PHOTOS + VIDEO: Ice boats sailing on the Hudson River
Ice boats sailed on the Hudson River in Athens on Wednesday, January 26, 2022. Photos: niki@hvny.info
Ice yachting on the Hudson River
photos + videos by niki@hvny.info
Originally published on January 28, 2022
Dutch settlers quickly transported items “in the form of sheep and people” with ice boats on the Hudson River from Athens to Albany beginning in the early 1800s.
Recreational ice boating quickly followed “utilizing the traditional gaff-rigged sail pattern of Hudson River Valley sloops for propulsion, and cast iron ice skates (or runners) as media,” according to the National Park Service. “These became, in fact, the fastest vehicles on earth at the time, regularly beating the trains racing up and down the shores of the Hudson. Even in modest breeze, these boats could reach speeds of 75 miles per hour.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt on his ice yacht, HAWK, built by George E. Buckhout of Poughkeepsie, and presented to FDR by his mother, Sara, as a Christmas gift on December 25, 1901. Photo: FDR Presidential Library.
FDR became passionate about ice yachting as he grew up watching his uncle John compete in races on the Hudson River. John Roosevelt won the prestigious Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America and was a founding member of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club, which is still in existence today.
See current river conditions from the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club, here: http://www.hriyc.org/current.html
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