As truly awe inspiring as the huge and high tech America’s Cup boats are, we shouldn’t forget that iceboats are the real speed demons on the water (even if it is frozen.) Will at the Tugster blog has some great photos of iceboats on the Hudson while Bowsprite has a wonderful video of sailing the classic iceboat Galatea (even as it comes apart at speed). While the classic Hudson River iceboats are beautiful, the real speed demon is the diminutive DN, the one person speedster that has been clocked at over 60 miles per hours!
The DN was born in 1937 when the Detroit News sponsored a workshop to build the DN-60, a small, fast, easily transported and inexpensive iceboats. They cost around $50 to build in those days and about $1,800 now. And DNs are fast. With good ice conditions, in a 10-12 mile per hour wind the DN can reach speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour and in 12-15 mile per hour winds can reach 55-65 miles per hour. Wow.
One interesting aspect of the design of DNS (and modern iceboats in general) is the use of mast bend to control sail shape. The mast follows the curve of the sail leech, reducing sail twist to almost zero. While sail twist can help a salt water sailor, at speeds over 40 miles an hour, it just creates drag.