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Ice yachting in Holland
Dominic von Stösser has emailed to point out another intriguing YouTube clip, this time showing ice yachting in Holland:
‘Hi Gavin!
‘Seems USians aren’t the only ones sailing on ‘hard water’ — I found a YouTube clip of ice sailing in Holland:
‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FM1gTTmws
I’t looks like they’ve just strapped their gaff-rigged ‘soft water’ skiffs onto runners!
‘I can’t help but wonder what a Bolger Light Schooner would be like on ice…
‘Cheers –
‘Dominic’
Many thanks Dominic! I doubt the boat-shaped ice yacht fuselages could possibly sail with those huge rigs, but it’s fun to imagine.
Dominic’s email piqued my interest in what else might be around on YouTube, and searching revealed this sequence, which includes graphic evidence of what happens when one of these ice yachts falls through the ice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvpNIkFtMEE
Accident on the ice
PS Jaap in Holland has made some interesting comments – see the comments link below – and included some splendid links. If you’ve interestede in ice sailing in particular, you definitely should not miss this one in particular: http://www.ijsschuiten.nl/ and http://www.icesailing.nl/robbenvloot.html – amazingly, they’ve got a ice yacht that goes back to the 1830s.
Now, I have a historical question: was it the Dutch who taught New Yorkers to sail on ice?
