ICE SAILING BOAT

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

ICE SAILING BOAT

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:42 pm

The USA Post Office Announcement Bulletin provided this description of iceboats, with additional info from Watercraft Philately.

The iceboat is an adaptation of the sailboat. Its narrow hull is fastened to a crosspiece or runner plank and steel rudders are placed at each end. A steering rudder is positioned at either the bow or the hull, and a single mast supports one or two sails.

The iceboat originated in the mid-18th century on the frozen canals of The Netherlands and was introduced in America by Dutch settlers. Today in the United States, the sport of iceboating is popular mainly in the Great Lakes region and in areas of the Northeast.

Iceboat racing is the fastest of all winter sports, and many boats can exceed 100 miles an hour. They are classified by design and sail area and, during races, boats of similar size compete

It is believed by most that Oliver Booth built the first ice boat in America in 1784. The largest ice boat ever built in America was built for John A Roosevelt of the New York yacht club in 1860, this ice boat was named ICICLE, it was a gaff rigged sloop with a length of 68.11 feet with a sail area of 1,070 square feet.

Today, ice sailing is still popular, both in the Netherlands, America, Canada and the Norwegian countries, also in Russia,Poland and Austria this sport is still practiced.
There are two classes of ice boats, both of which are steered with a kind of skate in the front. The E-Skeeter with a sail area of 183 square feet, and a DN class this class owes its name to a competition organized by the Detroit News in 1937, and this class is the most popular. This ice boat weighs 90 pounds with a length of 12 feet, and the main runners behind are 2-3 feet long. The mast has a length of 16 feet, sail surface is 70 square feet.

More info is given on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_boat
USA 1985 14c sg 2169, scott 2134.

I found some other stamp issues which show us ice sailing boats.

1955 Hungary 60F in a sports series, sg?, scott? (sailing on Lake Balaton.)
Poland 1978 1.50Zl. sg?, scott? (Issue for the 6th World Iceboating Championship in Krynica Morska on 06 February 1978.)
Mozambique 2013 two miniature sheets with iceboats, made only for the collectors market and not worth the paper she are printed on. 16.00MT and 175.00MT sgMS?, scott?
Attachments
Image (36).jpg
1978 icesailing poland.png
1955 Ice-sailing-on-Lake-Balaton.jpg
2013 icesailing mozambique ms.jpg
2013 ice sailing mozambique ms 175.00mt.jpg

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