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MIDWEST ICE CONDITIONS & ISA

February 27, 2005 - 02:00 — SAILSMAN

GEOFF,
SINCE YOU ARE BACK THERE AND IF YOU WERE A BETTING MAN, WHERE WOULD YOU SUSPECT ISA TO BE HELD IF IT HAPPENS? AM IN VAIL COLORADO & WE ARE WAITING FOR 2 LARGER LAKES IN THE STATE TO SOUP OUT & GIVE US SOME WHAT OF A SPRING SEASON. IT HAS BEEN THE WORST EVER. KONR AKA SAILSMAN

‹ Elk Lake Feb 19, 2005 Lake Wawasee, Syracuse, IN 02-24-2005 ›
February 27, 2005 - 03:14 — GeoffS

I wish I knew...

Man, do I wish I knew what was going to happen around here.

We're supposed to get some rain (snow - nooooo!!!!!) tomorrow.

Right now, all the lakes I know of around here (except Geneva) are covered in a layer of "stuff" that's a bit like the iceboating verison of the old adage: "to thick to sail through, too soft to sail on". This has been verified first-hand by at least one intrepid DNer today.

Geneva is supposedly sailable, but the area is supposedly small (well under 1 sq mi). I'm hoping to hear how the sailing went today down there (I'm stuck in work, probably through tomorrow, or else I'd be down there myself).

Given all that, sitting here in work, I'd guess there are two positive scenarios (and lots of bad ones):

  1. We get rain tomorrow that cleans off most/all the lakes and the ISA has their pick.

  2. We don't get enought good precip. tomorrow to clean off all the lakes, but we also don't get too much bad precip. and Geneva's surface stays good.
    Followed by enough cold to heal up the crack dividing the lake in two (or the area on one side or the other is big enough).
    The the ISA goes to Lake Geneva (somewhere).

Some outlier possibilites:

  • Elk Lake north of Traverse City may be good enough.
  • Toledo/Detroit/Sandusky?
  • Lake Wawasee, Syracuse, Indiana sounds sailable - big enough?
  • Lake Pepin?
  • Twin Cities?

By tomorrow evening or Monday morning we should have a much better idea of how things will look out here.

Cheers,

Geoff S.

February 27, 2005 - 07:05 — SAILSMAN

THANKS FOR YOUR THOUGHTS GEOF

THANKS FOR YOUR THOUGHTS GEOFF,
BY JACK'S PHOTOS SNOW IS ON ELK BUT NOT TOO MUCH. AS FAR AS WEATHER GOES WE HAD A BIT OF SNOW HERE OVER-NITE BUT DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS HEADED YOUR WAY. THOUGHT PEPIN'S RAMPS WERE NOT ACCESSIBLE FOR THE BIGGER HOT RODS AND WONDER IF MINNETONKA HAS A LARGE ENOUGH SHEET OF RACEABLE ICE? HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE REST. SAIL FAST AND THANKS ONCE AGAIN KONR

February 28, 2005 - 07:09 — unregistered skipper

Midwest ISA ice conditions...

Konr
I'm the nutcase Geoff politely called "intrepid"! (LOL) Tried to sail Lake Monona saturday. 1 1/2 inch crust on 2 inches of fluff was too much for poor DN.
Sailed Lake Geneva today (sunday)mostly shell ice under approx. 1/2 inch of snow. Locals say the lake has half the ice it normally does this time of year. While leaving I watched an empty four place snowmobile trailer breakthrough the ice at the ramp. That was while it was empty! Conditions dont look good right now. Geneva is the best in the area, and it's marginal.
Byron

February 28, 2005 - 08:13 — SAILSMAN

WELL BYRON AT LEAST YOU GAVE

WELL BYRON AT LEAST YOU GAVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT AND THAT'S MORE THAN I COULD DO THIS WEEKEND THE WAY THE ICE IS HERE. AM WAITING FOR A REPORT ON ELEVENMILE RES. WHICH IS NORTHWEST OF COLORADO SPRINGS. GOOD SIZED AS IT IS APPORX. 4 MI. LONG AND ROUGHLY A MILE OR 2 ACCROSS. USUALLY GET A GOOD LATE SEASON THERE AND RARELY DO WE GET SKUNKED WIND WISE AND HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO SAIL IN SHORTS AS THE WEATHER GETS THAT WARM. LAKE DILLON IS THE OTHER POSSIBLE LAKE THAT SHOULD BEGIN TO SOUP OUT SOON & GIVE US A LATE SEASON. THANKS FOR THE INFO. IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. SAIL FAST. KONR

February 28, 2005 - 07:02 — GeoffS

ISA On for March 4-6.

From http://iceboat.org/ today:

> February 27, 2005:
> ISA Called On for March 4-6, 2005
> Call the hotline or check the website after 12 PM on
> Wednesday, March 2, for final confirmation.
> Lake Geneva is the primary site.

February 27, 2005 - 07:22 — unregistered skipper

Elk

It's possible that tomorrow may be our last sailing day on ELk Lake until we get some warmer weather. We are expecting plenty of winds to sail the entire week, BUT.... This storm was supposed to wait to drop alot of snow until it was East of us, but now they say we may get 8-12 Inches...It is supposed to happen between Sunday late night and Tuesday morning. So we'll have a much better idea Tuesday early.
We have been forcasted to get over 8 inches of snow at least a dozen times this season, and they have been wrong about 11 times, the other time they were right, but we also got 4 days of near 50 degrees which took care of the snow and we had clear ice again for awhile...
I'm just concerned about this storm because I have never (in my 59 years of sailing) sailed this many days for so many hours a day on the same piece of ice. It's too good to be true...
Let's hope it misses us.
Jack