Ice Boats

As most of you already know, I enjoy sailing.  Of course, I enjoy just about all boating, but sailing is a lot of fun on my fast, little Minifish sailboat. Not only is it a lot of fun, but my little Minifish has some history to it... my history. It holds many memories and stories.  I was a young teenager when I received this boat so it holds a lot of memories and stories.  Putting aside the history of this particular boat, sailing can be fast, wet, and heart-pounding exhilarating which is always a plus for enjoying an activity! It should come as no surprise then that ice boat sailing has always intrigued me.

Ice boats are sleek and fast...  and, I suspect, very cold!  With the speed and all that wind whipping across a frozen lake on a cold winter's day, I imagine the cold could be brutal.  These little 'boats' gliding across the ice seem to move much faster than a sailboat can in water.  All that friction and drag of the water really slows a boat down considerably.  This is especially true when you compare the friction and drag of an ice boat gliding across the ice.  This lack of friction and drag can make for some exhilarating speeds in these little ice boats.

I've always wondered whether it would be worthwhile making my own little ice boat.  I already have the sailing rigging from my Minifish so I could use this rigging to get some sailing use in winter too.  I do have two concerns though...

First, how would I transport this ice boat?  Could I design and build it to sit atop my car just like I do with my Minifish hull?  Or, would I need to trailer it?  The next question is about snow... Do we get too much snow covering the frozen lakes here in Vermont?  If the lakes are covered in snow, there is no way to glide across the ice.  Or, does the wind do a good job at keeping the ice bare?  Of course, before I started building an ice boat hull for my Minifish rigging, I would need to figure out this potential issue with snow. There will be no way to slide and glide across a lake if it is covered in snow.

In the meantime, here is a video I found online this morning of a beautiful ice boat.  Most ice boats that I have seen are just basic frames... with a crude seat... crude controls... and look like they have been made using scrap lumber.  Whenever I have imagined building my own ice boat, I always picture something sleeker... something with contours like a traditional boat or airplane... something lightweight, but beautiful... something with beautiful wood like an antique boat... something resembling the boat in this video.

While searching online for ideas this morning, I found this video of a 15 meter ice boat (I assume the '15 meter' refers to a sail size of 15 square meters since it is obvious that this boat is not 15 meters long).  This thing is a beautiful work of art!  Check out the video...