With the sub-freezing temperatures hitting the South Shore of Long Island the past few weeks, red-nosed and chapped-lipped residents may be wishing for spring, but for iceboating enthusiasts, the weather has provided a great opportunity to enjoy this sport that has roots in 17th-century Netherlands.
The Bellport Yacht Club, which hosts the South Bay Scooter Club in the winter, has been spotted on the bay enjoying the thick ice and sailing across the glassy surface. From afar, the iceboats appear to be cutting through particularly calm waters with no interruption.
The iceboats, thanks to a severe “bomb cyclone” and extreme cold temperatures, were able to sail for the first time in a decade on the frozen Great South Bay with the over-week-long deep freeze.
Typically, at least 4 to 6 inches of solid ice is needed to safely operate iceboats and only develops when temperatures are in the 20s.
While technology has created a number of high-end options for iceboats, in the 17th-century, Dutch ice yachts consisted of flat-bottomed sailboats atop a cross-wise plank, resting on outboard metal runners, which carried the bulk of the weight of the craft.
At the stern was a steering runner, attached to a rudder-like structure, affixed to four steel runners, one each at bow, stern, and each end of the planking.
These boats used conventional gaff mainsails and jibs, typically added aftermarket, and a tiller or wheel stern controls the steering runner.
In the 19th century, iceboats evolved into a box, riding on cross-pieces, supported by runners. These “stern-steerer” iceboats were generally rigged as sloops (single mast), with a jib (forward triangular sail).A catboat style with a single mast and a single sail was also developed.
In 1879, the archetypical Hudson River iceboat began to emerge. TheRobert Scott, designed and built by H. Relyea, had a single backbone and wire guy-ropes. The mast on subsequent boats was stepped further forward than in the past with shortened jibs for added resistance into the balance, aligning both with the main runners. The shallow cockpit box became elliptical.
In the early 1900s (in time with the founding of the South Bay Scooter Club), some smaller iceboats, called “scooters,” were designed to traverse both ice and water with a shallow, oval hull on fixed runners. These sailing craft were steered by manipulating the sails as there was no rudder.
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