The Washington herald., 1908-01-12
BY RUDOLPH DE zAPP.

by HtDDLfH BE AAEFs
Ice yachting Is another exhilarating
pastime which at present is followed in
those parts Of the country where there
are sufficiently extensive stretches of
frozen surfaces to make the sport prac-
ticable and attractive. The sport is ex-
ceptionally lively this season, as there
are more men and even women taking
an interest in this thrilling amusement
than ever before.
Many Of the devOtees Of the sport have
been recruited from the ranks OF the
automobiles, who were quick to see
that ice yachting furnishes excitement
on days when it is impossible to drive a
motor car. Particular devotees OF the
sport are the members Of the Hudson
River Ice Yacht Club, Of Poughkeepsie;
the Orange Lake Ice Yacht Club. the
Kalamazoo Ice Yacht Club and innu-
merable others There are races every
year for the various trophies. and the
entries are closely contested. Boats from
the Hudson River, New Jersey, Canada,
Michigan, and Wisconsin, sail in these
races. and almost every year there is a
new type OF boat 90 be seen.
New style of Boat.
The new style Of boats weigh consider
ably less than the old crack racing craft
They weigh from 1900 to 100 pounds, as
against 300 to 5000 pounds OF the old
style. It Is claimed for these beats that
they are much faster, as they are built,
they claim, on more scientific lines OId
ice yaehtsmen say that they may be
faster IN proportion TO their size, but
that they cannot beat the larger boats,
which carry so much more canvas
In the East ice yachting enthusiasts
are in force or the Hudson River near
Poughkeepsie on the North Shrewsbury
River at Red Bank y. J. and on the
glasslike surface Of Lake Champlain.
The Hudson River and North Shrews-
bury yachtsmen have sailed world $
championship races nearly every year
since 1851. and contests for the Hudson
championship have been OF annual oc-
currenCe since 1853.
What the Americas Cup is to interna-
tional yachting on the sea the New Ham
burg challenge pennant of America IS
to yachting on the ice. The peunant is
only faded strip Of red and white six
inscribed with letters Of gold. and while
its intrinsic value is infritesmaI. its SEN
timcntdl value cannot be estimated In
dollars 10 an ice yachtsman who has
built d swift yacht and who is ambitious
10 see It flying the emblem that repre-
sents the championship. The pennant
was first offered by the New Hamburg.
N. " Ice Yacht Club in 1881. and it's
yacht Phantom defended the trophy
against the challenging yachts Of the
Poughkeepsie lee Yacht Club Since
then the trophy has changed hands fire.
quently, and some OF the swiftest ice
yachts the world has ever seen. includ-
ing the Haze, Avalanche, Northern Light.
lcicle, and Jack Frost, have won the
trophy In contests for the champion
ship the yachts sail over twenty-mile
course. and the usual average speed. ac-
cording to the winning time Of the diff
ferent victoTs, Is about twenty-one miles
an hour. but as the yachts lose consid-
eTable time in making the turn and by
repeated tacking from one side OF the
river to the other. this estimate Of their
speed IS hardly "a fair one.
Vile "A Minute Speed.
Experienced yachtsmen declare that a
speed Of a mile a minute is not AZ All
unusual and that It has been demonstrat-
ed that yachts have attained the terrific
Felocity Of i20 miles an hour. From this
it is evident that In the matter of speed
no vehicle yet invented carries man
through the air more swiftly than the
modern ice v-achf Il {s e4.s,, ..g-.~.1.s A..
the leading devotees Of this sport that
the yachts move even faster than the
wind that carries them along. At first
thought this statement seems absurd.
but u has the support Of no less an au-
thority than Prof Park Benjamin. who
declares that while an ice yacht cannot
run before the wind faster than the
wind itself, the same yacht, with the
wind abeam and the sail cleaving the
air in such manner that it presents no
resistant surface. may attain a speed
far greater than that Of the wind pro-
pelling 1t. This theoretical statement
has been confirmed in practice by Hud-
son River yaChtsmen, who allege that
their white winged iCe-skimmers. when
speeding with a thirty-mile wind abeam,
have repeatedly passed railroad trains
moving along the Hudson's banks at the
rate of fOrty-five miles an hour.
All ice yachtsmen have their favorite
rigs and the controversy over them is
as heated as was the time-honored dis
pute between EngIishmen and Yankees
as to whether the center board yacht or
the cutter is the best type. Some years
ago quite a fiutter was caused among
yachtsmen who favored the lib and
mainsail ice yacht by the advent Of the
lateen sail, which could be made fat and
tight as drumhead. Several Iateen-
rigged yachts did fairly good work, but
when the Scud, with her rs feet of lateen
sail, defeated the famous Dreadnought
and covered a fve-mile course in about
six minutes, the partisans Of the lib and
mainsail type Of ice yachts were greatly
alarmed. 1t soon developed, however.
that while the lateen sail gave a yacht
the speed Of a whirlwind in a gale il
was practically worthless in a light or
ordinary breeze.
Fleet of Fifty Yachts.
The Hudson River Ice Yacht Club
whose station is at Hyde Park, Just above
is the largest organization
of its kind. with a fleet or nearly fifty
yachts. Charles z. Sands Avalanche.
S25 square feet; Archibald Rog-
ers' Jack Frost, 716 square feet: Irving
Boreas. go square feet; John
A. Roosevelt's Icicle. 735 square feet. and
DR.. J. c. Barrons Northern Light. $50
square feet. are the biggest of the fleet
From this they taper down. in four classes.
to 200 feet of sail area. Just below Pough-
keepsie is a aourishing club with twenty
eight ice yachts, known as the New Ham
burg lee Yacht Club, and near by is the
Carthage Ice Yacht Club, with a large
and thirty-twO boats. But
the longest iee-yachting season IN the
East is at Orange Lake, six miles back
Of Newburgh-o Hudson. The beauti-
full sheet of water has a smooth surface