Ice Ice Sailing

Ice Sailing near Pekin, Illinois. December 9th, 2006. This video is dedicated to my good friend Lou, who died unexpectedly in early September, 2009. :-(

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• ice
• windsurf
• wind
• winter

[windsurfhardcore]

How hard is it to turn on these skis? I don't see you doing this muah like a snofer or snowski. I'd like to build one.

[prybarczyk]

I can turn my ice-board by shifting the weight on each foot which changes the center of effort. But it doesn't turn sharp and it can't do jibes or tacks. When I get to the end of a run, I just hop off and turn it around. So I need a big patch of ice to make that fun. Check out my other ice sailing video to see the skateboard type of ice- board (which I don't own). They use actual skateboard trucks and can jibe and tack quite well, and are more fun on smaller patches of ice.

[gwardo1]

OK, I've gotta ask. What happens when the wind dies out? I windsurf on a smallish pond in Maine, and have been thinking about this, but our wind is unsteady at best. So really leaning into a gust that cuts out immediately is a possibility..... Also, are those just skis attached to a platform with the mounting hardware on it? No skates or anything like that?

[prybarczyk]

Hi. The wind is pretty unsteady here too. Fortunately ice has such low resistance, you don't need to lean much like on water. So it's pretty easy to handle gusts and lulls. Just DON'T use a harness, else you might get slammed. Twice the speed of the wind is easy. The board is made from regular old (straight) snow skis angled 30 degrees. The ski edges track just fine. Be sure to leave the edges concave so that the front and back are making the most contact, otherwise the board can get unstable.

[Klattu]

Amazing to us down south...GPS speed?

[prybarczyk]

Hi. My buddy has a GPS that clocked us at 25-30 MPH last year. On clean smooth ice with a decent rig, it's pretty easy to get going 2X the speed of the wind. Mainly depends on conditions and bravery. Great fun though! ;-)

[arnoldaszlt]

yea ice ice baby but you have brakes ?

[grezzbop]

magnificent!!!!!!!

[skiffsailorwannabe]

and what did you use to bult the platform to the skies?

[SageSzkaStuart]

holy crap that ice is beautiful!

love the music hah

[gwardo1]

Sweet. I was curious how the skis came into effect, what with edges on the sides and not straight down like on skates. Are you able to use it on hard snow as well due to the skis?