Have been waiting all season for a wind event when it's not + 40 or -20 degrees. Have been waiting two years for the right ice conditions for studded tires. We've now got friable lumpy ice and a Thursday wind forecast in the mid 20's. Could be an interesting day.
Lake MacBride, Iowa
Tried the studded tires today. They just have too much drag on ice or snow. Ice surface here is borderline at best, but it would have been a better day with runners.
rolley
L. MacBride
Good news is that the ice is 22" thick and snow coverage is down to about 50%. Bad news, surface remains very rough and presumably slow. Am back to watching the wind forecast.
rolley
Better late than....
Caught a five hour wind window this afternoon. Rough ice, gusts to 30MPH, blowing snow, and sun made for a good day. The 12 meter sail allowed nature to lead sometimes in our dance.
rolley
Some days are coal
Generally I wouldn't waste time with a SE wind, but ice days dwindle and the weathermen said "blustery" and "winds 20 to 30 MPH", so how bad could it be? Well it was light and variable, slowly declining to dead calm. Yuk. North Arm of L.MacBride now about a two on the DN sailable scale.
rolley
what lake
What lake in SE Iowa are you sailing?