Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Long-Sought-For Pond, wind estimated at 0-5 mph, NW. Black ice, consistently solid but pretty bumpy in spots (particularly in the southern part), with some ice fishermen and a few skaters out. Sometimes becalmed, sometimes blowing decently. This was the first time that I felt like I was genuinely sailing. Not a single stroke with my legs, this was all wind power. Looks like I got up around 16 mph for a few brief moments, which was pretty fun, but not scary.

Tied the sail off to a buoy and went for a (very brief) bit of actual exercise. Having determined that the best ice was at the NW end, I stayed up there.

And sailing back to the car. There was one moment (the glitch at 15 minutes in) when things got wonky, and I had to follow the advice that I had given myself: if things get wonky, just let go of the sail. Not sure what happened, if it was a wind shift or some bad ice or something else or a combination (I was getting tired), but I just let it go and fell down, problem solved. Back up and sailing in about 30 seconds.

Drove by the clearcut on Gilchrest, and sure enough, they cleared the 10-foot strip (easy to identify because it's bounded by a stone wall on one side), so I have to assume that they did the land swap. Amusing to see that a couple of 1950s era junk cars are now sitting out in the open after presumably having lived in the woods for decades.