Valentine’s Weekend Ice Status We Know What We Know But…

Sailor’s Valentine from Capt. Jared Wentworth Tracy (1797-1864) to his wife, Mary Hussey Tracy (1809-1891) of Nantucket. Created 1839-1840. Credit Nantucket Historical Association.

All,

Apologies this was supposed to go out last night but your technically inclined Commodore was having issues.

Most of us know what the weather has brought us over the past week and that does not bode well for sailable ice. “I know what I know” but confirmed with our best boots on the ground in VT, ME and NH. and it was a unanimous no sailing. The same reports are coming out of the Montreal area. There is either too much snow or a very undesirable crud like surface keeping us from our beloved ice. Pretty much everything south of there is in various stages of returning to its summer liquid state.

There is one glimmer of hope for the long weekend. Quaboag Pond in Brookfield, MA is going to be checked today or tomorrow after the cold comes through. Maybe just maybe we can sail during this long weekend. Our ace checker Bob S will be confirming Quaboag’s condition and reporting back.

Patience rules the day and since this is Valentine’s Day, I’m sharing how other sailors be they grounded or during long voyages spent their time. Hint, they spent time, thinking about and creating hand crafted Valentines for their loved ones at home. A lesson for us all as the season progresses and we travel further and further from home in search of ice or whales.

From the Nantucket Historical Association https://nha.org/
This sailor’s valentine was a gift from Capt. Jared Wentworth Tracy (1797-1864) to his wife, Mary Hussey Tracy (1809-1891). The anchor symbolized Capt. Tracy’s intention to return home and “anchor” at his wife’s side. Tracy was captain of the schooner Harmony of Nantucket on a whaling voyage to the Indian Ocean in 1838-39. The Harmony wrecked on a reef near Caldeira Island in the Mozambique Channel (now Ilha Caldeira, Mozambique) on February 8, 1839. Tracy is reputed to have made this sailor’s valentine while stranded after the wreck. He returned to Nantucket by way of St. Helena in fall 1839. He subsequently retired from the sea and in 1840 set himself up as a shoe maker on island.

Think Thaw and Refreeze,

John
DNUS5023

P.S. Mike Acebo has published pictures from the New England Championships to the cloud on Dropbox. I am sure many of you can use an updated screen saver at work and home https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g48q6ugag93uilr/AADxpUBsGC2WjesOZAmxABqWa?dl=0 If you have a chance thank Mike!

P.P.S. Thanks to all those who supplied the human on available ice. We can not do it without you!