It is only necessary to set up a mast at or near the intersection, rig sails upon it, attach some kind of runners to the ends of the runner-plank and to the long or aftermost end of the center-timber, and you will have a very passable model, constructionally speaking, of the modern ice-yacht. Magnify it a hundred-fold, substitute wire-rope with turn-buckles for the side-stays, fit the timber ends with cast-metal caps, bolt everything together with cunningly contrived fittings, mount her upon a set of hardened iron runners, equip her with a “tailor-made” suit of sails, launch her on reasonably smooth ice, and, given a twenty-mile breeze, she will carry you forty miles, or maybe sixty miles, an hour, if you know how to make her do her best.
It may be remarked in passing that very pretty sport may be had with model ice-yachts, constructed somewhat after the manner indicated. Pieces of tin or sheet-iron will do for runners and steering-gear at a pinch, and if the sails are moderate in area and the center-timber tolerably long, so that ballast can be suitably adjusted, she will go like a witch and skim over a mere veneering of ice to the admiration of all beholders. There are always several days at the beginning of winter before the ice is available for skating, when model ice-yachts might be made to do duty instead of the sticks and stones with which impatient boyhood usually disports itself, thereby ruining the ice for the legitimate pastimes of colder weather.
In the regions where the ice rarely becomes thick enough for satisfactory skating, these little ice-yachts may easily afford a deal of not altogether unprofitable amusement. Model yachts have not as yet gained much of a foothold in the nonfreezing United States, but in England, where there are prosperous clubs almost everywhere, even in Hyde Park, in the heart of London, the conditions are very favorable. Sails and rigging are all ready and need only to be mounted upon a suitable frame with runners, steering gear and adjustable ballast. The average Englishman may probably regard this suggestion as unwarrantable, because ice-yachting is wholly beyond his range of experience, but if once he tries it he will find that it opens up possibilities of seamanship not dreamed of heretofore, and he will cover the frozen Serpentine with miniature fleets that will rival in beauty and vastly excel in speed those that dance over its ripples during the summer months.
FIG. 1.—A KITE-FRAME FOR AN ICE-YACHT.
In its main features the Hudson River ice-yacht now closely approaches perfection. Improvements will, of course, be made from time to time in the minor details of rig, and occasionally some phenomenally fast boat will be built, the secret of her speed remaining perhaps, in some degree, unexplained.
A few years ago the lateen rig was simultaneously adopted by the Hudson River and Shrewsbury (N. J.) clubs, and for a time it bade fair to supersede the jib and mainsail boats that had long held the championship pennant. Several very large lateen-rigged yachts were constructed, notably the Scud of the Shrewsbury, and the Avalanche of the Hudson River Club. Experience has shown, however, that craft of that size and rig are phenomenally fast only when the wind rises to No. 70 of Beaufort’s scale, that is to say, something nearly approaching a full-grown hurricane. With such a wind the big lateens are undoubtedly very fast, but the rarity of such conditions leaves them in the lurch on ordinary racing days, and it is by no means certain that even in a hurricane they are sure to win when pitted against a jib and mainsail. At all events, some of the large lateens have been altered to the sloop rig, and their owners are not disposed to try back.
On small or moderate sized yachts, however, the lateen is an admirable rig, and in average racing weather such boats not infrequently distance their larger competitors. In this connection it may be well to compare the respective weights of the two rigs as taken by Mr. John A. Roosevelt, Commodore of the Hudson River Club.
Comparative weights of the Icicle (sloop) and Avalanche (lateen):