Still waiting.... last day of January

 

        Ice Sheet off Rhinecliff. Half way to the channel. Ship traffic moving north.     

  Latest ice checks promising, but thickness and surface conditions not     quite there yet;       See Ice Conditions  

!Access to the river at Rhinecliff is tricky and dangerous. Not recommended unless you have an experienced group and safety tools!

Coast Guard breaker Sturgeon Bay working the channel north towards Esopus Meadows Lighthouse.  Photo courtesy Glen Burger.

River looking promising!

 River is locking up, many smooth stretches of ice in several locations. Several more nights with below zero should build good thickness. Still need to measure thoroughly. Expeditions happening next few days. Soon!   Ice conditions tab upper right of this site.

Athens ice, looking NW from village park.

Gildersleeve Prize

 Ever since Ice Yachts have sailed the Hudson River, there has been racing between yachts & yacht clubs. Even today some ice boaters live just to race against fellow boaters. Whether for bragging rights or a silk pennant, racing brings out exciting moments of speed & drama.  

What are some of the prizes that ice boaters raced for?  Stumbling on an old email thread got me looking back at the races and rewards. 

I've previously posted about one of the most exquisite trophies in ice yachting, The Van Nostrand Cup

I've also covered much of the history of the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America, the 30 foot silk pennant established by Irving Grinnell in 1875.

What spurred this post was an email John Sperr (keeper of the HRIYC.org website)  received from a woman 5 years ago. She had acquired a silver oil lamp trophy at an auction in western NY. 

In lieu of silk pennants and silver Tiffany cups, there is always a race to be had for an oil lamp! 

But what a beauty!  

                    This is the Gildersleeve Prize, awarded to winner of the HRIYC race for third class yachts. 

                                      Third class boats had sail area between 350 -450 sq ft.

       Winner of the race on March 16,1887 was Lewis Edwards' yacht Arrow.  Arrow was 31 feet long with sail area of 369 feet.  

I found a  news clipping of the race in John Roosevelt's scrapbook (from the FDR museum & library archives).  

Edwards, outsailed Edmund Pendelton Rogers ( typo in clipping), sailing Snowflake,  38 ft in length and 444 sq ft sail.  EP Rogers was Archibald Rogers father and secretary of the HRIYC at the time.  

Who was Gildersleeve?  

Judge Henry Alger Gildersleeve was born in Dutchess County and schooled in Poughkeepsie. He was a teacher before entering the Civl War in 1862. He  engaged in campaigns in Gettysburg, the Carolinas and Georgia. He mustered out in 1865 and was noticed for his service by President Lincoln. He became a judge in NYC and was a founding member of the NRA. (yes that NRA).  On the ice, he was a member of the Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club, and later, the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club. 

 

                              Ice Yacht Virginia, with owner Judge H.A. Gildersleeve; circa 1880. 

Lewis Edwards kept his yacht Arrow at John Roosevelt's Ice Boat Barn at Roosevelt Point. Roosevelt housed his many boats along with several big boats of Club members.

Judge Gildersleeve had a long, successful, and at times controversial, career. He had the wherewithal to sponsor trophies for races in the 1880s.  

Many thanks to Heather Mulloy for graciously sharing her pictures and for saving a piece of ice yachting history.

And, what other items have been offered up in races?  a very short list of things that I will hopefully add to over time: ( in random order)

Glass cigar holder  for 6th class races at Hyde Park  Feb 1909   won by Comet

Silver Salver 1869 Haze Aaron Innis

silver pitcher 1871 Ella   T.V. Johnston

Club plate  1872  Haze

Silver Plate  1872  Artic Jacob Buckhout

Silver Tiller 1881  Icicle  JAR  

And, my favorite:

circa 1888  4th class race of NHIYC boats;  won by Puff;  quoting the Pok Eagle: "This was a flour race. Only 4 boats sailed in the 4th class, giving every non-active member of the club a barrel of flour." 

And loving cups of all shapes and sizes and designs:

Medals awarded to skippers winning the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America"

Phantom 1881

Icicle 1899

Jack Frost 1893

 

Waiting out the Snow....

 

18 inches of fluffy snow has put any sailing on hold here in Hudson Valley.  We've got extended cold on tap so prospects are good (?) for river ice someday soon. 

Greyhound gets in a short sail the day before the snow storm hits us...    She was trailered home after this. 

    Greyhound, Tivoli South Bay 1/24/26. Catskill mountains in the distance. photo courtesy Brett Kolfrat

Cold Wave during a cold wave....

 After a prolonged January thaw, we are looking at a very deep freeze over the next ten days. Will be watching for the possibility of the Hudson River making good ice. Meanwhile all local ice - several lake and Bay locations were just getting boats set up - is buried under 7-8 inches of powder that fell over the past weekend. That's enough to make it near impossible to sail through. Unless you have 450 sq foot of sail area!  

                        Ice Yacht Cold Wave sailing through 7" of new snow in 15 mph winds.  

Cold Wave, circa 1906(?) sailed out of Long Island for many years, after being restored by Ruben Snodgrass, who sailed her in the 1978 Van Nostrand Cup race in Red Bank.  Cold Wave finished ahead of the other boats in that race.  This is the first time she's been back on the ice since 2014 on the Hudson River in Barrytown.  The Lawrence family now sails her.     (videos courtesy of Dan & Kevin Lawrence 1/19/26)

30 years ago - Blizzard of 1996

 I saw a weather post today about memories of the January 7-8 blizzard 30 years ago when 2+ feet of snow dropped on the Eastern US. That brought back memories! On January 7,  John Hardeman & I set up Flicker - which we had acquired that Fall - on the Hudson River at Barrytown. Jim Kricker & crew set up Greyhound, and Doc Pletcher brought his Lockley Skimmer up from Poughkeepsie. Winds were brisk at times & John & I took turns getting used to our small catboat. I gave rides to a handful of brave souls that came down on a bitter day.  Ken Migliorelli and I had several nice sails. I do recall seeing Greyhound out toward the channel doing a 360 - flicker - and watching all occupants of the cockpit flying across the ice. Skipper and passengers quickly recovered and were sailing again in short order.   

       Flicker with Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to the south. The snow line is beginning to obscure the span.

Mid morning January 7,1996:  Greyhound crew assembles the boat for a frigid day of sailing. 

Jack Weeks, Jim Kricker, Emerson Burger, Todd Scheff, Mike Corey? 

                                Bud Pletcher's Skimmer was a great boat that day for the conditions.

 I guess we knew a storm was approaching and can't say I realized how major it would be. I recall seeing the Rhinecliff Bridge clearly to the south - about a mile or so - around mid day. A bit later it was clear the storm was working its way north and what seemed like a gray fog enveloped the bridge. By 3 or so the view of the Bridge disappeared all together and flakes began to come down heavily. We scrambled to dismantle Flicker and get her tied down on my old Saab.  I barely managed to drive home to Tivoli, about 5 miles north.  My weather notes from old calendars:

Jan 7 : Flicker on at Barrytown black ice; sailed 11- 4;  Blizzard sets in from the south - dismantle in heavy snow storm  5 degrees winds gusty10-20

Jan 7-8  20-24” blizzard

                                            Sailing off Barrytown-on-Hudson; Doc Pletcher along for a ride.

Greyhound, circa 1905, was originally owned and sailed by Willie Smith, of Poughkeepsie. Smith was often at the helm of John A. Roosevelt's Icicle in the races for the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America. In later years he sailed this 6th class yacht in races with the Hyde Park Ice Yacht Club.

I think Jim Kricker is at the helm here. Greyhound is currently on the ice at Tivoli South Bay, 1-8-2026, 30 years after this pre-blizzard sail.

I miss those blizzards from the past... Anyone else recall that storm?

Flicker ( formerly HIC) is a Westchester One Design Class, designed by Robert Mueller , one of the founders of the Eastern Ice Yacht Association. She was built circa 1940 and was part of a fleet of 5 that sailed and raced at Peach Lake in Westchester county. John Childs had her and sailed her with the Westchester Ice Sailing Club. There is one other surviving example of this class that still sails at Peach Lake on occasion.

Boats on the River!

 Yes,  Tivoli South Bay, Barrytown, is part of the tidal river, though separated by the Railroad tracks from the main river channel. 3 bridge trestles along the length of the Bay allow the tide to visit 2x a day. At times parts of the ice surface sits on the muddy bottom.  It's about a mile long and 1/3 of a mile wide. We've been sailing here since the early 80s and were last on Tivoli Bay on New Years day 2018. 

After these cold weeks and ice building there are 2 old stern steerers ready to go. Now if we just get some wind...    We had another 2 inches of snow overnight into Sunday. 7 inches of ice in many spots. Snow is a bit sticky.  A few more cold days before a thaw arrives. The rain and warmer temperatures may smooth out the surface nicely when cold returns. 

Greyhound, originally from the Hyde Park Ice Yacht Club circa 1905, got out with sails up, but needed a team to push her around.  It was a beautiful afternoon and it was wonderful to see a small crowd of kids, dogs, skaters and iceboaters on Tivoli Bay again.   The small stern steerer from Maine is also ready.  Wind forecast is not too promising these next few days unfortunately.  

No ice on the River proper that I know of.   Small boats - DNs, Arrows, small skeeters - are on many lakes in the greater region including Saratoga Lake, Round Lake, Stockbridge Bowl, Orange Lake & Budd Lake NJ,   Let's look to great conditions after this thaw.