A Message From The Commodore

January 1, 2010

To CIYC website visitors:

As an ice-sailor who lives only a mile from Bantam Lake, I assumed the role as “ice scout/reporter” over 15 years ago; even before moving to Litchfield and becoming a member of CIYC. I started ice-sailing on a homemade ice-board built along the lines of the Freeskate. However, it didn’t take long before I was offered a ride on an iceboat on Bantam and was immediately hooked. Very shortly my two sailing partners and I purchased our first DN which was constantly in motion during the first season; having three eager captains trading places when ice was present. Another DN and a brand new Nite followed quickly.

I have since become the Commodore of CIYC in a landslide victory; totally unopposed in the 2008 club elections (ya think the reason I lived so close to the lake…?) Prior to my first term, CIYC established a website that receives 12,000 hits a year; most start coming in around the beginning of the sailing season and continue until the thaw.  We receive a constant flow of emails asking about ice conditions on Bantam. This creates a real problem for us as a club whose main charter is to “further the sport of iceboating.”

The internet and email have obviously changed the way we get information about ice conditions. While our members rely on a number of other sources for ice reports when conditions are not safe or there’s too much snow, we limit our email ice reports on Bantam Lake to CIYC members only for a number of reasons. We have a yearly lease arrangement with White Memorial Foundation that allows our club members to use the Point Folly Camp Store parking lot on the lake’s North Shore Road for boat and trailer storage during the season. The lot has very limited parking and we are required in the lease to carry liability insurance to cover any claims resulting from problems on the premises. The expenses incurred for the lease and insurance are shared by the membership.

However the lot is also open to the public, and the lake and the boat launch area is state property so we have no special rights other than first come-first serve, even as tenants; not your optimum setup. We also share “our pond” with other iceboaters who trail in, ice fishermen, ice skaters, cross-country skiers, snowmobilers, skate-sailors, kite-sailors, Freeskaters, birdwatchers and other interested observers.

At the beginning of each iceboating season every CIYC member is required to sign a waiver which holds them solely responsible for his or her own safety, property, guests, and passengers in any and all club activities that they participate in during the season so the club and its officers are “held harmless.” Each member also receives a safety manual at initiation and we constantly remind them of the dangers inherent in the sport.

As far as we can determine by our records, in the 75+ year history of the club there is no record of any insurance claim. We are extremely proud of our safety record and work very hard to keep “our pond” as safe as possible for all who come to it for winter recreational purposes. In closing, we hope you understand why we limit our ice reports to members only and why we feel “we’re caught between a rock and a hard place” as ardent iceboaters.

DD