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IN FRONT:: From Maine to Latvia, thousands of people have an addiction for traveling fast on ice. And there is no better means of achieving blistering speeds than operating an ice sailing vessel. Ice boat- ing, the original ice sailing sport, is like nautical sailing except that the boat is much narrower and equipped with blades. Traditional ice boating has recently expanded to incorporate anything imaginable that will travel smoothly over ice. There are essentially four different categories: sailboards, which are like windsurfing rigs adapted for winter conditions; hand-held sails that are not connected to the board or the skates on your feet; kites that capture wind up to 50 feet behind you; and classic ice boats, which are sleek aerodynamic platforms on runners powered by up to 60 feet of sail . These boats generally travel five times the speed of the wind. Smaller boats reach 50 to 60 miles per hour, while "Formula One" style boats have been clocked at over 100 miles per hour at the International Detroit News Association championships. Ice boats and other ice vehicles do not have breaks that operate during travel. To stop, you simply steer into the wind. Speed and precarious ice conditions make this a potentially dangerous activity. It is not uncommon to skim over holes or cracks in the ice and expose yourself to debilitating cold water. "Ice boating is like rock climbing or extreme skiing," says Randy Rogoski, chairman of the 2001 DN world championship regatta series. "You would be foolhardy to do it without other people there to look out for your safety." Most ice adventurers get into it by coming across a local lake, pond or river where people are ice boating. Word about the sport and ice conditions primarily spreads via word-of-mouth and the Internet. There are about 200 ice yacht clubs and ice sailing associations in the world , many of which are listed on the web, that gather everyone from the profes- sional ice boater with a $30,000 boat to the first time traveler with a homemade sail and some old skates. With easy com- munication on the web and the growing popularity of esoteric new adventure activities, ice boating is gaining in popularity. Depending on ice conditions, the ice boating season is generally from December to March. But solid ice seems to be a rare find these days. Ice boaters, who may get one good ride the entire season, will take all they can get. "I think people are finally thinking that global warming is real," says Eric Wilson, who works at Quantum One Design, a company in the heart of Wisconsin that makes ice-boat sails. "We have always sailed the first weekend of December on the local lake, but we can't this year and we couldn 't last year." Ice boating began in the middle eighteenth century in the Netherlands when sloops were fitted with runners so they could be used year-round. After the Dutch settled what is now New York City, the Hudson River Valley became the hub of ice boating activity in this country. Now that the climate and river have changed, ice boating is done primarily in places like Wisconsin. However, the country is peppered with fanatics; you can still find hundreds of people braving the chilling winds in their boats on the northern Hudson, and frozen lakes and bays in the NYC area as well as in Montana, Colorado and anywhere else it freezes over. And internationally the World Ice and Snow Sailing Association will hold its world championships this year in Italy. With a determination to soar, a hearty tolerance for cold cold weather, and a little ingenuity, anyone can fashion an ice boat or sailing rig and experience speed: think elementary-school soap box derby.-Tasha Eichenseher