Ice off in New England

[slvrbulit]

So after shoveling 30"of snow on Tuesday, I couldn't help but dream about 80 degree sunshine filled days and being on the water. My question to people in New England is when do most of you put the boat in the water for the first time?

[Than_Bogan]

Early April. Sometimes get very lucky and mid-March, sometimes (see 2014) get screwed and early May.

 

Cold as hell at that point. Open water only because even in a drysuit you don't want to be stopping and sitting in the water very often.

 

Usually install the slalom course in early May. At that point a Real Man can go with a wetsuit. I stay in drysuit until the calendar hits June.

 

Note: NH, VT, and ME are often still solid when we start in MA.

[PatM]

April 20-25ish. Sometimes earlier, but it seems that is when it always happens. I usually time it with when we can put the course in.

[DmaxJC_ski]

May 20 ish... And back out by October..

[skihacker]

upstate new new york, usually mid april, last year was end of april, and may was awefull. the previous two years the first week of april

[Chef23]

April 15-30 then out of the water around October 15-20. I try to have the boat wrapped up by Halloween.

[alex38]

The New England season runs from March 1st to November 30th

[alex38]

...in my mind

[cragginshred]

70* in Ca. this weekend,....great for climbing and skiing BUT stinken drought is in full force

[rfa]

Used to be the day after the ice was gone...but I was younger then...still try to pull the course up ASAP after no ice...just takes longer to get the boat (and me) in...

[19skier]

Ice is off in Great Falls MT.! First watetski of 2015 tonight. It felt so good but the old bones may dissagree tomorrow!

[slvrbulit]

This will be my first year with my boat, (I picked it up last fall.) So I can't wait to get it in the water and start skiing. @skihacker where in upstate NY?

[skihacker]

small pond just outside rochester,

[hacker]

@skihacker... I'm thinking we might know each other? I am confused tho, there are only 2 or 3 active skiers in the "hacker" class near Rochester.

[skihacker]

Not sure we've ever met, but i'm definitely a hacker, no 2 turns or sets look the same and never pretty but somehow get into 35 off quite a bit

[vtjc]

I live near and ski on Lake Iroquois near Burlington, VT. Typically we ski a few times in April and season begins in May. Often the first outing in April the lake still has some ice. Our earliest time out was Saint Patrick’s Day March 17th 2012 during a record warm spell. Our snow and water ski season typically over lap in the spring and are separated by a month in the fall. Every other year or so we find a way too snow and waterski the same day in the spring. Latest ski was December 24th; Lake Iroquois had frozen so we skied on Lake Champlain.

[ALPJr]

Here in eastern CT I was dreaming of an early start this spring, then we spent 8 hrs digging out from the 30" snowfall on Tuesday and are looking at temps in the teens for the next 5 days. There's still hope for an early spring warm up though.

[Edbrazil]

Looking at places I/we used to ski in NH, on Google Earth: there are views from about April 14,

2011. Lakes were about 1/2 way iced out in central NH. Still frozen solid in the Sunapee area.

The small pond in that region where we had tournaments 1973--1979 usually was skiable (brrr)

by late April.

 

Big Lake Winnipesaukee has ice-out records going back to well before water skiing was invented.

In the modern era: March 23, 2012 to May 6,1971.

[Web]

We ski upstate new york finger lakes, mid April to mid November. Learned a lot of cold weather tricks over the years. Don't forget the light bulb for your engine box! BTW ski hacker and haker, not really sure what you mean by hacker class, but I know a bunch of guys running 32s, 35s and some 38s. Let's hear it for upstate!

[slvrbulit]

My brother and I ski on Canadragoo lake in Richfield Springs. It's by Cooperstown.

[hacker]

@Web "hacker" = thru 28, "wanna-be"; 32 & 35. Cuz they wanna be running 38. :smiley:

 

@skihacker is no hacker! :wink:

[ALPJr]

Looks like another foot or so of snow over the next few days. Great times for snow sports in New England