Ice sailing , anyone ?

[Raggbagger]

Ok its starting to get a little nippy in the mornings up here in Vermont. Soon those leaves that have started turning color will all be on the ground.Then frost,then snow,then ice on Lake Champlain. I wonder if anyone out there in sailnet-land has any experience with ice-sailing I dont even know if thats the right word for it.However what Im talking about is like a boat/bucket type thingy with skids on the bottom and sailing rig up top,goes skeetin across o the top o frozen lakes . Looks fast and cold , and quite a rush from what Ive seen on TV . I dont know if anyone does that on Lake Champlain but I would like to know if they do and meet up if they do. Let me know of your experience and how I might get involved.

[Raggbagger]

I guess this should have been in the general interests forum , but if it is an ice boat i would like to buy one .

[Bill Mc]

I built an Ice boat when I lived in Wisconsin. The fuselage was make from an old kayak that would no longer keep the water out. We laminated a beam to mount the rear skates to and the front skate was steered with foot pedals.The sail and mast was off an old sunfish sailboat. We would scream around this little Island on the lake by gaining enough speed that you could get past the lee sides wind shadow. One day as I was the first one out that day screaming through an inch of fresh powder on the lake I rounded that little island to discover two ice fisherman. As I steered to avoid hitting them at about 20 kts I flipped the whole thing up on its side and slid about 100 yards and got wedged under a dock. It took those two fisherman and three of my friends about 20 minutes to extrcate me from the wreckage. I moved down south with the only ice being in my cocktail and the crashes are a lot easier on these old bone. Alcohol and ice boating is a deadly combination. Hey ya'll now hold my beer and watch this....

fair Winds,

Bill

[Raggbagger]

perfect , thats what Im talkin about. Now is this a build it yersel only deal or can you buy em ?

[JohnRPollard]

Raggbagger,

Check out the DN ice-boat fleet. It is probably the most widely established ice-boat one-design, at least in the US/Canada. You can pick up a used DN (so named because of the original class sponsor "Detroit News", I think, or was it Denver?) on the used market in various places. There are lots of them sitting in barns and garages all over the upper half of the country, especially the mid-west and New England, and Canada too. Stay warm.

[6string]

I have a DN (Detroit News) ice boat. See the link on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC45QJOn8Go

The plans were originally offered through the Detroit News. They can be built at home in the fall and be sailing on that winters ice. There is also a boat made here in Wisconsin called the Nite. There are many other classes as well, C, A Skeeters. The world record is in access of 140 MPH.

Its a great rush.

Jeff

[Joesaila]

I have a friend [Swansea, Lake Champlain] with a lake front home and he remarked how there were quite a few of those ice boats sailing last winter. I'v only seen them on films but suspect they go even faster than Hobies.

[camaraderie]

The singlehand boats can go 70-80 mph and the big boats go 100mph!! Problem with Lake Champlain is the snow depth!!
Check out : http://www.iceboat.org/

[USCGRET1990]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

The singlehand boats can go 70-80 mph and the big boats go 100mph!! Problem with Lake Champlain is the snow depth!!
Check out : http://www.iceboat.org/

Although it may sound like it, those speeds are no BS, but snow free ice may be required. At 70 mph, with no brakes, it's probably best to know the area real well..ie thin ice, expansion ridges, etc.

[USCGRET1990]

Another interesting way to go boating up north in the winter!
http://www.airboats.ca/
http://www.canadianairboats.com/faq.html