Ice Sailing On Schroon Lake
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 2:30PM 
Pictures By Tom Fallon
When our lake freezes over, we’ve seen fishing huts, cars, trucks and even a mini-bike on our fine lake – but never have we witnessed a sail boat doing some ice sailing. Thankfully, Tom Fallon had his camera at the ready when he captured the incredible sight above and below on a sunshine filled winter’s day. A boat, which Tom estimates was about 15 feet long -- with a main sail and jib and two sailors onboard -- scooted on top of the lake near the Word Of Life Dock at about noon on Saturday.
Tom couldn’t tell what type of runners the boat had, but reports that when those sails caught the wind “it could move”
If you know more about the boat – let us know in comments or email us at schroonlaker@me.com. And if you’ve got photos you’d like to share of Schroon -- whether it be the catch of the day, or anything else that has caught your fancy -- send ‘em our way.
Reader Comments (1)
For those of you who might be interested the iceboat pictured is known as a South Bay Scooter. They had their origin in the early 1900's as a working class boat for Bay Men on the Great South Bay of Long Island NY. What makes them unique compared to a typical Ice Boat is that they have no tiller or rudder. They are steered by trimming the Jib and Mainsail along with shifting the weight of the crew There also is no runner or blade typical of most iceboats, instead they have strips of metal on the bottom of the hull. Lastly and most importantly they will float and sail like a normal softwater sailboat when the ice gives way or runs out. They are still actively raced today.
On the south end of Schroon lake there are 3 more conventional iceboats sailing until the snow comes.