long, 2 inches wide, and ⅞ of an inch thick, with two pins at each end, as shown at C in Fig. 15. The pins will fit into small holes in the long sticks, and when the strap is buckled tight the block will be held securely in place. A large flat hook can be lashed fast to this block, and when sailing along before the wind it can be caught over a stout leather belt to help support the weight of the sail.
Fig. 14. Ice-sails.
Two twilled cotton sails are made in the shape shown in Fig. 13, and provided with snaps at the three outer ends, so that they may catch into eyes lashed fast to the ends of the arms and to the long sticks, as shown at B in Fig. 15. The sails can be drawn taut at the inner ends with rings and a strap or light rope or heavy twine.
Fig. 15.
In the ice-sail shown in Fig, 14, two square sails are supported at the ends of crossed yard-arms fourteen feet long.
Four vertical cross-sticks of equal length are made, and at the middle a long block is attached to two of them, as shown at AA in Fig. 14. Pins in the ends of the blocks fit into holes in the long arms, and when the ends of the long arms are bent in they tightly grip the pins and blocks.
Short blocks, each provided with a single pin, are lashed to the outer cross-sticks, eight inches from the ends, and holes made in the outer ends of the long sticks will receive these pins, as shown at DDDD in Fig. 14, the spring of the stick holding both inner and outer cross-sticks in place at the same time. (See Fig. 14.)
Heavy sheeting or unbleached muslin sails can be stretched and bound to the cross-sticks, and when detached they can be rolled up on the sticks.
This sail is handled in the same way as the other skating-sail, but is more powerful, as the sheets are larger. In using skating-sails, the boy should avoid running near to and parallel with deep cracks; if his skate gets into one he may have a bad throw.
Ice-boats.
For rapid traveling over the ice there is nothing to beat an ice-boat, and some that have been constructed on the Hudson River have kept up to and even beaten the fast express trains that run along both shores of the river. Boats of this kind with the speed of an express train are dangerous for boys to play with, but the ordinary ice-boat that will go from ten to twenty miles an hour is within the ability of almost any grown boy to make and safely handle.
The triangular body of the boat is 10 feet long and 8 feet wide, and the bowsprit projects 6 feet beyond the timber A in Fig. 16. The frame is made of clear spruce timbers 6 inches wide and 2 inches thick. Timber A is 8 feet, BB are 11 feet, C is 5 feet, and DD are each 3 feet long. At the front corners and at the back the timbers are beveled, as shown, and, are joined with long bolts as indicated by the dotted lines. Timbers C and DD are set in place and securely fastened with long steel-wire spikes, then the bowsprit E is mounted against timber C and laid over timber A, to which it is bolted fast. A half inch iron pin is driven in the butt-end of the bowsprit, and it fits into a hole made in timber C. The bowsprit is cut from a piece of spruce 2¼ by 4 and tapered at the outer end, where a “thimble” having three eyes is driven on. The top eye receives the forestay, and the side ones the bobstay cables that run to the corners of the boat, where they are drawn taut with