Ice-topia....

I've been meaning to post this for several years now, and I recently came across these images from 2014.  Rhinebeck artist James Gurney visited the ice when we had that fabulous sailing off Rokeby in March of 2014.
Plein Air artist and illustrator/author - hopefully you know his fabulous Dinotopia series- James pulled out his artist tools and sketched some of the lineup of boats that day.  Jack Norton came upon him as he worked and sent me the two photos.  James was kind enough to give me permission to use his finished work, which he had posted on his blog.

A little vodka keeps the watercolors flowing on the brush! Makes sense!

Ice, Finally!

It has been a great winter for iceboating! Everywhere but the Hudson Valley.....

Bill Buchholz and crew have been sailing most all winter up in Maine They have it dialed in with car top-able boats and many venues to sail.  All winter.
Meanwhile the Midwest has had some great sailing, including the dn world championships
and North American championship racing.

Today, in March, I saw my first rigged stern steerer on ice here! Just returned from 2 weeks in Australia & New Zealand and discovered we have some late season sailing happening.  Reid B. set up Vixen on Copake Lake - largest lake in Columbia County , NY.
We have had good cold this winter, but ill-timed storms and warm spells have spoiled safe ice formation. There was a short window of sailing to the south, the first weekend of February. Brett sailed Genevivie for a day or 2 on Orange Lake, but that was cut short with warm temperatures.
Here we are, the first week of March. The Hudson is free of ice; Tivoli Bay is mostly open. Copake is frozen over and we are looking at  several days of single digit temperatures this week, along with a minor storm. Next weekend (March 9-10) may shape up to be great.  Stay Tuned...

Sunday, March 3.  No wind in the afternoon. 
Nice to be on the ice after 101 degrees in Melbourne just 48 hours earlier. 

Reid chases a teasing breeze. 2 days earlier he gave many rides to friends and  lake residents.
It was noted that locals hadn't seen an iceboat on the lake in over 50 years. 

Next weekend  will be awesome!