The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1881-08-24
Ioe.YnohtInr on ihe Hnaaon.

Ice-YnchtIng on the Hudson.
This exciting sport is described and
illustrated in Scribner, from which we
quote:
You 20 on down the river now with q
good wind on the beam. The playful
breeze freshens in flaws, as il trying
to escape you; but still you follow its
hayward motions; you start when it
starts, fit over the ice with its own
speed, turn and glide with the Ightness
and the grace of its own whirling
dance. The ice-yachts dartiHg about
look like white-winged swallows skim
ming over the ice; as they cross and
recross your course, you hope that every
captain knows his business and will
avoid collisions. The ice-yachts have
anticipated your wish, and flown away
to various points of the horizon while
your thought drew its slow length
along. The ice seems to oe running
under you with great speed, and you
sometimes feel that you might easily
drop off the open, spider-like frame of
the yacht. BY such rapid motion the
bubbles, crystals and lines of the ice are
all woven into a silky web of prismatic
hues. You distinguish only the cracks
that run with the course, and when
they deviate from it they seem to jump
from side to side without connecting
angles or curves. The mounds and the
windrows seem to come up at you sud
denly, and dodge past. You begin to
hold on to the hand-rail, and lie close
down in the box. If you are steering
you feel that your hand is the hand of
fate, and the keen excitement nerves
you to extraordinary alertness. The
breeze sings in the rigging; the runners
hum on the ice with crunching sound,
and slight ringing and cracking; and
a little squirt of crushed ice flies up be-
hind each runner and flashes like
spray of gems. The yacht seems more
and more thing of the air, hel motions
are so fitful, wayward and sudden. The
speed with which you approach distant
scene makes it grow distinct while you
wink with wonder. Things grow
larger, as if under the illusions of
magic; you feel the perspective almost
as a sensation. You turn toward a
brown patch of woods; it quickly
assumes the form Of headlands; these
are pushed apart, and a gorge appears
between them; while you stare q stream
starts down the rocks, behind the trees;
a mill suddenly grows up; the rocks are
now all coated with ice; statues of win
ter sculpture are modelled before your
eyes, anl decked with flashing crystals,
just as you turn away to some other
point of the horizon. So you seem to
be continually arriving at distant places.
A regatta is to be sailed over this
course, and you arrive in time to see the
start. The yachts all stand in row,
head 10 the wind. At the word the
first in the line swings stern around till
her sails fill; she moves off at once and
the crew Jump aboard-one man stand
ing or lying on the windward runner
plank and holding on to the shrouds,
and the helmsman and another man
lying in the box. Then the other
yachts successfully swing around, and
in a moment the whole feet is under
way, gliding in zigzag courses among
the windrows and mounds. They al
diminish in apparent size with aston
ishing rapidity; they seem actually to
contract in moment to mere white
speck, skimming about the river miles
away. You join the crowd of men and
boys stamping and slapping to keep
warm; you exchange few words with
friend, and when you turn around
again behold the yachts sweeping down
upon you'll They grow as they come,
flying at you with a wayward, erratic
course, and you feel the wonder of en-
bodied speed. The ten-mile race of the
ice-yachts is lost and won in as many
minutes. But for those who sailed it
these minutes were filled with more ex.
citement than is found in many long
lifetime.