- Title: POLAND: Iceboat enthusuasts spend frosty weekend on frozen lake
- Date: 6th February 2012
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) ICEBOAT RACER MACIEJ GRUSZEC, SAYING: "It's really great, you can reach high speeds, I like the speed. It's really great and I like it."
- Embargoed: 21st February 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Poland, Poland
- City:
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA9ND1Y66H4P4LHHYW016ZF4V9Z
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- Story Text: Enthusiasts of winter sports braved the freezing temperatures while spending the weekend on a frozen lake near Warsawon Sunday (February 5) as iceboat racing teams took to the ice of the Zegrze reservoir, taking advantage of the mildly windy weather.
The iceboat can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h, but Sunday's wind didn't allow anything near that. At temperatures falling close to minus 20 degrees, keeping on the move seemed the best option.
"For the youth that's out there on the iceboats, I think its great fun. Especially that they are competitors who train on sailboats in the summer and the iceboats are a supplement as a winter sport, I think a great supplement for sailing," said Janusz Tomczyk, an iceboat coach at the Warsaw Sailing Club.
"Beginnings are always difficult, especially that it's an extreme sport, the speeds get pretty high. But if somebody tastes it the first time, they always come back," Tomczyk added.
In Poland, iceboat racing has fans among sailing enthusiasts, who use the same surface but slightly different vessels. The iceboats sail and rig are taken from small racing boats.
Twelve year old Maciaj Gruszec enjoys the sport and said he forgets about the freezing cold when he's racing his iceboat.
"It's really great, you can reach high speeds, I like the speed. It's really great and I like it," Maciej said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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