Speaking of iceboat plans, here are scans of some the earliest plans for ice yachts on record from Fredrik Henrik af Chapman’s book, ArchitecturNavalis Mercatoria published in 1768. (Benjamin Franklin commissioned a set of iceboat drawings from the Dutch in 1767, one year earlier than the publication of Chapman’s book.) Chapman, born in Sweden to English parents, is considered to be the first naval architect.
Though many in the ice sailing world have been aware of these plans for quite sometime, they were new to me. My post about stumbling across the iceboat plans that Benjamin Franklin commissioned prompted Alexander de Voss to take the time to scan and share Chapman’s plans with us which are based upon traditional Dutch ice yachts.
A few words about Alexander de Voss. I met Alexander on Lake Orsa in Sweden this winter when his ice sailing club De Robben trailered their vintage boats from the Netherlands for a week of cruising. (Previous: Where It All Began) He and his son brought a vintage DN and a really cool small-scale Monotype. In 2010, Alexander, built a historical shipyard in order to preserve local old vessels, materials and shipbuilding techniques. If you like wooden boats, read The Historical Shipyard of Alexander de Voss and Shipyard “Klaas Hennepoel” – Warmond to learn more about this functioning museum.
