Saturday LF got a hot tip: The Navesink River was frozen over, and ice boats were going to be out on Sunday. The place to be was Red Bank, NJ.
When we arrived, they were racing out and back around a pylon set up in the middle of the river. These things were hitting 40 mph easily on the open ice.
They’re basically thin pieces of wood on two big ice skate blades, with a sail.
These folks must wait every winter for those few days when conditions are right. Lately, there are whole years that go by without it being cold enough, long enough, for the river to freeze. But we’ve been “blessed” with sub-freezing weather almost continuously since Christmas.
They bring the whole family down, and let the little ones slide around on the river.
Spectators were enjoying themselves, too.
Besides the boaters, there were a few people out on ice skates. This guy had a kite, like the parasailers we saw in San Francisco last August. Ice boats and ice skaters can peacefully coexist when there’s this much space. San Francisco Bay continues to be ice-free.
