May 6, 2026: Recreational Iceboat in MN

by | May 6, 2026 | sell

Two-seat recreational iceboat. Hull 14′, wood mast 20′. Reconditioned with new lines, repainted, main sail patched and resewed.  Stainless steel rigging,  95% ready to go. Includes main sail and storm sail. No trailer.
$2200.00.
Minnetonka, MN
Cash only.
Text 952-934-9020

Remembering Spike Boston and PINK PINK

by | May 3, 2026 | 2025-2026, Home Page, NIYA

Link to video

Our condolences to the Boston family on the passing of William “Spike” Boston. Obituary

Spike was part of iceboating’s well-known Boston family of sailmakers, long connected to the sport. In the 1950s, his family built a scaled-down skeeter called PINK PINK. It wasn’t a toy, but a real iceboat, proportioned like the big boats. It wasn’t a full-sized racer, but one of the most memorable Skeeters of its time.

The short clip above shows him as a boy with the boat at the 1952 Northwest regatta sailed on Lake Monona. The photos that follow place it in context. Pink Pink alongside Ferdinand the Bull, the big stern steerer. The boat at the 1952 Northwest Regatta. And Spike standing with the winners, small among them.

Bull Pink Pink
BULL & PINK PINK, the Boston family mini-Skeeter on Lake St. Clair in Detroit
6
Spike Boston’s miniature Skeeter, PINK PINK
Winners 1952 Niya
1952 Northwest Winners. I believe this may be Spike in the front row.

 

In The News: A polar vortex, the thickest ice seen in decades on The Navesink, a $100,000 Tiffany and Co. trophy, and longest-deferred grudge match in sports history

by | Apr 30, 2026 | 2025-2026, Home Page, WSSA

Photo: Brian Donahue for Red Bank Green

From Yachting World
By Toby Heppell
April 30, 2026

To understand what happened in Red Bank, New Jersey, in the first 10 days of February this year, you first have to understand the cold.

This wasn’t a regular winter. This was a freeze for the ages. A polar vortex settled over the US North-east like it had nowhere else to be, sending wind chills plunging to 20 below zero and locking waterways in ice that hadn’t been this thick in decades.

The Hudson River froze. The East River froze. New York Harbour froze. NYC Ferry suspended all routes. The Seastreak ferry – a lifeline for Jersey Shore commuters heading to Manhattan – needed a tugboat to crush a path through the ice in front of it just to make its daily run to the city.

Rivers that normally flow became roads. Bays that normally ripple became glass. The Navesink – the wide, tidal river that curls through Red Bank like a signature – became something it hadn’t been in over 20 years: a frozen stage for the oldest trophy race in American ice yachting. Continue reading.