Ice Sailing
Ice sailing or ice yachting is a very popular sport that consists in racing iceboats. In terms of geographical extent, ice sailing is practiced in Northern Europe, Canada and the United States. The basis for this kind of sailing is the design of a ship that is made for safety and stability rather than for speed. Depending on the manufacturer, there are variations in the design and the features as well as in the accommodation of the passengers.
The beginnings of ice sailing go back to the late 18th century on the Hudson River in North America. The structure as such consisted of three runners that supported a box; two of the runners were placed forward with the third working as a tiller-operated rudder. It was as late as the mid-19th century that ice sailing received major improvements in terms of structure. Thus the primitive runners were replaced by triangular frames and the jib and the mainsail rig entered usage for the first time.
In time, ice sailing clubs were created and constant improvements were added to the prototypes. Thus, the jibs became shorter, then the shape of the steering box was modified to become elliptical and the overall sail balance underwent changes for a superior comfort and higher resistance. Presently, ice sailing is practiced on the Great Lakes, both in the US and in Canada, but other sports centers are also popular in Maine, Minnesota or Wisconsin.
Modern ice sailing relies on boats made of a kite-shaped platform with a single-piece backbone and a runner plank on which the structure rests. The cutting of the timber is done in such a way so that the planks receive a permanent upward curvature. The most popular modern materials to design ice sailing boats are pine, butternut and basswood. The forward runners are usually made of cast iron while the rigging is manufactured from flexible steel wire.
Ice sailing can be practiced by smaller or larger crews, with the mention that the passengers have to be seated in such a way on the surface of the ice boat that its balance be preserved all the time. Depending on the wind speed, ice sailing could be pretty amazing at covering large distances in a short period of time. The velocity is influenced by the number of turns, the load and the size of the ice boat as compared to the size of the sail. On the whole, we'd be right to say that ice sailing definitely does justice to the concept of unconventional challenging sports.