The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1882-03-15
reer-Yachting on the HndsOn


This exciting sport is described and illus
trated in ScIiJRer, from which we quote
You 90 on down the river now with a
good wind on the beam. The playful breeze
freshens in flaws, as if 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 light
ness and the grace Of its own whirling dance.
The ice-yachts darling about look like Write
| winged swallows skimming over the ice. As
they cross and recrDss your course, you hope
that every captain knows his business and will
| avoid collisions The ice-yachis have antici-
pated your wish, and flown away to various
| points Of the horizon while your thought drew
| its slow length along The ice seems TO be
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 ana
| 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 10 jump from
side to side without connecting angles or
curves The mounds and the windows seem
to come up at you suddenly, and dodge past.
You begin to hold on TO the hand-rail, and lie
close down in the box. If You are steering,
+.
and the keen excitement nerves you to extra
ordinary alertness. The breeze sings in the
rigging; the runners hum on the ice with 4
crunching sound, and slight ringing and
| cracking; and little squirt of crushed ice
flies up behind each runner and flashes like a
spray Of gems. The yacht seems more and
more thing Of the air-her motions are so
fitful, wayward and sudden. The speed with
which you approach a distant scene makes it
grow distinct while you wink with wonder
Things grow larger, as if under the illusions
of magic; you feel the prospective almost as
Ia sensation. You turn toward a brown patch
Of woods; it quickly assumes the form Of
| headlands; these are pushed apart, and a
Il gorge appears between them; while you stare,
a 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's sculpture are modelled before your eyes,
and decked with flashing crystals inst as you
turn away 10 some other point Of the horizon.
| So you seem 10 be continually arriving at dis
| tant places
"A regatta is to be sailed over this course,
and you arrive in time to see the start The
yachts all stand in a row, head to the wind.
At the word, the first in the line swings stern
around till her sails fill she moves off at once,
I
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 windows
and mounds They all diminish in apparent
| size with astonishing rapidity; they seem
! actually to contract in a moment to a mere
white speclS, skiniming about the river miles
| away. You Join the crowd Of men and boys
stamping and slspping to Keep win you
exchange few words with a friend, and,
when you turn around again, behold the yachts
sweeping down upon you They grow as they
come, flying at you with Maynard, erratic
course, and you feel the wonder of embodied
speed. The ten-mile race Of the ice yachts is
lost and won in as many minutes. But
| those who sailed it these minutes were fiji 81
with more excitement than is found in many a
long lifetime"