There were two different kinds of ice boats used in PEI in the late 1800s and early 1900s: racing ice boats and transportation ice boats. Racing or sailing boats were used for racing across the ice, mostly on the Hillsborough River in Charlottetown. They had sails and looked like the ice boats we see today. Transportation ice boats were used for getting to the mainland; they looked like row boats. If there was a bad storm, the men would flip the ice boat over and take shelter under it until the storm was over.