by Deb Whitehorse | Sep 24, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page, WSSA
I’ve seen this watercolor many times over the years, but never gave it much thought until Greg Whitehorse brought it to my attention after he caught an episode of Antiques Roadshow where someone brought in a Fred S. Cozzens painting and mentioned they also owned one of his iceboat scenes.
Frederic Schiller Cozzens (1846–1928) was an American marine painter and illustrator. Among his works is this 1884 chromolithograph, Ice Boating on the Hudson, published as Plate XXV in American Yachts: Their Clubs and Races. The scene doesn’t just show iceboats in general, Cozzens carefully depicted some of the Hudson River’s most famous stern-steerers of the time: AVALANCHE, GYPSIE, ICICLE, HAZE, WHIFF, and ECHO.
A version of this image is attributed to the Ray Ruge Collection at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. For more information on these boats and their history, visit Brian Reid’s invaluable White Wings and Black Ice website, which documents the Hudson River fleets in remarkable detail..
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by Deb Whitehorse | Sep 24, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page, Renegade
Elmer Millenbach Archives
Renegade Home Page
Elmer Millenbach (1912–1996) was a Detroit iceboater and who worked for the automotive industry whose inventive spirit reshaped the sport. Elmer combined his automotive know-how with his passion for iceboating. In 1947, he designed and built the Renegade, a sleek one-design iceboat larger than a DN but more manageable than the Skeeters and stern-steerers. The Renegade has become a modern classic, still actively raced today. Elmer’s craftsmanship and leadership created not only a new class of boat but also a tight-knit community that carries his legacy forward.
Read Archie Call’s Tribute to Elmer Millenbach here.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Sep 4, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page
Time to Renew Your Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club Membership
Pay Your Dues
Iceboating does not just happen. It takes a club. Your dues keep Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club strong and active and ensure we are ready when the ice is.
What your membership supports
- Equipment. Our ATV and trailer for setting courses and hauling gear.
- Race marks and gear. Everything needed to run races.
- Website and communications. Results, news, and information for sailors near and far.
- Administration and the work that makes it possible to get out on the ice.
- Community. A place to share results, stories, and the spirit of iceboating for every class.
Your dues are a small investment that creates big returns for the health of our sport and our club. Please renew today. Thank you for being part of the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club.
Click here to pay your dues using your credit card.
Prefer to send a check in the mail? Click here to access the printable form.
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by Deb Whitehorse | 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
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by Deb Whitehorse | 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.
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by Deb Whitehorse | 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
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