active 15-17 boat racing fleet.
From Bob C.  (He drove out to the westerns this year)

"On another note the gang did sail MushaMush Friday & Saturday.
After the rain all the lakes in my area look very good this morning. I’ll try to get pictures if I can of MushaMush." 


I will post picture if bob sends it to me.

[eric_anderson]

Report from Andre Baby on conditions in  Montreal

Jack and I sailed off Cartier pier today and explored a  portion of the ice plate which we estimate to be 3 X 7 miles. With its snow- ice surface there are virtually no pressure ridges. The surface varies between smooth and fast and scalloped,  bumpy areas, so I would qualify it a 6 plus overall. We found some wet shell ice now and then, in which a runner would crunch down maybe an inch, just enough to spook you. WE didn't  sail flat out in those conditions. The Wed. night freeze should take care of the shell ice. Also rain is forecast for tomorrow, so opportunity for more Zamboni to get rid of the bumps. The access off Cartier ave. in Pointe- Claire is easy ( 1999 Worlds and NA's) but we'd have to talk to the city about ploughing the parking lot.


André
 
514 426 4066