sailingdiary

Plans to work today were foiled by Mike our roving ice and
wind reporter. I told Mike last night that winds of 5-10 were not
enough for me and I had to work. As my windmill started
churning a half hour after daybreak this morning I knew it
would be a taunting day at work. A pre work call from Mike on
location at Burntland Pond in Stonington (our back up pond)
was summed up as, no wind, pretty good ice and some rough
spots in the middle from snowmobile tracks. Mike said he'd
keep me posted. 9am call. We got some wind down here. 9:30
call. I'm gonna rig and sail, you coming down? So there I was
with all intentions to work, a new wing to play with, much
better ice than yesterday, its the end of the season, snow
coming tomorrow , a possible snow event coming this weekend
and Mike should surely not be sailing alone. It only took about 3
minutes of calculations to put me South on Rte15 with trailer in
tow. Driving the 10 miles from Deer Isle to Stonington these
days would rival the best of Baja events and I cringed all over
as I saw my trailer wheels leave the pavement more than
once. The sound of iceboat and hardware banging and clanging
was indication that things weren't going so well inside the
trailer either. I have three gaping holes in the bottom of my
boat from where it did a barrel roll in the trailer during this trip
last season. As I tried to maintain my speed of 15 mph cars
were passing me and gawking at the wing strapped on top of
the trailer with that " what ta hell is that" look on their faces.
As I weaved, dodged and just plain smashed through the hidden
holes I cursed every municipality in the United States.

My gut feeling that the wind would let go upon my arrival was
put to rest as I pulled in and saw Mikes black Locomotive go
chugging by. Burntland pond is a small 24 acres, usually has
better ice than Walker, quiet, secluded and the worst damn
pond I have ever sailed on. Burntlands winds are well beyond
fluky, at times violent, other times mind boggling but always a
challenge to the human spirit. Since we sail Burntland early in
the season we all know her ways and don't expect any grand
rides on this pond, but when all else fails we can get a ride
here. I think we are well into the "when all else fails" season.

Being advised by the "Wing King" John Eisenlohr on tell tales
and the use of a windex gave me some light wind ammo for the
day. I stripped up some streamer tape and put on some tell
tales, but could not find anything to make a windex out of in
the short term. I lined up the wing and Yellow Fever to the
best runway I could find and put the tired, aching muscles that
had been overused yesterday back at work pushing the 330
pound beast over the ice. As I launched myself into the cockpit
I made sure to finesse my landing so as not to lift the front
runner off the ice and lose steering. After a few failed attempts
the telltales were telling me that I could not rotate the wing
enough to allow it to power up. With Mikes help we slacked up
the side stays. This allowed me more wing rotation so that I
could put the wind off my beam and put the wings nose into
the wind with the flap set at 30 degrees. I think it was at that
point that the light came on in my head. I was sailing a wing
not a sail. At this point in the morning the winds were light but
steady and the ice was not sticky . I found a patch of smooth
ice and sailed from one side of the small pond to the other just
building steam before tacking or jibing. I could take advantage
of any puffs by pointing into the wind. Mike was outsailing me
but I felt that an hour of practice would make me more of a
threat than a spectacle. As the wind pulled from the NW to
West I lost my stride and couldn't seem to stay in the groove.
The wind got more goofy and fluky to the point where I just
couldn't sail. I took a time out, gave myself a pep talk and sent
Mike home to get me a coathanger. It is funny how we can
spend so many hours on iceboat parts and pieces that have no
impact on performance what so ever but yet build a gismo
from a coathanger and a piece of ribbon in less than a minute
that will make you go from pushing to sailing. The addition of
the makeshift windex was that drastic. One would assume a
telltale on the front stay would work just fine but the wing
hides the front stay most of the time and I found myself today
using the windex like the sight of a gun to align the leading edge
of the wing to the wind. It was a must have item, especially in
the goofy wind. After a few hours of goofy wind sailing and
softening ice Mike and I called it a day by 2pm.

Although Mike outsailed me all day today I was happy with the
light wind perfomance of the wing. Pushing 540 pounds of boat
and driver with a 35sq ft wing is a challenge at best. I think I
have a severe case of heavy boat syndrome going on. I still
have a lot to learn about this animal but we are slowly
developing a relationship. I should add that what I write on
here is not the gospel, just my own experiences, good, bad or
otherwise. Many people have contacted me with praise and
interest reguarding the wing project so I hope my ramblings
help break the ice and kindle the flames for others that want to
flap their wings.