tj@utcs.UUCP (tj) (03/19/85)
Well, last winter (not the one we are still having) we (my ski partner, half boat owner, partner in crime, good friend Geoff) decided to set up a slalom course. We had researched it a fair amount. We had tried a few times in the summer but it is hard to measure the distances accurately in a moving boat. Just try to get 300 feet plus or minus 6 inches... We had used strings that we measured in the local football stadium, but they stretched 3 feet in 300 so we were quite sure that this wasn't the way. Then we heard that all the GOOD courses are set up in winter. You see we have real cold ones here in Canada and the water freezes and it is easy to walk along with a tape measure and get it down to the inch. Well we went up to a friends cottage with all the stuff one weekend. What we planned was to cut the holes and sink floats attached to cinder blocks (the big ugly grey type) so that they were floating just below the ice so they didn't disappear when the ice goes out in the spring. (ice takes docks, rocks etc out in the spring...) (a 100 ton ice cube moving at .5 mile an hour has awsome momentum...) We had 600 lbs of concrete blocks, 22 in all, $30 worth. We had 500 feet of rope, $25 worth, we had boat bumpers for floats, $50 worth. (there are 22 floats in a slalom course!) We had a chain saw to cut the holes, and thank god we had a snowmobile to move this shit out out onto the lake. We went out and measured the course off. The ice was making horrible noises, we thought we were going through every step we took. At one point I found my partner clinging to me praying. I asked why he thought that concentrating all our weight in one spot might help us not go through. His explanation was that I was so lucky I would never go through so he was going to hang on to me! We finally (3 Hrs) had it measured off and all the stuff moved in place. We started cutting with the chain saw. Were we in for a surprise. We brought a 16 inch chain saw and it was not long enough to go through the ice even pointing straight down. The ice was 2 feet thick. we cut what we could with the chain saw and then used a pick to hack our way through. May I remind you that there are 22 holes to cut to lay a proper course, at 1/2 hour each we were looking at 11 hours work. We decided to do the more important ones first, we did the six ski buoys and the entrance and exit buoys. Save the rest for another day. then after you cut a hole, you tie rope to a concrete block and deep six it. when it hits bottom, you pull it up 5 feet and tie a float to it and send it down. well these things just would not sink straight. they went down 5 feet and over 2 feet. Either that or you tied the float so it still stuck out of the water!! you had to fish it out and try again. Ever spend a lot of time swimming in ice water? We were frozen, tired, etc at the end, and there were still 10 to go. These last 10 we came back another weekend to do. It was 3 weeks later and in that time the ice had melted so much we had to take a canoe out to the ice. It was a lot easier cutting the holes, one blow with a pick and you had a hole. Tell me how secure I was feeling walking on that stuff. To make it even more interesting there was a thin layer of ice over 2 inches of water over the main layer of ice. Every step broke through the thin ice and you never knew whether you were going to stop or go for the count. Well, we set 8 of the last 10. By the end of the day the ice was just too thin and going fast. We finally had a course..... In summer we went up and set up the course. It looked, well, less than perfect due to the ice shift between the two setting sessions but we fixed it up and you know, neither of us that thought we were so hot could make more than 3 buoys the first day!!! The second day I managed 6 plus entrance and exit and that was my high for the year, Geoff still hasn't made it yet. Now, someone must have a better way to do it... Lets hear it.