Boecraft Continuum

Abstract

What is tradition? Careening 100 miles per hour across a thin shelf of ice, compelled solely by a precise manipulation of the wind atop razor sharp steel blades? This sounds more like a death wish than tradition. Yet building and sailing a wooden ice boat is an art that has been passed down for 300 years. It is a composition of elegance, engineering, and craftsmanship, yet still is on a trajectory to extinction. In a high-speed era of innovation, where does this tradition find its place? Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is known as the Ice Boat Capital of the World. Geneva Lake is surrounded by a tourist town and is a summer home for many of the Midwest’s wealthiest individuals. What exists here is a story and tradition of ice boating that is completely unique. This thesis seeks to tell this story through a new destination at the heart of downtown, bringing to light what is unknown to many. Skeeter Yacht Club is a portal of history, a facility of education, and an establishment dedicated to bringing all people to the art of building and sailing these wooden masterpieces.