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.

Annual Meeting of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club

Join us for the 52nd Annual Meeting of the

                 Hudson River Ice Yacht Club

Sunday, December 11, 2016

2:00 – 5:00 pm

Hudson River Maritime Museum

Kingston, N.Y.

Join us for our annual meeting in

the Museum’s new boatbuilding school.

There is time to check out the Museum's display of 

 iceboats: Knickerbocker  and John A. Roosevelt’s Icicle.

Pot Luck : Bring a covered dish, drink or dessert to share

Meeting at 3:30 pm

Updates on Restoration of Manhasset, other boat news. 

Election of Officers to take place   

Club dues ($25) are due 

Questions?:   breid1885@gmail.com 

Whiff, on display at Philadelphia Centennial, 1876.

Had to post this fabulous shot of Irving Grinnell's ice yacht Whiff. A rare photo of her on display in the Machinery Hall at the  Centennial International Exhibition of 1876.  More on Whiff here, from an older post.      Many thanks to Henry Bossett who sent me the image. 

The Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America ( which hadn't been raced for yet), streams down from the top of the mast.
Note the carved Gryphon just forward of the mast, on the bowsprit, carved from a single piece of black walnut.

An award Grinnell received for his display of Whiff.  ".... good proportions...."  

Ray Ruge

Ray was known as the Mr. Ice Boat.  He was active from as early as 1937 right through until his death, of cancer, in 1986. Ray designed, built and raced ice boats.  He wrote prolifically about the sport: Encyclopedia entries; regular articles for Yachting magazine; stories in Boys Life and many other magazines and news columns in local papers. Ray corresponded with sailors around the world.  His archives contain fascinating letters with Carl Bernard, of Wisconsin and Frank Drake, elder ice yachtsman who skippered boats for John A. Roosevelt. Ray built ice boats, and restored or uncovered dozens of historic stern steerers. One of his most important contributions, in my opinion, was reviving the interest in the old historic yachts. He was instrumental in locating, and getting back on the ice, dozens of old yachts that had been lying unused for years. He led restoration efforts on historic yachts including Whiff, Puff, Ariel, and Jack Frost. He sailed and raced Archie Rogers' Ariel, and John A. Roosevelt's Vixen.  He mentored young sailors who continue his passion with ice yachts to this day. Ray helped to revitalize the old Hudson River Ice Yacht Club, reorganizing it in 1964. His favorite bow steerer - Charette, is now part of the New York State Museum.  He would be proud of the recent acquisition and restoration of the Buckhout-built ice yacht Manhasset. He rubbed elbows with ice sailors who raced for the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America - The Merritt Brothers of Chelsea; Frank Drake from New Hamburgh; George Buckhout of Poughkeepsie. He located the original Ice Yacht Challenge pennant and started that race back up after it sat idle for almost 30 years. He organized that race for a new version of the pennant ( the original went to the FDR Library & museum in Hyde Park). He raced (though lost) in that 1951 race on Greenwood Lake.  Ray also located and helped organize a race for the Van Nostrand Challenge Cup in 1978. It had been raced for only one time previously - in 1891 on Orange Lake.
Ray left us way too early. I never met him, getting involved in this sport about 7 years later. His collected archives are housed at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston NY. It is a valuable trove of the history of the sport.
There is a lot more to Ray's life and recollections of readers would be most welcome. If you get a chance, make an appointment at the Museum to look through his archives. It is worth a few hours to immerse yourself in history of the sport.
some images from his life...

Ray took to the ice early. An undated photo (circa 1920) with his mom.

Ray founded the Hudson-Highland Ice boat club.
They sailed out of Piermont on the west side of the Hudson.

Ray was affiliated with the Orange Lake Ice Yacht Club.
That club's roots went back to 1889.
Here he is at their 1939 awards dinner. (Ray 3rd from left)

I believe this was at the EIYA race in 1970 at Croton. sitting on the plank of Ariel.

Ray raced actively throughout the late 30s and 1940s.
He captured many C class races aboard his bow steerer Charette.

Racing on Orange Lake, NY, 1939.   C-1 is Ray's boat Charette.

"Ice Chips" was a column on winter sports - mainly ice boating,
that Ray wrote for a local paper in the 40s.
He was always trying to bring new folks into the world of ice yachting.

His beloved Charette, getting ready for shipment to the NYS Museum in Albany, 1975.
It was on display there for many years; It is in storage at this time.

The EIYA was a member association of ice yacht clubs in the northeast.
Member clubs were from NJ, Long Island, upstate NY, CT.  Ray was instrumental in the establishment of the EIYA.
EIYA pretty much ceased to exist in the late 1990s.

Puff. Irving Grinnel's old yacht, circa 1870. Ray got a group of Hudson Valley sailors
to restore and sail Puff in the mid 1960s. He located her in the old Grinnel Barns in New Hamburgh.

Ray aboard Charette.

Ray wrote regularly on ice-boating in Yachting magazine.

Icicle was the first bow steerer that Ray built. anyone know where this lake is? 

a brief video of Ruge, during a work party session on the renovation of Jack Frost, in 1972.


Early video footage of Ray Ruge sailing. Thanks to Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club in ME, for finding and uploading this.

Big Boat Gallery 1870-1900

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

As it is the 140th anniversary of the Philadelphia Centennial, I thought I'd offer up a gallery of images of the historic big ice yachts of the Hudson River.  It was at the 1876 Centennial that Irving Grinnell displayed his newest Ice Yacht Whiff. That display was the first time many Americans saw an ice yacht, one that was beautifully crafted by Jacob Buckhout of Poughkeepsie. Buckhout, and others, continued to build beautiful, big, wooden gaff-rigged ice yachts into the 20th century.  Here is a gallery of some of them.

Viva, with owner J.C. Barron; circa 1880. 49' long; 493 sq ft of sail. 

John A. Roosevelt's Icicle, circa 1883.

Vesper - one of the oldest photos (I venture) of a Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht - circa early 1870s?.
Vesper appears in an 1861 listing of ice yachts sailing off Poughkeepsie.
A good representation of the style of construction from the 1860s.

A very early photo of John A. Roosevelt's Icicle.  This is the big 68' version, with 1070 sq ft of sail.
This photo comes from his ice boat scrap book - it was affixed to the inside cover of the very large leather bound book.

Another shot of ICICLE, off Roosevelt Point, likely from the late 1870s.

Irving Grinnell, aboard Whiff.  Here's a news piece from that time that I love 

Ice Yacht Haze, circa 1876. Aaron Innis, mayor of Poughkeepsie, sailed Haze for many years. This is the early version, built much like Whiff, with her mast stepped directly over the runner plank; big jib; long overhang on the boom;
heavy wooden side rails.

Another shot of Haze, from 1879.

Haze again, this time from 1883; Here she has been rebuilt in the "Scott" design.
Haze captured the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America in 1884 and 1885.



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Northern Light. She was owned by J.C. Barron of Poughkeepsie. She won the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant of America in 1885, the 2nd race for it that season.

a great write up of ice sailing at the end of the 1890s:  Norman Wright

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John R. Roosevelt's Santa Claus.

E. Harrison Sanford's Avalanche - 841 sq ft and weighing 3000 pounds!  Not long after this, a squall threw him unceremoniously from the boat. He promptly dismantled this lateen rig and had it rebuilt as sloop rigged.

Archibald Rogers' Jack Frost, circa 1900.  

Fleet off of Roger's Rock;  Jack Frost center.

Thomas Newbold with his yacht Blizzard.  I believe Blizzard is an early version of Jack Frost that Archie Rogers sailed.  When Rogers had a new Frost built, he renamed the older version Blizzard.  Newbold was his neighbor in Hyde Park.
Here, Blizzard carries 560 sq ft of sail and is 39 feet in length.  

Arctic. This boat was built around 1860 and sailed through the 1920s.  She burned up in a fire on the Hyde Park dock in the 1920s. She was owned by many of the well known ice yachters through 50+ years of sailing.  

Here is the historic yacht Robert Scott. This was the boat that Jacob Buckhout & Captain Relyea re-designed, using wire stays and a mast stepped forward of the runner plank. The result: a better balanced, better handled speedy yacht.  This boat had 499 sq ft of sail and, on its first real race in 1881 with J.A. Roosevelt's Icicle ( the huge version), easily out sailed her.  Harrison Sanford quickly purchased her and re-named her Great Scott - as seen here.





All photos are digital images I took from historic  pictures at the FDR Museum & Library.

Wednesday in Kingston....Cure the Post election Blues....

Hudson River Maritime Museum 

50 Rondout Landing ▪ Kingston, NY 12401 ▪ 

www.hrmm.org

“FOLLOW THE RIVER” LECTURE & FILM SERIES

Rocket (L) and Jack Frost (R) on Orange Lake 2015

ICE BOATING ON THE HUDSON

Brian Reid - Hudson River Ice Yacht Club

Secretary & Club Historian with members of HRIYC

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 @ 7:00 pm

Venue: Riverport Wooden Boat School classroom 

at the Hudson River Maritime Museum

Admission: suggested $5.00 donation ________________________________________________________________________

For more information, please call 845.338.0071 ext 15 or visit www.hrmm.org PRESERVATION ∙ EDUCATION ∙ DESTINATION ∙ COMMUNITY ACCESS