With no clear ice for hundreds of miles, made do with the local conditions, which is 5" of compacted old snow. Dragging the boat over a grassy field would have been easier. But once I got it out to the windy area of the lake, off we went. The 10 meter sail with 25 MPH winds seemed just enough, so two days later with 20 MPH winds projected, I went with the 12 meter and had another good day. I had noticed that the the boat decelerated when the belly was dragging, so I took the opportunity to try the tall chocks. The 8" of chock plus 4" of runner gives a ground clearance of about a foot. Made of 1/4" mild steel, they are strong, cheap, aerodynamic, and easy to make, but weigh 15 pounds each! Even with a 6 foot rear plank, the craft had a strong tendacy to stay horizontal.

Lucked into blowing snow today out at the local rez. Crusty ice is about 50% covered with 10" soft drifts. Wasn't thinking of snow when I built the tall chocks, but they easily sliced though 70 miles of drifts with no belly dragging. And the extra ballast was nice when balancing against 35MPH gusts. With more snow, firmer drifts, and higher winds forcast, tomorrow should be interesting.