The “Hard Water” America’s Cup of Ice Yachting
NEWS UPDATE:
Trophy History: The Van Nostrand Cup
The America’s Cup of ice boating, the Gardner Van Nostrand Trophy, today known as the Ice Yacht Challenge Cup. Gardner Van Nostrand was a wealthy American businessman and avid supporter of ice yachting in the late 1800s. He donated or sponsored the silver challenge cup that became known as the Van Nostrand Cup (formally the Ice Yacht Challenge Cup of America), giving his name to what was intended to be a national championship trophy for the sport.
Commissioned by Gardner Van Nostrand of Orange Lake, New York, and produced by the Tiffany Company in 1886, the silver cup was created as a national championship prize for the largest and fastest ice yachts in America. Van Nostrand was a member of the Orange Lake Ice Boat Club, and he intended the trophy to represent the highest level of competition in the sport. Tiffany is also internationally known for producing several of the most famous modern sports trophies, including the NFL’s Vince Lombardi Trophy, the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, and Major League Baseball’s Commissioner’s Trophy.
Van Nostrand was not a racer famous for records or wins; rather he was a patron whose financial support made the trophy possible. That was a fairly common pattern in 19th century American sport: leading enthusiasts or benefactors would fund trophies to promote competition and raise the prestige of a club or discipline.
Any proceeds go towards further research, preserving and promoting MLHP history programs.
| Category | Challenge Cup | Americas Cup |
|---|---|---|
| Trophy | |  |
| Silversmith | Made in America by Tiffany & Co. include the Vince Lombardi Trophy (1967), the MLB World Series Trophy (1967), the NBA Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy (1977), the US Open Championship Trophies (1978), and the MLS Cup (2008). | Made in England by Garrard & Co., the long time Crown Jewellers in London. |
| Year | 1881 | 1851 |
| Trophy Names: | Van Nostrand Cup Challenge Cup | RYS £100 Cup (Royal Yacht Squadron) – Auld Mug – One Hundred Guineas Cup |
| Awarded to: | The Ice Yacht Challenge Cup of America is awarded to the winning skipper and ice yacht representing the club that wins the national level ice yacht challenge series. | The America’s Cup is awarded to the yacht club that wins the match racing series, with the winning team representing that club. |
| Size | The Van Nostrand Cup itself is approximately 14.5 to 15 inches tall (not including the wooden base). | 27 in tall with a body circumference around 36 in and a base about 24 in wide. |
| Material | Sterling silver | Sterling silver with gilt interior |
| Weight | Approximately 3.5 to 5.0 lb | About 8.4 lb in its original form |
| Engravings | “Challenge Yacht Cup of America” on spout. a primary engraved ice yacht racing scene a secondary symbolic crossed rig and spar motif and decorative floral and leaf engraving around the collar | Scroll and floral engravings, leaf ornament around the neck and foot. Main central inscription reads: England The One Hundred Guineas Cup Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta Open to all nations. |
| Commissioned By: | Gardner Van Nostrand, a wealthy American businessman and avid supporter of ice yachting in the late 1800s. | The Royal Yacht Squadron –Britain’s Royal Yacht Squadron |
| First Winner | Orange Lake Ice Yacht Club. based on Orange Lake in Newburgh, New York. North Shrewsbury won after Orange Lake and has held since. | The surviving members of the America syndicate donated the cup to the New York Yacht Club via the Deed of Gift what they named America’s Cup. |
| Last Winner |  Hudson River Ice Yacht Club Rhinecliff, NY (2026) |  Emirates Team New Zealand / Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (2024) |
| Noteworthy Fact | The oldest well documented Tiffany made sports trophy is the Woodlawn Vase, created in 1860 by Tiffany & Co. and first awarded at the Preakness Stakes in 1861, making it the earliest surviving major American sporting trophy produced by Tiffany and widely recognized today as the oldest trophy in American sports. | The America’s Cup is the oldest competition in international sport, and the fourth oldest continuous sporting trophy of any kind. The three older continuously contested sporting trophies than the America’s Cup are the Antient Scorton Silver Arrow for archery (1673), the Carlisle Bells for horse racing (1599), and the Royal Musselburgh Old Club Cup for golf (1774). |
The trophy features two bas relief (not engraved) scenes, one showing the Orange Lake Ice Boat Club and the other a 1st class ice yacht, and was first raced for in 1886 as the Ice Yacht Championship of America. The cup was won in 1891 by Captain James B. Weaver’s ice yacht Scud of Red Bank. The Red Bank Register reported the victory, naming Scud the champion ice yacht of America and praising the hospitality of the Orange Lake club during the race.
The Gardner Van Nostrand Trophy, now known simply as the Challenge Cup, has remained in the continuous possession of the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club since 1891 and is widely regarded as the finest prize in ice boat racing. In addition to Captain James B. Weaver, later New Jersey winners engraved on the cup come from North Shrewsbury victories in the Red Bank challenge races of 1978 and 2004, with the individual skipper names preserved on the trophy itself.
Sadly…
Gardner Van Nostrand, the wealthy Newburgh area sportsman and ice yachting patron, was found dead on the evening of January 1, 1894, at his home in Balmville, a suburb of Newburgh, New York. Earlier that day he had conducted business in Newburgh, attended a pigeon shooting match at the Orange Lake Club, and dined at home with his children around 6 pm, appearing in good spirits and expecting to attend a New Year’s ball at the Powelton Club later that night. A few minutes after he went outside alone, a revolver shot was heard, and his coachman, George Kirk, found him lying face down on the snowy driveway with a bullet wound to his right temple and an ivory handled .32 caliber revolver beneath his body. He was 42 years old, and his wife was in New York City at the time and was summoned home by telegraph.
A coroner’s inquest concluded that the fatal shot was fired by Van Nostrand himself, but the jury stated it could not determine whether the shooting was accidental or intentional. While several newspapers reported the death as a suicide, others emphasized that the verdict left the question open. Testimony indicated that he had recently been ill with influenza and was not in his usual mental condition, and some reports noted recent financial losses of about $40,000 to $70,000 in stock dealings. Van Nostrand was president of the Powelton Club, a former treasurer of the Orange Lake Ice Yacht Club, and widely known in winter sports and yachting circles as the donor of the Van Nostrand Challenge Cup of America.
Art Honors Van Nostrand Cup
The World’s Ice Sailing Epicenter – Red Bank, New Jersey
Down on the Navisink River just off the shores of Red Bank. Iceboating on the Navesink River was a vivid winter tradition that turned frozen water into a racetrack and social gathering place for river towns like Red Bank and Fair Haven. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, when winters were colder and ice stayed thick for weeks, local sailors adapted their yachting skills to sharp steel runners and towering sails. Iceboats with names like Icicle, Snowbird, Jack Frost, and Swallow skimmed across the river at astonishing speeds, often faster than any sailboat could manage in summer.
Ice Boat Video Collection
Check out the Mr. Local History Collection and the beauty of ice boating in New Jersey as well as a few other spots that honor the beauty, history, excitement, and yes, the speed of these great frozen machines.
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About the Author
Brooks Betz is a researcher and writer for the Mr. Local History as well as the New Jersey History Project, focused on uncovering overlooked stories, places, and people that shaped New Jersey and American life. His work draws on archival newspapers, maps, photographs, and firsthand accounts to turn forgotten details into clear, engaging history. His approach is best described as History With a “Social Twist”, grounded in personal reference and firsthand knowledge gained through years of research, interviews, and on site exploration.
The only thing I remember more are the people I friended along the way. It’s been years since I thought about them all, and now I’m inspired to rekindle some of those friends, and memories, and hopefully make a few new ones. Mr Local History & Gambit Iceboat DN Painting – Mr. Local History (aka Brooks Betz, Basking Ridge, New Jersey). I can be reached at brooksatmrlocalhistory.org “Be Safe and Sail Fast.”
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New Jersey Iceboating Authors
New Jerseyans have been experts in the field of iceboating for generations, so much so that they helped define the sport by writing some of its classic books. S. Calhoun Smith drew on countless hours spent racing and studying iceboats to explain how speed, balance, and design truly worked on frozen water. His writing reflected hard won experience and became a trusted reference for sailors not only in New Jersey, but across the United States and internationally.
Jack Andresen brought the same depth of knowledge to iceboating from the sailor’s perspective. Having lived the sport during its postwar rise, he understood the excitement, technique, and danger that came with sailing on ice. In Sailing on Ice, he captured what it felt like to rig a boat in the cold and fly across a frozen lake, turning personal experience into enduring guidance. Together, their work shows how New Jersey’s iceboating tradition produced experts whose influence reached far beyond the state.
| Author | Cover | Book Title | Year First Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S. Calhoun Smith |  | Ice Boating: A Complete Guide to Ice Boat Development, Design, Construction and Sailing | 1962 | https://archive.org/details/iceboatingcomple0000scal |
| Jack Andresen |  | Sailing on Ice – An introduction to the fast sport of ice sailing. | 1961 | https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Ice-Jack-Andresen/dp/0498012417 |