Ice yachting

Ice yachting is the sport of sailing and racing iceboats, also called ice yachts. It is practiced in Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Norway and Sweden, to some extent, and is very popular in the Netherlands and on the Gulf of Finland, but its highest development is in the United States and Canada. The Dutch ice yacht is a flat-bottomed boat resting crosswise upon a planking about three feet wide and sixteen long, to which are affixed four steel runners, one each at bow, stern and each end of the planking. The rudder is a fifth runner fixed to a tiller. Heavy mainsails and jibs are generally used and the boat is built more for safety than for speed. The iceboat of the Gulf of Finland is a V-shaped frame with a heavy plank running from bow to stern, in which the mast is stepped. The stern or steering runner is worked by a tiller or wheel. The sail is a large lug and the boom and gaff are attached to the mast by travelers. The passengers sit upon planks or rope netting. According to some, the Russian boats were faster than the Dutch-built ice yachts.

In 1790, ice yachting was in vogue on the Hudson River, its headquarters being at Poughkeepsie, New York. The type was a square box on three runners, the two forward, ones being nailed to the box and the third acting as a rudder operated by a tiller. The sail was a flatheaded sprit. This primitive style was in general use until 1853, when triangular frames with boxes for the crew aft and jib and mainsail rig were introduced. A heavy, hard-riding type soon developed, with short gaffs, low sails, large jibs and booms extending far over the stern. It was over-canvassed and the mast was stepped directly over the runner plank, bringing the centre of sail-balance so far aft that the boats were apt to run away, and the over-canvassing frequently caused the windward runner to swing up into the air to a dangerous height. The largest and fastest example of this type, which prevailed until 1879, was Commodore J. A. Roosevelt's first Icicle, which measured 69 ft (21 m) overall and carried 1,070 sq ft (99 m²) of canvas. In 1879, H. Relyea built the Robert Scott, which had a single backbone and guy wires, and it became the model for all Hudson River ice yachts. Masts were now stepped farther forward, jibs were shortened, booms were cut down, and the center of sail-balance was brought more inboard and higher up, causing the centers of effort and resistance to come more in harmony. The shallow steering-box became elliptical. In 1881 occurred the first race for the American Challenge Pennant, which represents the championship of the Hudson River; the clubs that competed included the Hudson River, North Shrewsbury, Orange Lake, Newburgh and Carthage Ice Yacht Clubs. The races are usually sailed five times round a triangle of which each leg measures one mile, at least two of the legs being to windward. Ice yachts are divided into four classes, carrying respectively 600 sq ft (60 m²) of canvas or more, between 450 and 600, between 300 and 450, and less than 300 sq ft (30 m²). Ice yachting is very popular on the Great Lakes, both in the United States and Canada, the Kingston, Ontario Club having a fleet of over 25 sail. Other important centers of the sport are the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin area, with an average of twenty-five sailing days a season for the last five years, Lakes Minnetonka and White Bear in Minnesota, Lakes Winnebago and Pepin in Wisconsin, Bar Harbor Lake in Maine, the St. Lawrence River, Quinte Bay and Lake Champlain.

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