Though the practice has been popular in Scandinavia and Japan for centuries, contrast therapy is a having a moment. More people are indulging in a combination of sauna and cold-plunge bathing, gaining health benefits along with a flood of dopamine that delivers a natural high. Spas have cropped up around the hot-and-cold wellness trend.
Architect and Greenwich native Peter Boldt found a way to take this experience back to nature by building a floating sauna that he launches on Long Island Sound for his family and friends to enjoy.
Like many creative projects, the idea for Boldt’s sauna boat was hatched during the pandemic. Peter and a few friends were sitting around a firepit talking about ways to get people together safely outside. He and his Norwegian pal had seen this type of floating sauna in Europe and discussed creating something similar. The marriage of sauna with boating seems to be in the Boldts’ DNA. His wife, he says, comes from a family of sailors. Peter was first introduced to the sauna culture in Sweden when he was training for ice hockey, which he played at university and professionally in Europe before living in New York and L.A. and eventually moving back to his hometown of Greenwich. Most importantly, he says, “This was something that would allow us to enjoy the water in town in the off season.”
Though Peter had plenty of experience building on land, constructing watercraft was new to him. Key in any construction is the foundation, he says, and that led him to search for a boat with a sturdy enough hull to support a traditional wooden sauna. He wound up purchasing an old pontoon boat that had been kept on Candlewood Lake. He shared his vision and architectural drawings with several families in town, and friends invested in the sauna boat, raising the funds needed to launch the project. He worked with a John Herman Marine in Stamford to find space to house the pontoon boat, and John became a “godfather to the project,” Peter says, offering advice about how to mount the steering and even joining Peter on the boat’s first test drive. The cedar sauna cabin is traditional in style, with a wood-burning fire generating the heat. The boat is powered with a Honda engine, allowing them to motor around and cold-plunge in different places.
For much of the year the sauna float is moored in Greenwich Cove near Tod’s Point, where it has attracted plenty of attention, but the family takes it out in winter, too, sometimes near Riverside Yacht Club where they watch the frostbiters sailing. Peter’s family, his wife and four kids, love the sauna float and seem to have an affinity for polar plunges. “My ten-year-old daughter is the bravest,” Peter says. “The first time we were out as a family we were in 43-degree waters and she jumped right in. No sweat.”
Though Peter had plenty of experience building on land, constructing watercraft was new to him. Key in any construction is the foundation, he says, and that led him to search for a boat with a sturdy enough hull to support a traditional wooden sauna. He wound up purchasing an old pontoon boat that had been kept on Candlewood Lake. He shared his vision and architectural drawings with several families in town, and friends invested in the sauna boat, raising the funds needed to launch the project. He worked with a John Herman Marine in Stamford to find space to house the pontoon boat, and John became a “godfather to the project,” Peter says, offering advice about how to mount the steering and even joining Peter on the boat’s first test drive. The cedar sauna cabin is traditional in style, with a wood-burning fire generating the heat. The boat is powered with a Honda engine, allowing them to motor around and cold-plunge in different places.
For much of the year the sauna float is moored in Greenwich Cove near Tod’s Point, where it has attracted plenty of attention, but the family takes it out in winter, too, sometimes near Riverside Yacht Club where they watch the frostbiters sailing. Peter’s family, his wife and four kids, love the sauna float and seem to have an affinity for polar plunges. “My ten-year-old daughter is the bravest,” Peter says. “The first time we were out as a family we were in 43-degree waters and she jumped right in. No sweat.”
The Boldts and other families plan group outings around the sauna float, with some staying by the beach at Tod’s Point while others are sitting in the sauna or jumping off the float. “It’s about the sauna and the cold-plunge part of it and the adjacent activities that go with it: sunbathing, sitting out in the fresh air, drinking coffee in the morning, all the kind of social stuff that goes hand in hand.”
Though Boldt Studio is primarily a residential and commercial architectural firm, Peter is happy to talk to people who are inspired to build their own floating sauna. boldtstudio.com
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRYAN BANDUCCI