After a few good weekends of sailing on
the Hudson at Athens, the river ice was quick to break up after a few warm days and strong winds. Those warm days though, were enough to help local snow covered lakes to smooth out & with a string of cold nights we were rewarded with nice hard surfaces with sufficient thickness. This set up nice ice at Orange Lake, which had been snow covered for some time, and the southern fleet of ice yachts were rigged for sailing this first week of March.
High winds limited sailing late this week but Saturday saw some spirited racing and a strong hand on the tiller was needed to keep the boats down! It was cold, gusty and a fabulous gathering. The Lawrence family again extended themselves most graciously making visiting sailors most welcome & well fed. A big contingent of ice yachts from Red Bank, NJ arrived and we had a great showing of big & small classic stern steerers for racing & pleasure sailing. Other ice boats included Arrow class, DNs, & Lockley skimmers.
Hudson River Ice Yacht Club boats included: Ice Queen, Ariel, Whirlwind, Sweet Marie, Genevieve, & Boreus.
The fleet from the North Shrewsbury Ice Yacht & Boat Club included Ymir, Georgie II, Ruth, Phantom, Icicle, Trudle, Old 33, and another D class stern steerer.
Many of the Big "A" boats ( sail area in the 350 sq ft range) spent the day racing on the North side of the Lake. Gusts up to 20-25 mph had boats hiking at times. The Whirlwind came down hard from one hike resulting in a break in the starboard side of its hollow backbone. Repairs will be forthcoming before she is ready to race again. Boats traded first place finishes over the many races, including Ariel, Georgie II, Ice Queen & Ymir.
Ice Queen, Ymir, Ariel ready to race. These are considered "A" boats - "A" being class size of ice yachts with 350 sq ft of sail area.
photo courtesy of Dave Drawbaugh
Outside the race course Skippers gave rides to friends and onlookers. Don sailed Sweet Marie , which he recently acquired from the Gilbert family, who had sailed & maintained her since 1900 at least.
Capt. Steve took young and old out on Boreus & Brett used the party boat cockpit of Genevieve to take many out for rides.
Looks like there is one more day of sailing at Orange Lake, boats will likely be dismantled as the upcoming second week of March is bringing very warm temps which will end the season.
Here's a short video from Glen. It captures the very beginning of one of the A boat races - if you look carefully you'll see Georgie in a nice hike; The majority is Glen in his DN, chasing Capt. Steve on Boreus, around the Lake. Nice capture Glen!
So great to see
Sweet Marie ( circa 1900) back in action! She last sailed in 2004 on the Hudson at Rokeby. I recall former long-time owner &
skipper Tom Gilbert sailing her on Orange Lake in the late 90s. He told me the story of he and his family fashioning the new backbone for her in the 1930s.
Captain Steve, giving some young sailors their first ice boat ride. Ice Yacht
Boreus ( circa 1924)
the"pits".. there were about 20 boats on the ice. Boats took a break from high winds for a wonderful feast on shore.
Food nourishment, giving old bones and muscles a needed break... Thanks Rick & Jane!!
It was so nice to be at Orange Lake again. There is a lot of
ice boat history here, and nice to be part of a new chapter.
GeorgieII, Ariel, Ice Queen. Georgie & Ariel have been racing and sailing for over 110 years!
Ymir was built by George Buckhout in Poughkeepsie.
She eventually ended up in NJ with the Red Bank club.
Ruth, formerly known as"Red Jack" She sailed at Orange Lake in the 60s.
