Annual meeting yields some more history.

There was a fine  meeting of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club at the Maritime Museum in Kingston this past weekend.  A lot of new faces and members. Good food and drink as usual as well as a couple of unusual items brought along.... I'm always excited to see some new artifacts, or reworkings of artifacts connected to the  glorious history of ice yachting on the Hudson. 

Long time club member and past-commodore Bob Bard brought along a silver cup he recently got as a birthday present from a friend, who had picked it up at a yard sale. Quite a find! 

A trophy from iceboat races of the Hyde Park Ice Yacht Club, 1903. 

This is the Rogers Cup, sailed for 6th class ice yachts.

Races were held on  Feb. 9. 1903 -  yachts entered were: 

Mystic, Cecil Parker, owner, sailed by Samuel Rogers;   Bluestreak, J. Sterling Bird;  

Trouble, Samuel Rogers, owner, sailed by F.B. Weaver;  Allons, H.B. Sleight.  

Won by Mystic, 39m 40s, club course - 10 miles. 

Cecil Parker,  is listed as a club member and Mystic owner in the 

1908 Club Book of the HRIYC; though not in the 1909 HPIYC book.

 A great shot of Mystic, from the Ruge collection at the HRMM. Mystic was 23' in length, with 199 sq ft of sail.

Interestingly, Sam Rogers sailed Mystic to victory that day, while NOT skippering his own boat Trouble.  Perhaps he & Parker knew Mystic was the faster yacht. 

I found the photo of Mystic owner Cecil Parker, below, 

in the extensive collection of 

photos at Hudson River Valley Heritage Collection. 

Cecil Parker in the Bodenstein Ice Tool Factory

Past-commodore Chris Kendall sails 999, which came from the 

Bodenstein Ice Tool Factory sometime in the early 1980s.  

Looks like an ice boat plank to the lower right.

S.R. Rogers built ice yachts in the Hyde Park area, including Beatrice, which belonged to Ogden Mills, of Staatsburgh. Beatrice still is in storage at the old Mills Mansion barns. Mills Mansion is the  Staatsburgh State Historic Site.  

S.R. Rogers

S. R. Rogers also skippered Eclipse to victory, in a 1908 race of 5th class yachts of the HRIYC.
This silver cup is in storage at the FDR Library in Hyde Park. 

His old tool box, still in storage in the old Barns at Staatsburgh.

Beatrice. We set this boat up in 2013 on the 2nd level of one of the barns at
the Mills Mansion site in Staatsburgh. Fully Rigged.

Past commodore Reid Beilenberg brought the cockpit of Archie Roger's Otter to the gathering.
 He has been working on the restoration of this old Hyde Park ice yacht. 

Fourth Class Ice Yacht Otter - one of Archie Rogers Fleet;

built by George Buckhout;  she was 34'11" with 344 sq ft of sail.   

February 18th, 1908: 4th class race, 8 miles. Otter, owned and sailed by A. Rogers; 

Storm King owned and sailed by Silas Lane. Otter won with a time of 35 minutes. 

(from the 1908 HRIYC club book)

Here's a part of the old rail. 

The old bronze fittings are designed to bolt the cockpit onto the hollow box-construction backbone.
The backbone is awaiting restoration work.  

Beautiful work by Reid. Bent oak side rails with a cherry veneer. Tulip Poplar flooring.

Otter has changed hands a few times. Here's what I can figure:

Here's the ad for the 1942 auction that divided up the contents of Crumwold Hall, Archie Rogers home in Hyde Park, NY. He died in 1928; His wife Anne Coleman Rogers died in 1934.  Note the 2nd to last sentence. Frost was not sold; I believe this is when Ariel, Otter and my boat Cyclone were sold. Cyclone and Ariel went to the Port Ewen area. Otter was purchased by Kunzie Todd, a neighbor. He bought up several boats. Todd tried to revitalize the HRIYC in the early 1940s. He died and his mother eventually sold Otter to John Childs of New Rochelle. Childs helped found the Westchester Ice Sailing Club and was an officer with the Eastern Ice Yacht Association in the 40s and 50s. He collected many ice boats over the years. He eventually relocated to Maine. That is where Ricky Aldrich and Lynn Lown acquired parts of Otter. Ricky recalls going to Hyde Park in the 60s and trying to buy Otter from Mrs Todd. She wouldn't sell. He recalls it in being in perfect condition then. He did acquire several other boats from the Todd family.