“Flat Out”
Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, from Brookwood subdivision in Fontana
March 8, 2024
I suppose I have no business posting this photo at this time of year because nary a shard of ice remains on Geneva Lake. It is completely “soft water” and not “hard water.”
This winter was one of the rare ones during which the lake did not freeze completely. Not even close, unfortunately. With how the climate is changing, I guess I cannot use the word “rare” anymore. I certainly hope I am wrong, and a freeze-over returns next winter.
So, this photograph is a bit nostalgic. I made the photo on February 3, 2003, while on the shore path in Fontana at Brookwood subdivision on the south shore of the lake. The parking lot of the subdivision above its beach and pier affords a wide-open perspective of the lake, with “long” views in three directions.
The centerpiece of the image, of course, is the iceboat, which belongs to Fred Stritt, who lives by Delavan Lake. He is a veteran sailor of both the soft-water and hard-water persuasions.
Directly across the lake is the Williams Bay lakefront. The thin white building closest to the iceboat is the beach house, and on either side of the beach are the east and west stretches of Edgewater Park.
The white line in the upper quarter of the photo is a long mound of ice where two sections of it met and butted heads, so to speak. The resulting big blocks rise up in a pyramid that can be two or three feet high.
Finding a spot to go over the mound can be tricky, especially if open water is present at the base of the pyramid. I have done so many times over the years when I was out there skating, an activity that provides exhilaration with a capital E!
Speaking of exhilarating, that perfectly describes iceboating. Imagine what Stritt felt as he was out cruising that February day 21 years ago in his Class A boat.
Named “The Fritz,” the boat measures 43 feet long and has a 28-foot plank (with a runner at each end) and a 35-foot mast. The boat, which is steered from the stern, weighs more than 1,600 pounds. With the right amount of wind, the boat can roar across the ice at high speeds.
The most noticeable sound made by an iceboat is the metal runners carving a thin line in the ice. One also can hear the flap of the sail(s) and the movement of ratchets and pulleys to tighten and position the sails.
I hate to admit a photograph does not do iceboating justice. Absent a video, use your imagination to put yourself beside me that day when Stritt was headed back to Fontana to “dock” his boat.
What a majestic sight!
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If you wish to comment or ask a question about this post, contact me at frednoer@att.net.