Annual Porters Lake Winter Ice Fly 2016

[CF Av8or]

2016 Porters Lake Ice Fly is a (tentative) GO for tomorrow, Saturday 20 Feb

The weather is forecast to be good for flying tomorrow - light winds to start in the morning, increasing later in the afternoon, sunny, with an afternoon high of +3 deg C. The rain showers/flurries are not expected to start until late afternoon. Perfect.

The ice surface is also perfect. No snow, but a little bumpy in areas from the previous snows , but certainly manageable for take-offs and landings.

On the down side, there is open water to the east of the bay area in which we do our flying, but this should not be a factor, unless you intend fly to your aircraft over the open water, far from the normal flying area. There is solid ice all the way out to the island and well to the south. The ice thickness is the only thing that I am concerned about at the moment.

Safe minimum ice thickness for ice-fishing is considered to be 4", and ice that is 2" or less is considered unsafe to walk on. I measured the ice this morning in a number of areas and I saw ice thicknesses up to 7", but as little as 3" in some darker coloured areas. The high today is going to be 0 deg and the overnight low tonight -4 deg, which means there should not be any lessening of the ice thickness and possibly some thickening. My intention is to measure the ice again first thing tomorrow morning.

As Sunday is not going to be good weather-wise, tomorrow is my first and last chance to host the event. I'm keen to see this go, as I know many of you are keen on attending, but I don't want to put anyone at risk. Having said that, Mary is going ahead with the food prep (pulled pork sandwiches and yummy desserts) and I will have everything set to go.

I will post on the forum first thing after I measure the ice again. Come on out tomorrow morning anyway and if we decide the ice is not safe enough, we can do some hangar talk over coffee and hot chocolate - and it's never too early for dessert!

[CF Av8or]

Further to my last:

I'll be up at 7 am to measure the ice. The wind conditions will be best early in the morning, and assuming good ice thickness, I would say start is time any time after 0800. Even if we don't fly, all are welcome to come and socialize.

The address is 2155 Crowell Rd, East Lawrencetown. It is the second left past Lawrencetown Beach if you are coming from Cole Harbour on Hwy 207 (Lawrencetown Rd). Or, if you are coming via the 107 Hwy, take exit 19, then south on West Porters Lake Rd, which turns into Crowell Rd. Look for the red, green and yellow wind sock at the side of the road. If you have any questions, call 827-3039.

Bring warm clothes, a lawn chair and ice-cleats if you have them. Lunch (pulled pork sandwiches), drinks and dessert will be provided. The house will be open to warm up in, charge batteries, and talk shop.

Hope to see everyone there!

Vic

[retiredVTT]

Heading out....weather is excellent..!

Bill

[CF Av8or]

We are GO for Ice Fly 2016!!!

Just measured the ice and it is safe. Thickness is 7 inches near the shore, with a minimum thickness beyond shore of 4 inches. It is strong clear ice, and as such meets the minimum safety standards - that is, as long as nobody decides they want to drive their car onto the ice to chase their plane!

Bring your ice cleat (or skates, for that matter) as, as the surface very smooth and slippery. Also, bring a coffee cup if you are a coffee or tea drinker, as we seem to be short of styrofoam cups.

There is not a breath of wind and the sun is a-risin'.

See you on the ice!!

Vic

[Tom B T-28]

Vic & Mary,
Thanks so much for hosting this superb event again this year, it is the highlight of my Winter activities! Great conditions,great flying and such a great group of flyers! A shout out to Mary for putting on such a superb lunch including the mouth watering deserts! Congratulations on your retirement Vic, enjoy your well deserved time off!

[retiredVTT]

What a great day Vic; you really lucked out on the weather.

I didn't get much time to talk to either you or Mary, too much going on. My thanks to Mary for the terrific pulled pork sandwiches and that "toffee desert with ice cream" was simply out of the park..!

These annual ice events are something else, they draw so many modellers from different Clubs together.

Many thanks again to both of you..and enjoy your retirement Vic, because it's a whole new world..!

Bill

[AndrewS]

I'd like to add my thanks to Vic and Mary(and Denise and the other lady who helped Mary at Lunch) for yet another great Ice Fly.
You guys do a fantastic job hosting us all.
Have a great time in California. Congrats Vic on your retirement.

Andrew

[datter]

It was great meeting people today. I was trying to put forum names to faces without much success but that's ok. Lots and lots of Johns for some reason. Thanks to Vic especially for showing me around the workshop as it was scarily inspirational. We definitely share a love of the same sort of aircraft.

Time to get my club membership sorted out, then start seeing what sort of gear I can gather up. At the moment all I own is a stack of foam board from the dollarstore (of which the paper peels off of nicely so that's a plus). Radios, batteries, servos, motors, balsa, etc. Here I go again. Just need to figure out where to start.

Thanks again folks, you are a welcoming bunch.

[JohnOSullivan]

Enjoyed today very much.
I've attended Vic's winter fly-in for many years and it's a mystery how he can pull together that very special weather day out of all the crappy weather days we get.
0 degs Celcius, with flat calm wind until 10:30 and only a little southerly breeze after that. Perfect conditions on a clear ice lake. Only one damaged model that I can recall and everyone had a great time.
Of course the highlight was the spread that Mary and Denise (and others) put on. The most perfect Pulled Pork and Coleslaw. Not being a desert man, I did not sample the cookies, Sticky Toffee Pudding or Ice Cream, but everyone else loved them. Thank you lovely ladies.
It was good to see a few new modellers to the group and hope they join our ranks.

[CF Av8or]

Well, what can I say, the weather and ice gods smiled upon us for yet another year!

Ideal conditions and an awesome gang of fliers, with an equally awesome and diverse selection of aircraft, came together yesterday to make this a memorable event again this winter.

Thanks from Mary and I to everyone who attended and for all the kind words expressed above. Thanks also to Denise and Violet for helping Mary out in the kitchen. As usual, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

Here are some of Mary's photos from the day: