Editorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOn a frozen stretch of Geneva Lake, ice boats skim across the surface when the wind cooperates. Instead of cutting through water, steel runners carve along the ice, and even a light breeze can send a boat surging forward.For Richard Stearns, the sport has been part of his life since he was a teenager.”I was 15, I couldn’t even drive. What was I supposed to do? But it was something to give me and it’s been fun ever since,” Stearns said.Stearns grew up in a sailing family and said the appeal is simple: wind, speed and the feeling of acceleration that can come without warning.”All of a sudden, out of nowhere, you didn’t hit the accelerator; God hit the accelerator. And then bam! You’re going twice as fast. Like, OK, that is pretty cool,” he said.This winter’s cold has helped set up more opportunities for ice boating.From Dec. 1 through Feb. 10, Milwaukee’s average temperature was 22.1 degrees. You have to go back to 2014 to find a colder stretch, a pattern that has helped support ice conditions across much of southern Wisconsin.”I just love going out. And the power of the wind and how fast you go is pretty much fun,” Stearns said.While some winter sports rely on snow, ice boating depends more on smooth ice and the right mix of cold nights and manageable snowfall. For Stearns, it is one more way to embrace winter in Wisconsin.”I think that’s the best reason to get outside in the wintertime and enjoy it. There’s a lot of stuff to do here,” he said.Ice boating also has presidential roots. President Theodore Roosevelt was a fan and raced on the Hudson River back in the early 1900s. Top HeadlinesNearly 30 homes without water after main break in Bay View60-year-old arrested for OWI 5th offense in South Milwaukee crash62-year-old woman dies, person of interest in custody in Walworth Co. investigationWATCH Fireball on I-94: Crews battle vehicle blaze in Milwaukee\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tFONTANA-ON-GENEVA LAKE, Wis. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
On a frozen stretch of Geneva Lake, ice boats skim across the surface when the wind cooperates. Instead of cutting through water, steel runners carve along the ice, and even a light breeze can send a boat surging forward.<\/p>\n
For Richard Stearns, the sport has been part of his life since he was a teenager.<\/p>\n
“I was 15, I couldn’t even drive. What was I supposed to do? But it was something to give me and it’s been fun ever since,” Stearns said.<\/p>\n
Stearns grew up in a sailing family and said the appeal is simple: wind, speed and the feeling of acceleration that can come without warning.<\/p>\n
“All of a sudden, out of nowhere, you didn’t hit the accelerator; God hit the accelerator. And then bam! You’re going twice as fast. Like, OK, that is pretty cool,” he said.<\/p>\n
This winter’s cold has helped set up more opportunities for ice boating.<\/p>\n
From Dec. 1 through Feb. 10, Milwaukee’s average temperature was 22.1 degrees. You have to go back to 2014 to find a colder stretch, a pattern that has helped support ice conditions across much of southern Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
“I just love going out. And the power of the wind and how fast you go is pretty much fun,” Stearns said.<\/p>\n
While some winter sports rely on snow, ice boating depends more on smooth ice and the right mix of cold nights and manageable snowfall. For Stearns, it is one more way to embrace winter in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
“I think that’s the best reason to get outside in the wintertime and enjoy it. There’s a lot of stuff to do here,” he said.<\/p>\n
Ice boating also has presidential roots. President Theodore Roosevelt was a fan and raced on the Hudson River back in the early 1900s. <\/p>\n
Top Headlines<\/p>\n
WATCH Fireball on I-94: Crews battle vehicle blaze in Milwaukee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUR, AND DEFINITELY A SIGHT TO SEE, ESPECIALLY IN THE WINTER. AND THE WINDS OF WINTER DON\u2019T USUALLY…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[11797,969,11778,11798,11779,65,11780,11781,11796,11793,11789,11794,11782,11783,11784,11792,11785,11795,82,11787,1630,11788,3423,11790,10039,1897,11791,11786],"class_list":["post-16986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-accelerator","tag-cold","tag-cold-snap","tag-custody","tag-fontana","tag-geneva","tag-geneva-lake","tag-gino-recchia","tag-ice-boat","tag-ice-boater","tag-ice-boating","tag-milwaukee","tag-milwaukee-weather","tag-outdoor-activities","tag-richard-stearns","tag-smooth-ice","tag-southeast-wisconsin","tag-southern-wisconsin","tag-sport","tag-walworth-county","tag-water","tag-weatherwatch-12","tag-wind","tag-wind-powered-recreation","tag-winter","tag-winter-sports","tag-wisconsin-winter","tag-wisn-12-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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