http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Once-in-ten-years-ice-on-the-Hudson---time-for-a-sail!/53775
Once-in-ten-years ice on the Hudson - time for a sail!
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| 'Ice sailing on the Hudson' . |
It
only happens when it happens. While traditional sailing is in recess
for winter, conditions on the Hudson River in New York State in the USA
are perfect right now for ice sailing, and enthusiasts claim that
conditions as good as this come only about once in every ten years.
While
the thought of hitting ice when you fall off a yacht might strike fear
into the heart of most warm water yachties, ice yachters from as far
away as Montreal in Canada have been rushing to a boat launch quaintly
called Athens to grab the conditions while they at the optimum.
Reports
are that there's an 8-inch ice cover on the Hudson River at the moment,
and last weekend the conditions were near perfect. The days were crisp
and bright, warming temperatures hadn't yet turned the ice to slush and
the wind was just strong enough to allow craft to speed along without a
yachter losing control.
Hilary Hawke, reporting for the Daily
Mail, said that most of the enthusiasts who showed up in Athens were
either from the Shrewsbury Ice Yachting Club or the Hudson River Ice
Yachting Club. 
With
the help of modern technology, the National Weather Service, websites
and e-mail, members know up to a week ahead of time whether conditions
are right in any particular spot.
Yachters anticipated the near-perfect conditions at Athens as early as mid-January with this announcement from their website:
“Several
days of subzero temperatures have added some welcome thickness to the
ice sheet on the river. This bodes well for us — the sheet is locked in
place, gaining thickness, and snow is on the way. The snow will
eventually saturate from above and below forming more ice and leveling
the surface. Look for good ice around the middle of February.”
...and the middle of February it is!
Enthusiasts check the websites regularly. So many have headed to Athens
that sometimes the launch area can't accommodate all the cars and some
had to park along the freeway shoulder. 
Warm weather over the past few days has been great for ice conditions, leveling the snow and making the gliding smoother.
Traveling
at speeds of up to 40 to 70 mph, clubs and individuals often hold races
with the prize being merely the bragging rights. Each weekend until the
ice deteriorates one is likely to find the spectacle of ice skating on
the Hudson.
For more information on ice yachting in the USA go to http://hriyc.org or http://www.nsibyc.com.
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