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Do you every wonder what would happen if you sailed into an unmarked 10’ x 15’ hole caused by a spearing shanty hole? Well the GX-1 had the misfortune of experiencing such an encounter this past Saturday (14 Jan 2006) on Lake Skegemog and the result wasn’t pretty!

As the old iceboater’s adage goes, “there are those that have, and those that will.” Maybe now I’m good for the rest of my sailing days!

Al Leroux in his boat “Adrenaline” and I were sailing maybe 100 feet apart, on a starboard tack at approximately 45-50 mph, when out of no-where I see open water directly in front of the right side of my boat. Within a split second of seeing the water I remember hearing a tremendous whoosh of water as the right side of the plank plowed into the open hole. What followed was a violent jerk and 90 degree rotational spin of the fuselage and a hard slam of my left shoulder and my helmet on the ice. As I laid there trying to assess what had happened and if I was injured, a wave of water slid by my helmet, causing an immediate mental preparation for a dunking. Oh no I thought, the whole darn boat is slipping into the water! What a relief when I realized that it was just a wave of water washing under me. It certainly was an awful feeling, looking out at the tangled mast of sail, boom, mast, stays and a shattered fuselage. Then suddenly it hits you, hey I’m ok, no broken bones, not even bleeding! I am still thankful that God had his Angels there to protect me, amen and amen.

Within a minute or two there were almost a dozen sailors at my side, helping untangle the mess and celebrating that I was not injured. The jokes and light hearted humor was well under way by the time we had managed to push the wreckage to the shore, like “wow, an Opti Skeeter”, or, why did you make such a long trailer, you could fit three of these in there.”

Bob came over Monday and we put the parts in the garage to evaluate the situation. On Saturday I was certain t hat my sailing was done for the season and that I would get the ice shanty down from the rafters. But much to my surprise and delight, Bob announced, ”a few days on the bench the boat will be back on the ice—not pretty, but sailable.” Looking at the way the backbone was torn apart, it is apparent what happened during the crash. As the plank and boat slid apart, the forces of the elongating triangle of the starboard side stay to the hound and the hound to the forestay, ripped the truss in half just ahead of the mast step frame. We are very pleased that the cockpit capsule held together, protecting the occupant (me) from ejection and flying debris.

Well I’m glad to announce that as of this afternoon (Friday), it is sailable. Tomorrow I will put some primer on the new side panels, straighten out some mounting hardware, replace the one broken batten, have Bill Buchbinder make on new trip wire, and loader it back in the trailer for the next outing.

Fourteen pumps of Gougeon; five feet of Poplar; two feet of 2” fiberglass tape and my last sheet of 1/8” plywood did the trick, plus a whole lot of guidance and help from Bob Gray and Bob Johnson. Thanks guys!

See you on the ice at next air.

Corey

CRASHING AN ICEBOAT