A Boat That Is On Ice In July

by | Jul 3, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page

La Voie Du Pole
While this craft isn’t exactly our definition of an iceboat, it’s July and it’s content for this website. On June 19, three French sailors began an expedition in a catamaran fitted with skis with the goal of crossing the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole by sail and without motor. This is their third attempt since 2011. Their journey will cover 1,1750 miles (3,000 kilometers) between Alaska and the island of Spitsberger in Norway.  Here’s their latest blog post:

July 1, 2018: Today, we traveled 1 mile! But we, on foot, a good dozen … Between recognition, hoists, and a few big bags to lug (unloaded from the boat to lighten, pass, then reload) to successfully pass blocks from 2 to 8 meters. But we are satisfied with our day. We are passing the critical part, the big coastal chaos, and it is encouraging to say that we can pass in such corners !! It’s magic, a chaos of ice, with a dim light between mist and sun. Then we have a good team, it works well. Tonight, by the ice ax, we cut into the blocks to create a passage for tomorrow, 100m from here, and then the major ridge will be crossed. We do an ant work, but we move north, where we hope to find water and increase our daily progress.

Follow their journey “La Voie du Pole” here.

Hot Day with MARY B

by | Jun 30, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, WSSA

Mary B Stern Steerer Iceboat 3
Iceboating weather can be extreme, but usually on the cold side. The MARY B group met on Friday, June 30 (on a day that the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning) to set up the historic stern-steerer. Their goals were to practice efficiently setting up the boat, to put up the newly cleaned sails, and to assess the boat. Despite the heat, a big group pitched in to make easy work of it. The new sails and the bright chrome made for an impressive sight.

Mary B Stern Steerer Iceboat 2
Mary B Stern Steerer Iceboat 1

DRIFTER Plans

by | Jun 20, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, ISA

Copyright Gretchen Dorian C Skeeter Iceboat Drifter
Minnesota ice sailor, Pat Heppert, has put his virtual drafting pencil to paper and produced AutoCAD plans for his C Skeeter build, DRIFTER. Download them here.

It seems like many people have asked me for plans for my current iceboat, which has been kind of partially drawn up for a few years. So I have finally taken the time to fully detail out the entire boat. The goal of this is NOT to profess any sort of iceboating wisdom, just simply to try to get more people interested in building and continue enthusiasm in the sport. It ended up being 29 pages on 11 x 17 paper. The plans and building guide are now posted in a public folder on Google Drive per the link below. You should be able to download the files with the link below; if you have trouble let me know. The plans are in PDF format as well as AutoCAD format. The AutoCAD format can be viewed and printed with a free viewer program downloadable from Autodesk.
Pat Heppert

C Skeeter AutoCAD plans

TBT: Lake City, MN

by | Jun 14, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, WSSA

Lake Pepin IceboatingLake Winnebago stern-steerer sailors Andy Gratton and Mike Kroll might still be on the search for ice so that they can add to their 1000 mile season. Ice is rare this time of year but they did drop in to visit with an iceboater from Lake City, MN.

“Mike Kroll and I were in Rochester and stopped to see Bruce Eggenberger, a long-time stern steerer sailor at Lake City. He had this photo from his uncle who used to ice boat there.

The story is that most of these boats were all stored in the same barn. Some irate wives of the iceboaters burned the barn one night. Silly them, they didn’t realize the boats were keeping their husbands out of the bars. I bet it was Bob’s wife because he didn’t name the boat after her”.

Back of photo

In a related story, a few years ago, Harry Allen sent a link to this Lake Minnetonka Magazine article written about the iceboating scene on Pepin and Minnetonka in the 1890s. The story details a race between the Pepin and Minnetonka stern-steerers with the winning skipper of the race being a 17 year old girl, Nancy Bassett.