[Leica] More about iceboating

[photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman)]

Of course, if global warming results in a reversal of the Gulfstream then NW 
Europe will acquire an Alaska-like climate, and the Dutch will be able to 
practice skating (and iceboating) on the canals 6 months out of the year :-)

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog

YNWA







On Jul 20, 2011, at 11:53 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

> This is a short introduction to iceboating for Luggers living in the south,
> in tropic countries, in Asia, or in Spain. Nathan already knows all about
> it.
> 
> American iceboating likely began in my local stretch of the Hudson River, 
> an
> area largely settled by the New Amsterdam Dutch.
> 
> In the cold 1800s the river would start to freeze at Thanksgiving and not
> thaw until Easter, creating a 100 mile
> 
> avenue of ice from Peekskill to Albany. John Roosevelt, FDR?s uncle, 
> founded
> the Hudson
> 
> River Ice Yacht Club in 1869. Iceboats were up to 70 feet long, some
> weighing as much as
> 
> 3000 pounds. Commodore Roosevelt?s personal boat, the Icicle, was 69 feet
> long and
> 
> carried 1,070 square feet of sail. It was alleged to have a top speed of
> over 100 mph in the
> 
> proper winds and would race, and often beat, the Hudson River trains to the
> next town. To
> 
> the regret of many iceboating diehards, the Hudson does not freeze like it
> did in the 19th
> 
> century and good iceboating days are few and far apart.
> 
> These videos depict the modern small iceboat experience. The iceboat is a
> DN, named because it was the winner of a contest sponsored by the Detroit
> News some 80 years ago. In the early 70s my son and I built our own version
> of the DN using salvaged racing ice skates and the mast and sails from a
> racing wet water dinghy.
> 
> We sailed it on a couple of local lakes and in the Hudson's Tappan Zee and
> Haverstraw Bay area whenever we had "black ice." Thanks to global warming,
> this happened less and less frequently over the years and finally we only
> got one or two good days in an entire winter. We gave it up when he went 
> off
> to college.
> 
> Well constructed DN iceboats can speed at over 90 mph. We probably could
> only get up to 70 mph in our less than perfect boat. Sitting 6 inches above
> the ice, that was almost light speed for me.
> 
> So now, on the very hottest days of summer, I fix myself a gin and tonic 
> and
> gaze longingly at the ice cubes.
> 
> 
> Iceboat video
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvSwiIUnR7M
> 
> 
> Iceboat rap
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1hea5S1p9M
> 
> Larry Z
> 
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