When lakes freeze over, some Chicagoans decide to set sail. On Geneva Lake in Wisconsin, the best way to catch the wind is to bring a boat made for winter, and some guys wait all year long for ice boating.
When lakes freeze over, some Chicagoans decide to set sail.On Geneva Lake in Wisconsin, the best way to catch the wind is to bring a boat made for winter, and some guys wait all year long for ice boating.
Rich Stearns readies his boat every season, and Jerry Ring drives up from Chicago every winter to catch a ride.'I will admit, I'm an adrenaline junkie,' Ring said.At 79, nothing scratches his adrenaline itch like hopping on board a boat with three skates and no brakes.'People go, 'Wait a minute. You were supposed to have stopped doing this 20 years ago,' but I'm enjoying it. it's fun,' Ring said.The Dutch were the first to ice boat, but Americans have made it their own.'Theodore Roosevelt had an ice boat, a big ice boat, and he would sail on the Hudson River,' Stearns said.Now, skippers compete in races on different classes of ice boats. The boats can race up to five times the speed of the wind. Think highway speeds on ice.'Best I've ever done on that boat over there was 72 knots, according to my GPS, which is just at 80 miles an hour,' Ring said.No need to break records to feel the rush.'I mean, we might be going 50 every so often here,' Stearns said.Some prefer it as a spectator sport. On a frozen lake, the wind is the catch of the day.'When someone says it's time to ice boat, you go,' Stearns said.
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