The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-20

and fall at such speed would be sori-
 ous. With my old understood sail I
 never could run T mile any better
 than three minutes, against two min
 utes in my 16 foot home made ice
 boat. The proximity to the ice causes sensation of flying al ! terrific speed. The skaters in the distance look like
 great white sea birds, and when fifty
 such sails and dozen ice yachts of
 various sizes are ss ,a at once flying
 about in different directions the pict-
 ure is stirring and beautiful.
 "A fal orite resort uf tho Stock
 holmers for ice yachting is Saltsjooba- den, finely situated tea miles from the
 capital and possessing a frs. rate ho- tel. Here on the beautiful ford sail- ing races are often ned, .anJ m a Sunoay or holiday great numbers oi m sn, women and chil1fra may be seen skate sailing and yachting Another
 popular resort is Djursholm about as far on the other side of Stockholm, where there are capital opportunities for sailing and an excellent hostelry for the hungry and thirsty. and it is curous how thirsty ice sailing makes one.
 "Only the strong should sail fn skates for it is cold work and one must bo dressed accordingly, the body well wrapped around, warm gloves
 worn and a woollen helmet drawn down over the face. Cowhair stock ings reaching to the knees ana pulled over the ordinary stockings are much worn for winter sports in sweden.
 There is a wonderful charm in skate sailing about the fiiords of the Baltic. which is studded with wooded islands and when the short northern day of winter has heightened into March one can make long excursions ashore and eat lunch on some sunny bank and re-
 turn in the gloaming, when the setting sun transforms the ice into golden mirror on which the flying sailer sees his own reflection.
 "How many miles I have sailed in
 one day I do not know, and if one
 could compute the grand total over a
 number of years the score no doubt would be astonishing. The exercise is
 SO invigorating and there is so much
 variety in the change of wind, the
 discovery of fresh fields of ice and new
 scenery that it never palled. The only drawback I ever experienced was
 a tired feeling in the calves of my
 Ieps caused hv the strain on the mus clos hut there are many who do not
 suffer from this
 "Once. on the lake near which I | lived. I came near being swallowed up Accompanied by some friends I wn were sailing around, when a huge crack opened up at our feet and with
 ont the slightest warning, but luckily
 u-e were able to retreat in time, The
 opening. piled up with ice on both sides. was too wide to cross, and completely bared our passage. Here
 the skate sailer has an advantage over the ice yachtsman. who in similar cir cumstances must run his boat ashore and leave her there We merely had
 to follow the crack to the land, roll up our sails. and walk around to the
 other side,
 March and April are dangerous months to the skate sailer for the
 strong sun renders the ice porous, and it is liable to crack any minute. In the neighborhood of Stockholm the ice holds good until April. Sailing is sometimes interrupted by snowfalls, and then the skate sailer has to wait for a high gale of wind or a strong
 thaw to clear the ice. Tn England
 and Scotland there is good opportun-
 ity for skate sailing. The English fens furnish fine facilities for sailing. es-
 pecially after floods. Scotland. of course. is much colder. and the nuns erous lochs are really glorious snjaces
 for sailing. The experiment T' sail
 ing on skates. if any one regards it as
 such. is well worth trying in view of
 the pleasure and excitement It af-
 lords"