Building an ice sail

Spring 2020

The best possible use of a large tarp, a frozen lake, and a lot of newly-found quarantine time.

The material

  • sled-chair on skis

  • large tarp

  • adjustable metal rod

  • a wood plank

  • bendable rod (in yellow)

  • rope, duck tape, tie-wraps

The technology

  • The sail is easy to hoist using ropes passing through metal mast

  • We added a bendable rod at top of sail to better direct it while in motion. This helps take full advantage of the wind and allows me to counter-balance strong gusts pushing the sail to turn.

Sailing it!

We discovered the 2-passenger technique was really useful because the standing person can focus on adjusting the sail's tension while the sitting person can direct it with the rod.