Icicle (yacht)

Icicle is the name of the largest ice yacht ever built. It was built for John Aspinwall Roosevelt for racing on the Hudson River, New York state in 1869. It was 21 metres (68 ft 11 inches) long and carried 99 m² (1070 ft²) of canvas. The yacht is still, nearly 140 years later, recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as a world record.

John A. Roosevelt (Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Uncle) was the first Commodore of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club (1885) at Poughkeepsie, NY. His ice yacht, "Icicle", required a railway flat car to transport.

In 1871 "Icicle" beat the "Chicago Express" train on a run between Poughkeepsie and Ossining. Early ice yacht clubs spent most of their time racing trains.

References

Guinness Book of Records, 2004
http://www.iceboat.org/ice%20boat%20timeline.htm

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