Reprinted From : http://www.sail-world.com:80/USA/Winter-Buzz---Ice-Sailing-on-the-Hudson/52303
| Winter Buzz - Ice Sailing on the Hudson |
'What are those?' he asked. Ice yachts. He made his friend turn her car around in the middle of that very long bridge. Wills had carried a set of speed skates with him that day, and he now took them and headed for the river. The Hudson had frozen hard that winter, capped by 8 inches of black ice. Wills could see the fish swim below his blades. He raced on to join an audience of about 200 people. Some 100 years before, it would have been 2,000 people. The New York Times would have recorded it. A Roosevelt or two probably would have captained boats or at least watched. But Wills hadn't yet learned about that long history. All he knew is he'd seen a glimpse of the yachts and he had to see more. Over the next two decades, Wills, of Rhinecliff, would see much more. He's now secretary of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club and was once the club's commodore. He tries to explain the feeling of lying on your stomach, 12 inches above the ice, flying down a frozen river at highway speeds. 'The ice chips are flying in your face,' Wills says. 'It's a great sound.' The feeling is such that club members work year-round to maintain century-old boats on the off chance a cold snap will freeze the river deep enough to sail on top of it. Just four of the past eight winters have met the standard, and that's considered good. Club members displayed their yachts Saturday on the lawn of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. The exhibition will continue until Jan. 3. Wills' boat, the Kriss, once belonged to John Roosevelt, uncle of Franklin. John was the founding commodore of the club and helped introduced his young nephew to the sport. FDR became such an enthusiast he is said to have rejected a New York senator's bid to use icebreakers on the Hudson, solely because it would hinder ice yachting. Such enthusiasm has faded from the sport, except in those who have lain flat, inches above the ice and let the wind take the sails. Wills and the others are just waiting for the river to freeze deep enough to sail on top of it. For those who live in the vicinity, the ice yachts will be on display daily through Jan. 3, except Jan. 1, at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, also on the Hudson River. For more information, to join the club or donate that old ice yacht in your barn, go to www.hriyc.org. To contact the author: [email protected] |
Comments