Between about 1986 and 1989, my friends and I built several iceboats out of mostly scrap materials. The plan was to build them as cheaply as possible, then race them around our lake.
My "Icicle" was made from old 2x12 concrete forms, scrap plywood, rusty iron plumbing, with a rig and sail borrowed from my sailboard. It was a sketchy affair to say the least, but made for an exciting experience at upwards of 50 miles per hour.
My friends Steve, Monte and Ray built their own craft, and John C. and others brought official DN iceboats to hang out on weekends. Steve and I worked together, and would often get off early, so we would head to the lake, jump in our boats, and sail around until dark. On the weekends, many people would often gather. The custodians of the Mahopac Lakeview School saw us from the hill, and built their own boat, using scraps from the school's repair shop... of course the seat was from an old fiberglass class chair!
There were crashes, constant breakdowns, and at two sinkings. My boat went into a hole in the ice and sank while a stranger was trying it out, and Steve and I had to crawl across the thin ice by the hole to pull him out. He was sinking fast with his wet sweater and jacket.
But we got my boat out to sail again.
You can hear my mother Barbara in this video, she was in her 50's at the time. And the man filming was her companion, and my long time friend, Lars. Steve is the guy saying, "You turned the envelope inside out!". He passed away in 1999, at a still too young age. I remember him fondly, and our iceboating adventures were a big part of that.