“Wooden shoe rather be iceboating?” Erich Schloemer on Facebook
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Every year, our friends from the Dutch ice sailing club De Robben undertakes a remarkable journey to Sweden. It’s become a tradition that brings together families and friends for a week of ice sailing. The historic Dutch iceboats steeped in heritage and craftsmanship are at the heart of this tradition.
This week, they are in Herrfallet, Sweden. New this year is one of the most spectacular iceboats I’ve ever seen, a wooden shoe! Club member Maarten De Groot writes:
We have some Dutchmen walking on wooden shoes. This skipper has a cheesemaker farm and a wooden shoe farm where he produces wooden shoes. He made this big wooden shoe for his farm and transformed it into an iceboat. He is sailing on this with his wife and two kids!
We have great conditions with 95 people and 67 iceboats!
No wind, no problem. Time for socializing on the ice.
Previous: Iceboat Tourist in the Netherlands Dutch Style Iceboats Archive
The Dutch ice sailing club, DeRobben, and Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club completed a burgee exchange. Our burgee is now displayed in Alexander De Vos’ reconstructed 19th-century Dutch shipyard. Don Sanford, a 4LIYC Nite sailor, received a DeRobben burgee during his visit to the Netherlands in the spring. Maybe we will see the 4LIYC burgee flying on one of DeRobben’s historic Dutch ice yachts in the future!
Don, right, inspecting a model of a traditional Dutch ice yacht. Photo: Alexander De Voss
Learn More: Dutch Style Iceboats Archive
4LIYC Nite sailor Don Sanford recently visited the country where our sport began, the Netherlands, and met up with members of De Robben, the sailing club that keeps up the Dutch ice-yachting tradition.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the (iceboat) world, I was invited to visit with some hard water sailors in the Netherlands. No ice here, but I did get to see their collection of vintage iceboats. They also have a few DNs and a vintage Skeeter. As usual with iceboaters, there was lots of smart-talking and just a bit of actual work going on. I left some Nite caps, stickers, and a copy of the Mary B DVD. Their burgee will find a new home at the Nordhaus boat shop soon. – Don Sanford
Previously: Where It All Began
If two subjects belong in the same photograph, it has to be ice yachts and the northern lights. The Dutch ice sailing club, De Robben, trailered traditional yachts to Rattvik, Sweden, for their annual ice sailing holiday at the same time the northern lights appeared. (Below is a photo from Mora, Sweden from their 2020 trip.)
Dutch Style Iceboats Archive
Via Facebook:
If the Netherlands is in your winter plans, visit Rotterdam’s Maritiem Museum to see an original stern-steerer, a classic Dutch iceboat on display. “Princess Alexia” was built in 1840 and is temporarily on display thanks to Stichting IJsschuiten Gouwzee.
