Burly Brellinthin Still Throwing Heat

by | Sep 4, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page, ISA

Burly Brellinthin throws out the first pitch at the Milwaukee Brewers game on September 4, 2025.

Not long ago, we shared the story of iceboater Skeeter Iceboat Club’s Mel Jones, who left his mark as an Indy 500 driver back in 1927. Nearly a century later, another iceboater has stepped into the major league (literally!) sports spotlight. The Skeeter Iceboat Club’s own Burly Brellenthin, fresh off celebrating his 100th birthday, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Milwaukee Brewers* game on Thursday, September 4, 2025. A WWII veteran from Lake Geneva, Burly was honored as part of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Tip of the Helmet: Greg Whitehorse

* The Milwaukee Brewers are on an historic hot streak, recently setting a franchise record with their 14th consecutive win, following a previous 11-game streak just weeks prior. 

Burely removes the cover from his B Skeeter in preparation for the 2013 Northwest Regatta on Green Lake. Photo: Gretchen Dorian

What Every Iceboater Should Know: Leeward Mark Rules

by | Sep 2, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page


As Secretary/Treasurer of the North American DN Class, one of my ongoing projects is publishing the class newsletter Runner Tracks. The September issue is now online and I think it is worth sharing with all ice sailors. Inside you’ll find an in-depth rules discussion on leeward mark roundings, along with a wide-ranging interview with DN World Champion Matt Struble, who admits, surprisingly, that he doesn’t like the cold.

Read the latest issue here.

September 2, 2025: DN Sails in RI

by | Sep 2, 2025 | sell

DN SAILS FOR SALE:
Ullman PS-1  2022   Standard battens, custom batten adjusters
Very similar to the F-01, use in sticky conditions.  Good shape, not used much.
From the Detroit loft, made by Mike Boston
$675
Ullman ABSS  2020  Standard battens, custom batten adjusters
Great all around sail, throw a stiff batten in the top when the breeze gets up.  Decent shape.
From the Detroit loft, made by Mike Boston
$575
Ullman F-01    2020  Standard battens, custom batten adjusters
Great sail in light breeze and / or sticky ice.  Decent shape.
From Detroit loft, made by Mike Boston
$575
Sails are all in RI, contact T Thieler to take a look.
401 258 6230

MISS MADISON On Display Sept 17-20 @ Marshall Park

by | Aug 29, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page, WSSA


Our friends at the Iceboat Foundation are setting up the historic stern-steerer MISS MADISON at Marshall Park in September in conjunction with the MC Nationals.
MISS MADISON Archives

MISS MADISON –  MC Nationals
Date: September 17 – 20, 2025
Location: Marshall Park
2101 Allen Blvd, Madison, WI 53705

Come check out a 98-year-old iceboat this September.

Built in 1927, MISS MADISON is the last Class A Madison-style iceboat to roll out of the Bernard’s boat house on East Gorham Street. While most of her sisters are long gone, she is alive and well and will be on display at the MC Scow National Championship regatta from September 17-20, 2025, at Marshall Park on Allen Blvd. in Madison.

Although we’ve had her in our collection for a few years, other projects kept us from putting her together. Paul McMillan recently volunteered to repair and repaint her spars. Paul took a wood sample to the experts at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory a few weeks ago. Experts there identified the wood as Douglas Fir. They’re solid, not hollow—just ask any of the volunteers who helped move them.

Paul reports that he repaired all the cracks with epoxy and is in the process of painting them with several coats of a high-gloss red enamel. He also repaired some of the loops on her 3/8” galvanized standing rigging. Paul says that she’ll be ready to go in time for the MC Regatta September 17-20, 2025. Save the Date!!

MISS MADISON on display in 2017