SCOOTS

The history of scoots on Georgian Bay in Canada goes back to the 1920s when surplus airplane engines were available after World War I. The Scoots were part fan boat and part floatplane.

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Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport photo from 1959 shows scoots lined up to race in Penetanguishene. Penetanguishene Centennial Museum Archives

The ice scoot was built by the do-it-yourself mechanics of Georgian Bay in Canada. They needed to create a mode of transportation to travel safely over uncertain ice. These creative builders mounted aviation engines initially on sleds (evolving to punt-shaped flat-bottomed boat hull on steel runners). They had to learn how to steer and propel them forward with rear-mounted propellers.

In the early 1920s, a French River resident named Reg McIntosh used a toboggan-shaped sled with a motorcycle engine to drive a homemade aircraft–style prop. He celebrated when he scooted across the ice, but nearly died when he unintentionally hit open water and sank his weighty sled.