Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-01-24
WINGS OF THE WIND.
ICE YACHTS OUTSTRIP THE
VERY WIND ITSELF.
CAN LEAVE THE SWIFTEST EXPRESS
TRAINS Belinda THRILLING BUT
NOT DANGEROUS SPORT.

experience, but the title exactly fits such
a GREATNESS, hair raising adventure. An
ice yacht can go a mile minute i'll
possibility, for the yacht is moving three
times as fast as the gale itself. The truth
of the statement has been demonstrated
however, for with the wind
beam it far outstrips its propelling
power in speed.
For example, a twenty or thirty mile
wind may readily impart to an ice yacht
a sixty mile speed This scientific phe-
which for time troubled the
physicist as profoundly as the
curved ball. is not difficult to explain.
The difference OF pressures on the two
sides Of sail depends on the square Of
the velocity OF the wind. 1t amounts to
"A pounds per square foot for a velocity
OF fifty feet per second, or about thirty
miles an hour, and is thus large pressure
on broad sail The actual resistance to
the friction of an ice yacht is small, both
on the ice and in the air.
In the air the friction on the sails in
amount, so that, as the wind must neces
sarily be more or less sidelong, and the
effective moving consequent ON it is
constant one, the velocity acquired may
be very great far exceeding the average
velocity of the wind, which an ane-
mometer only fairly we'll records. Thus a
boat may go faster than the wind, and
icehoats very often do.
Ice yachting has thousands of devotces
in the United States, and these enthusi
asts declare that it is the very king of al
winter sports. It is i'll reality four sports
combined in one, for the ice yachtsman,
v hen speeding over the CLASSY surface Of
II" river or lake, experiences about HIl the
joys of the skater. the water yachtsman,
the tobogganist and the coaster. There
is very little hard work about ice yacht
ing, toe, for there IS no hill climbing, no
disagreeable walking back a mile or so
before new ride may be enjoyed.
1t is said that ice yachts We're invented
in Holland, bat the old Dutch yachts
little resemble The wonderful racing craft
American ingenuity has produced. An
icr yaChtsman of Holland would think
twice before he expended $1,000 on
Yacht, but the NeN York society men of
wealth who have country places along
he Hudson care little what their ice
yachts cost so long as they can hold their
own with or defeat rival yachts good
boat of small size may be bulit for $50,
but the large boats frequently exceed
y 900 in cost.
Ice yachting is very popular in the
vicinity OF New York and along the great
lakes, and three great tcnter- for the
sport are New York. Red Bank, y. =, and
Madison, Wis. The pastime has few
devotees in Chicago, but they are mainly
fishermen, who dwell along the lake
front. Chicago society, unlike that of
New York, has not yet been made
acquainted with the beauties of the sport.
About the only type of yacht used in
the west is the sloop-rigged yacht with
lib and mainsail. The largest yachts only
spread $50 square feet of sail, while some
of the big yachts on the Hudson and
North Shrewsbury river spread from $50
to S25 square feet.
An ice yacht answers the helm instan
taneously, and may be guided with the
utmost ease and with absolute accuracy.
The nose of the yacht can be held stead
lily to any point desired without material
variation, and this, too, while the craft
may be clipping along faster than an ex-
press train.
10 int at N n n ba Htst nit I
the stupendous speed commonly acquired
ice yachting is a sport almost wholly
devoid of danger, although to both the
spectator and the rider the feeling of con-
slant danger prevails This is of course
due to the unnatural speed. An ice yacht
seldom capsizes, and, strangely enough,
when such an accident occurs, the bout
goes over SO gently hat the occupants
suffer nothing worse than being merely
tipped out When the wind is so strong
that the yacht care ms to a point of going
over, the wind is naturally "out of the
sail, '" the lower runner plank touches he
Ice as a result of The tipping, and the cap
sizing is robbed OF all serious danger
Few people have been injured since the
sport became popular in America. The
principal perils are from collisions, rum
ming down skaters and running into open
water formed by huge cracks in he ice.
Perfectly smooth ice is not desirable for
ice yachting, for under such conditions
he runners are LETT to slough, thus pre-
venting an oblique wind from getting
hold, as it We're, to the best advantage.