12-26-09

As I spent my Christmas afternoon snowboarding and downhill skiing on a Wii system I looked out the window at my iceboat trailer and
thought to myself that its no wonder that kids these days never leave the house. I can do it all from the comfort of my living room. An email
from Jory regarding good ice conditions at Unity and a probable gathering got me thinking that it was time to make a trip inland with the
boats. Vanessa was iffy about the whole thing and I have to be honest and say that I had to question a 3 hr round trip for a possible ice boat
ride. What has happened to me I asked myself, am I getting tired of iceboating? Does that happen to people?
We threw the lines at 7 this morning and plotted a course for Unity Pond. I argued with my Tom Tom gps unit most of the way . The Tom
Tom didn’t know that we were towing a trailer full of iceboats and smooth roads ruled, regardless of what my English accented female friend
that was suction cupped to the windshield had to say. Larry, Vanessa and I rolled into the public landing to see a sheet of white snow
covering Unity Pond. Snow~!@#$%^&*()_+ We drove all this way for snow ~!@#$%^&*()_+ We sprinted from the truck and started skuffing
like 3 bucks in a rut. The snow covered surface seemed manageable and the chainsaw penetrated to the freshly notched and most
comforting 8" mark on the bar. We rigged and sailed. Damn it felt good. Being used to sailing in the tornado alleys of Walker Pond it was a
real treat to sail in smooth , steady wind. We weren’t overwhelmed with wind but it was just right for a shakedown cruise.
Larry was in the pits helping Dean, our first new friend of the day rig his DN. I know of few occasions in life where you can meet a total
stranger, sail his boat , share his coffee cake and leave wishing you had known him all of your life. And the pit parade continued as we met
many friends of the same caliber. It had been to long since our last trip inland to sail with the gang. It really felt good to shake hands , rub
elbows and help step a few masts. Though rubbing elbows with Bill Bunting seems to have no effect on my own boats, I do it every chance I
get in hopes that someday I can sail around a stopped fleet as Bill does every time I share the ice with him. Bill claims to know nothing about
iceboating other than you pull on the string, but I do find that story hard to swallow. I especially wanted Vanessa to meet and greet so that
she could put faces with the digitized messages that come across our computer screen on a daily basis. I could tell she was warming up to
the crowd as I noticed her loaning out her 4" universal foam backrest to a nearby DN sailor in need. I had no idea that Larry was in one of
the high end DN’s that was flying past us on a regular basis. His friendship with Dean had matured to long term boat lending proportions.
Why spend years building boats when you can just hang around the pits and borrow one I thought to myself. Would Bill Bunting fall for this
tactic? Hmmmmm Vanessa seemed to have her own strategy of stalling in the middle of the pond and taking off her helmet. As I approached
to check on her she was sharing a candy bar with Jory and well under control. Do the light wind days bring out the generosity in people or
what? Just goes to show you don’t need a fast boat to have fun on the ice ---as a matter of fact you don’t even need to bring a boat at all.
As we pulled away from the ramp with our unrigged boats in tow I looked back at Unity Pond with an inner feeling that has been missing
these past softwater months. I had a feeling that a Wii system will never be able to recreate. I had a day worth writing about.

Kevin