(Derigging Ice boats at Fontana Beach on Geneva Lake)

Sailing Through the Doldrums of Winter With The Adrenaline Rush of Ice Boating

The race course is simple enough, three laps around one windward buoy and one leeward buoy. Now imagine that same race travelling across sheer ice in the open air at 60 miles an hour with no brakes. That in essence is the allure of ice boating.

The need for additional speed, is what lured veteran sailor, Daniel Hearn to the open water. First, there was wind surfing. Daniel discovered the sport when he joined the Hoofer Sailing Club while attending school at the University of Wisconsin (UW.) Daniel’s next wind-powered, speed machine purchase was a roughed-up catamaran that he fixed up and raced competitively. And then one winter day, when he was looking out from his home on Lake Monona, Daniel saw what would become his next speed passion, Ice boating. Hearn has followed his attraction to speed across area lakes and to competitions in Poland, Slovenia, and Europe for 20 plus years.

The history of ice boating traces back to the frozen canals of Holland in the 1600s. When the Dutch colonists arrived in North America they brought the blade runner, sail driven invention with them. Upstate New York archival records indicate that the very first ice boat in U.S. was built in the late 18th century. The ice runner proved a worthy means to transport goods across the frozen heaves of the Hudson River.

Ice boating, the sport, continued grow in popularity especially around the Hudson River Valley into the early 20th century. Ice yachting was particularly popular with the affluent families that lived in the region. For a young, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gazing out from his family home overlooking a frozen Hudson River, the need for speed was too strong to resist. FDR's uncle John Aspinwall Roosevelt (JAR) was an avid ice boater, who raced his yacht competitively. JAR also founded the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club cutting his ties with the Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club founded in 1861, as the first ice yacht club in the country.  FDR raced his ice yacht "Hawk" while he was attending college at Harvard.

By the early 20th century, ice boating had gained a foot hold in the Midwest. Geneva Lake was and is to this day a major nexus for the sport. Lake Geneva famously like the Hudson Valley area is a home for wealthy families. That fact may have some play as to why ice boating has remained viable into the 21st century.  Hearn admits the sport is somewhat more of a person of means activity, though Daniel and Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club in Madison are aiming to do something to keep ice boating alive into the foreseeable future. Four Lakes has recently partnered with the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center to bring the sport front and center with Cream City residents of all ages. The Milwaukee based program is spearheaded by the center’s Program Director, Nick Hayes. Hayes, author of the book. Saving Sailing approached Four Lakes with the idea of nurturing an ice boating community in Milwaukee.

The future may look like Samuel Bartel, a recent graduate from the UW who like Daniel was a member of the Hoofer Sailing Club. But for Samuel, it was his coach that he credits with getting him into the sport. "The sailing team coach was a big ice boater and mentioned that if I ever wanted to try it out, he would lend his equipment,” says Samuel.

And for keeping ice boating around for decades to come, Samuel believes the sport just needs to get the word out. He is doing his part by posting videos on Instagram and working with enthusiasts on Facebook. “I personally think that Tic Toc can be helpful for getting more information out to the younger generation. I think that the sport has had a lot of its members closer to the older side, but in the last five or ten years a lot of younger people have come into the sport.," Samuel adds. There are more youth, and women enjoying ice boating.

(Photos courtesy of the Hudson River Maritime Museum)

Though more men participated in the sport, there were women pioneers in the ice boating too. An archival collection at the Hudson River Maritime Museum contains black and white photos of unidentified women participating in iceboating on an unknown lake somewhere in Wisconsin. Their story remains to be told.

Have that need for speed or cabin fever? Reach out to Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club in Madison for everything about ice boating at iceboat.org, or the Hoofers Sailing Club to get started today.