This holy grail of sail is the Van Nostrand Cup, crafted by Tiffany in 1888 at the behest of Gardiner Van Nostrand, “held since 1891 by the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club,” put up for competiton only once (1978) since then. Getting it back is tricky. Races can only happen when waters are frozen; you need good ice, though, not just any ice. You need wind but not too much. Last Saturday winds gusted to 50 mph, and then Sunday . . . in spite of this beautiful ice … puffs happened only sporadically. And with good wind, how fast can they go? Answer follows.
John Vargo, here with a formidable hat made of skins of two Great Plains coyotes, talks about the sport as
over on the far side of this lake (which I will refer to as Lake Shangri-la . . . located somewhere between the sixth boro and the St. Lawrence) two old stern-steerers race. If you haven’t seen bowsprite’s video of the last run of Galatea from February 2010, click here.
A little over 100 years ago, ice boats like these were THE fastest vehicle on earth! This youtube video from the 1930s touts the fact that a Chevy can outrun an iceboat, an appeal that seems quite bizarre today.
To me, these vessels seem too beautiful and delicate to be so fast.
Varnish, polished brass, marlinespike are all lovingly cared for on Ariel.
Genevieve is a beauty returned recently from Wisconsin
by Brett, whose passion for iceboats was quite evident. This type of passion and
obsession one who blogs incessantly of water can easily empathize with. Wonder why the nameboard looks so untraditional?
Genevieve was built not far from a certain temple of baseball in the Bronx. Here’s a list of vessels built there, but there’s no mention of their iceboating endeavors. While we’re on NYYL&E history, check out their Bronx-built Linmar and Olympus. Another long-gone Morris Heights-based builder built lightships.
A two-person crew pushes off in light wind before lying in the basket.
Genevieve’s bigger basket accommodates more crew, more pushers.
Waiting for the wind here from near to far: Ice Queen, Whirlwind, and Ariel.
Lake Shangri-la beckons; when the wind blows, these boats are eager to bring the Grail back to New York ice. All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who’s grateful for the hospitality.
For a wide variety of European iceboat images and links, click here.
Ice boat speed records: Debutaunte . . . 143 mph? Miss Wisconsin . . . 200 . .. has it been clocked?
Check out John Vargo’s Boating on the Hudson FaceBook page here.
tugster: a waterblog 
7 comments
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February 21, 2011 at 11:19 pm
bowsprite
stark, austere beauty! the boats and where they sail!
February 22, 2011 at 9:36 am
Fjorder
Thanks for sharing Will. I agree w/ your observation that these iceboats look too delicate to blaze across the ice at 3x the wind speed. I lived for years in Red Bank, NJ, home of the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club and was lucky to be invited to its clubhouse for a feature I was writing at the time. Lots of history within those walls, indeed—I recall seeing the trophy that you mentioned and was able to check these crafts out, lovely machines.
In the years that I lived in Red Bank (1998-2006) I recall the conditions on the Navesink (the river they race on, she T-bones the Shrewsbury about 5 miles east in Sea Bright) were ideal for racing only two, maybe three years. I also remember visiting my brother in Ocean County and seeing icesailors on Toms River off Ocean Gate.
February 22, 2011 at 10:05 am
tugster
fjorder– nice to hear from you. i’d love to see that clubhouse and trophy some day . . .
February 22, 2011 at 6:03 pm
John Sperr
The trophy spends most of it’s time locked in a vault — only comes out on very special occasions. Jeff Smith, photographer and current Commodore of NSIBYC has taken some very nice pictures of it.
http://nsibyc.smugmug.com/Historic/20051024-Van-Nostrand-Cup/6567745_zAb2E#418109625_LhvCb
February 22, 2011 at 10:19 am
Fjorder
I remember photographing the trophy, but I don’t own the archives; gimme some time and I believe I can find it.
February 22, 2011 at 9:45 pm
bowsprite
that trophy should be brought out, filled and refilled with John’s incredible home made wines, everyone’s cups should overflow, and the Navesink and Hudson sailors should once again race!
perhaps not in that order.
February 23, 2011 at 9:34 am
Fjorder
After seeing that trophy that’s not the one I recall from the clubhouse; perhaps my memories are intertwined with some other trophy at some other (Sausalito, Bitter End, a dozen or so hard on the Chesapeake, northern Michigan?) yacht clubs…