the middle of Poland’s largest lake covered by ice, a hundred or so speed demons fly across the frozen surface in special sail boats on blades.
Sleek and built to race, the narrow boat hulls are fixed on a base of three gleaming blades and sports sails like those used in windsurfing to harness wind power and roar across frozen water.
“It’s the speed that gives you an adrenaline rush,” says Tomasz Zakrzewski, ranked number fourth in the world in the DN class ice boat racing.
Sailing on ice is his passion.
“Among the disciplines that use wind and sails, it is the fastest. We sail at three times the speed of the wind…Â More info
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It’s mid-February, and Western ski resorts are set to celebrate warmer weather, longer days and festive nights by staging everything from Mardi Gras carnivals and spring festivals to other upbeat events.
New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro are more famous for their carnivals, but Angel Fire, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Keystone, Red River, Snowmass and Vail are ready to launch their own brand of Mardi Gras frivolity.
Angel Fire‘s five-day fete Feb. 20-24 combines the “world’s second-smallest” Mardi Gras street parade, grand ball, costume contest, mask-making party and live music with on-mountain bead tossing by skiers and snowboarders. 1-800-633-7463; www.angelfireresort.com
Keystone says it has one of the Rockies’ biggest Fat Tuesday parties…Â More info
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JOEL FURMAN’s iceboat — a plywood shingle on skate blades, with a Sunfish sail — clacked and clattered over the frozen Great South Bay at 50 miles per hour.
“Movin’, huh?†yelled Mr. Furman, 60, sheeting in his fluttering sail on a recent blustery Sunday. He was wearing goggles and a crash helmet. “Cold, huh?â€
Yes, on both counts. And yes, 50 miles per hour…Â More info
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Shaun White, 22, the champion snowboarder and skateboarder known for his shock of curly red hair, does not know the meaning of off-season. After winning the slopestyle and superpipe at the Winter X Games last month in Aspen, Colo., he came to New York to compete in the Red Bull Snowscrapers event on Feb. 5. (NBC will broadcast it at 5 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.) Though Snowscrapers took place on a specially built 90-foot-high ramp in East River Park, it was business as usual for White…Â More info
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