thumb|[[David Vinckboons: Landscape with skaters (cca. 1615), 17th century boer type iceboats]]thumb|right|Boer Ice sailing in the Netherlands in 1938.

An iceboat (occasionally spelled ice boat or traditionally called an ice yacht) is a recreational or competition sailing craft supported on metal runners for traveling over ice. One of the runners is steerable. Originally, such craft were boats with a support structure, riding on the runners and steered with a rear blade, as with a conventional rudder. As iceboats evolved, the structure became a frame with a seat or cockpit for the iceboat sailor, resting on runners. Steering was shifted to the front.

Because of their low resistance to forward motion over ice, iceboats are capable of speeds exceeding . Because of their speed, iceboats are used both for recreation and for racing. Racing craft typically carry one person.

A related activity, land sailing, employs sailing craft similar to iceboats, but riding on wheels instead of runners.

History

thumb|Ice boat on [[Saint Lawrence River, Quebec City, ]]

thumb|right|Classic iceboats on the [[Hudson River at Barrytown, NY|alt=Several boats with their sails at various stages of dismantling surrounding a large vehicle with a wooded promontory behind them. In the far right upper background a portion of a bridge is visible]]

thumb|right|Ice Boating in [[Toledo, Ohio]]

The history of iceboating began in Europe in areas where smooth ice was found in the bays of the Baltic Sea and the canals of the Netherlands during the little ice age. Initially boats were used for commerce, but soon evolved into pleasure craft—"ice yachts". Ice sailing came to North America, where the sailing craft evolved into recreational and racing versions.

Venues

Iceboating began in the 17th century as a documented means of transport on the frozen Gulf of Riga and the canals of the Netherlands into the 18th century. Ice boats carried cargo on Dutch canals during the 17th century.

The first iceboats were introduced on New York State's Hudson River in the United States in 1790, where the practice flourished as a sport. The first recorded boat, built in 1790 by Oliver Booth of Poughkeepsie, was a square box atop three runners, the two forward runners being nailed to the box and the third acted as a rudder operated by a tiller. This type of craft was accessible to sportsmen of modest means.

In the mid-19th century, two "ice yachting" clubs had formed, the Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club (1865) and the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club (1870), where wealthy boat owners sailed large iceboats with up to seven crew members. Boats were as long as and sailed as fast as , a record exceeding any other conveyance in 1885, set by the Icicle.

By the beginning of the 20th century, iceboating had spread to Minnesota (Lake Minnetonka and White Bear Lake), Wisconsin (Lake Winnebago and Lake Pepin), Michigan (Lake St. Clair), and venues in Maine and Vermont. In Canada, there were venues on Lake Ontario (Kingston) and the Saint Lawrence River. The shallow cockpit box became elliptical.

In the early 1900s some smaller iceboats, called scooters, were designed to traverse both ice and water with a shallow, oval hull on fixed runners. These sailing craft were steered by manipulating the sails, there being no rudder.

In 1937, The Detroit News sponsored a new home-buildable ice boat design, which became the International DN. In 1968 Dick Slates of Pewaukee, Wisconsin designed and built the Nite with two wooden prototypes. The design was refined and fiberglass production began in 1970. Because the velocity of the iceboat (V<sub>B</sub>) is so much greater than the true wind velocity (V<sub>T</sub>), the apparent wind (V<sub>A</sub>) is only a few degrees from the direction of travel on most points of sail and the sail is close-hauled in each. V<sub>A</sub> is generated by the combination of iceboat velocity (V<sub>B</sub>) and true wind velocity (V<sub>T</sub>).

Attainable speeds

Different classes of iceboat can achieve speeds, as follow.

  • International DN: .
  • Skeeter: .
  • Classic iceboats: While claimed speeds for such craft have been as high as in the early 20th century, other sources cast doubt on both the technology for achieving and for measuring such speeds at those times.

Race courses

Because of the high boat speeds, iceboat race courses are established around fixed marks which are to be rounded in a one-way route, enhancing boat-to-boat traffic safety. The courses are a straight line upwind and downwind, which necessitates tacking upwind and jibing downwind.

International DN

The International DN class is the most popular class in both North America, Europe and Asia. It is a one-person wood boat twelve feet long with a cross-plank eight feet long that carries a mast high. Modern competitive DNs use flexible masts commonly made of composite materials. The DN 60 derives its name from the 1937 request of The Detroit News for a high-performance, inexpensive, home-built iceboat design. Modern DNs share many one-design features with the original boat, including the basic aerodynamic fuselage design, runner configurations and of high-performance sail.

Monotype XV

The Monotype XV is a class of stern-steering iceboat based on a 1932 design by an Estonian, Erik von Holst. It may be single or double-handed. The One-Design class is built according to close specifications, little changed since the 1930s. It is the largest one-design iceboat class in Europe and the only double-handed iceboat class for which there are international championships. The is in length and width with a high mast.

Nite

Nite is a class of iceboat that has a two-seat side-by-side fiberglass fuselage and a sail. It is constructed according to tight specifications.

Renegade

The Renegade is a class of home-built iceboat whose prototype appeared in 1947 in Wisconsin, designed by Elmer Millenbach to be carried atop an automobile. Plans were published in 1950. It has a sail on a flexible aerodynamic spar. A-class boats may be single or two-place tandem with a mast that does not exceed . They may incorporate carbon fiber construction.

See also

  • Land sailing
  • Northumberland Strait iceboat
  • Sail boat
  • Sailing

References

  • DN Class World Portal
  • DN North America
  • DN Europe
  • International XV Monotype Association
  • International Skeeter Association
  • Videos on DN iceboating

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