It’s not in the Olympics yet, but we’ll introduce you to ice sailing ahead of this weekend’s U.S. sailing championship.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
OK, niche winter sports fans, what do you know about ice sailing?
DEB WHITEHORSE: You really know you’re alive when you’re on an iceboat at speed.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
That is Deb Whitehorse, an ice sailing organizer at the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club in Madison, Wisconsin.
CHANG: The boats look just like regular sailboats, but they’re propped up on a cross plank that’s equipped with boat-sized skates that glide across the ice.
WHITEHORSE: Iceboats attain very quick speeds and sail much faster than soft water boats.
CHANG: They can travel up to 80 miles per hour, according to Whitehorse. Within the ice sailing world, there’s a fully developed insider lingo, like in many sports.
DETROW: Ice sailing is called hard water sailing, whereas every other type, that’s called soft water sailing.
CHANG: They also have a name for all different types of ice conditions.
WHITEHORSE: Hollywood ice, black ice, snow ice, old ice, green ice. Once you’re in the sport, you’ll pick it up very quickly.
CHANG: Now, the best for smooth sailing is Hollywood ice.
DETROW: The sport started in the Netherlands and the Baltics. It made its way to North America in the late 1700s or early 1800s.
CHANG: Some of the first ice yacht clubs and races in the U.S. were on the Hudson River. But thanks to lakes that freeze over, good wind and a long winter season, Minnesota and Wisconsin have ideal ice sailing conditions.
DETROW: One of the North American championships is coming up this weekend, and Whitehorse says it’s a real community event.
WHITEHORSE: It’s a lot of fun. I mean, it’s like a family reunion. You see your friends who are just as passionate about ice sailing as you are, so you can talk it 24/7 and no one will get bored.
CHANG: Despite its long history, ice sailing has never been an Olympic sport, although there have been attempts to elevate it to that tier in the past.
DETROW: So even though you won’t see the sport in Italy next month, the winter games do return to the U.S. in 2034, so maybe.
CHANG: Maybe.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENYA SONG, “ORINOCO FLOW”)
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
