Many of us who have attended the DN Western Challenge in Minnesota have seen the beautiful Yankee iceboat that always turns heads. It belongs to Regan Schwaen, who makes the drive from North Dakota each year. Regan gives rides, welcomes questions, and is clearly someone who takes pride in keeping the boat in top condition.
For years, I’ve wondered about the possibility of sailing on Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. Now Regan has done it—and sent in this report:
Regin Schwaen lives in Fargo, North Dakota and sailed his Yankee B-class skeeter for the first time on Devils Lake this weekend. Trailer and iceboat had already been prepared for a visit to Wisconsin and his friend Doug Anderson had just arrived from California, but ice and wind altered the plan. Still bitten by the iceboat bug they used the NDTC webcam installed at the Lakewood public boat landing on northern Devils Lake for a rough estimate regarding ice conditions. Devils Lake in North Dakota is not an easy lake to sail because it is so large, but the ramp was in perfect order, and they found 16” of excellent ice. The first day presented awesome sailing conditions that perhaps would have been acceptable for a regatta. The next day the lake was covered with 3/4 inches of snow making if difficult to evaluate the old ice beyond Creel Bay that spills into Devils Lake. Top speed on the second day was around 35 knots. Regin Schwaen is still quite new to iceboating and this year ISA presented him with the number 171 that he now sails under. This was the first time it was safe to sail on Devils Lake this season and perhaps a first for a Yankee iceboat to sail in North Dakota as well.
4LIYC Skeeter guys Paul Krueger, Bill Mattison, and Dave Rosten with a pile of hardware. From the Bill & Mauretta Mattison collection.
Mark your calendars! The Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Let’s celebrate the incredible season of 2024-2025.
William Bernard’s YELLOW KID at the 1913 Northwest Ice Yachting Association Regatta in Menominee, Michigan.
While checking out archive.org for new iceboat-related content, I came across a striking February 1926 cover of Ainslee’s Magazine illustrated by Ethel McClellan Plummer. The artwork depicts two elegantly dressed women aboard a stern-steerer, the boat in a bit of a hike—yet they appear completely unfazed. Naturally, they’re improperly dressed for iceboating, and not exactly sailing the boat—but that’s artistic license of illustration.
Plummer was a well-known illustrator during the Golden Age of Magazine Illustration. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1888, she later lived in New Jersey, where she may have seen ice yachts firsthand. Her work for Ainslee’s Magazine connected her to a publication with an incredible stable of writers—W. Somerset Maugham, P.G. Wodehouse, O. Henry, and more. But there’s a deeper iceboating connection hidden within the history of this magazine.
Ainslee’s Magazine began as a humor publication called The Yellow Kid, named after the famous cartoon character in the first-ever comic strip published by Hearst newspapers. This character, created by Richard F. Outcault, appeared in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World before William Randolph Hearst lured Outcault away to publish the strip in his New York Journal paper. This newspaper war led to the rise of sensationalized tabloid reporting, which became known as “yellow journalism”—all because of a comic strip.
Now, the Madison iceboating connection: In the early 1900s, William Bernard, Madison’s well-known ice yacht builder and sailor, owned a stern-steerer named YELLOW KID, no doubt named after that very same cartoon. And let’s not forget Hearst’s own link to ice sailing—he sponsored the Hearst Trophy, one of the most prestigious ice yacht races.
So, from a 1926 magazine cover featuring an iceboat back to a Madison stern-steerer named after the magazine’s original namesake and circling back to Hearst’s own involvement in iceboating, it’s all connected. From here to there—or there to here.
The Whitehorse family invites all ice sailors, past and present, to celebrate Walter Whitehorse’s 100th birthday on Friday, March 28, 2025, at the Ho-Chunk Branch Office in Madison, Wisconsin. Date: Friday, March 28, 2025 Location: Ho-Chunk Branch Office
4724 Tradewinds Parkway, Madison, Wi Lunch Served: 11:00 AM Grand Entry Honoring Walter’s Military Service: 12:00 PM
A Grand Entry is a Native American tradition that marks the opening of a gathering with an honor procession and will honor Walter’s WW2 military service. Veterans are encouraged to wear military attire for the event.
Walter and his brother, Harry Whitehorse, were long-time Skeeter sailors in the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club. In the late 1960s, they helped build the “Red & White” feet in Madison, spearheaded by Bill Mattison, Dave Rosten, and Paul Krueger. Walter sailed on lakes across the Midwest and beyond, including Lake St. Clair (Detroit), Lake George (New York), Pewaukee, and many others. One of Walter’s fondest memories is the ISA regatta at Pewaukee, where he recalls sailing in a pack of boats arriving at the top mark—20 deep and 10 wide!
Join us to celebrate and honor Walter Whitehorse!
1975 ISA in New York: The usual suspects – Left to Right: Harvey Witte, Gary Sternberg, Susie Whitehorse, Greg, Gary, Barb, Sandy Witte, Ken and Wally.
Here’s another gem from the Bill and Mauretta Mattison collection: a vintage Harken Vanguard Christmas card starring a Nite iceboat in cartoon glory and a clever poem with a unique ending.
Staging the perfect shot back in the day —no filters, no drones, just a guy in a business suit on the ice and a camera.
I recently visited with Mauretta Mattison and her daughter, Lynn. Mauretta handed over a box overflowing with iceboating memorabilia that she had meticulously collected over the years, detailing her late husband Bill’s and family’s extraordinary life on the ice. It’s a collection that could keep an iceboating historian busy for months. As I quickly flipped through it, two items caught my attention: a pair of photos capturing what looks to be a lazy, light-air day on the ice and another featuring Elmer Millenbach, the Renegade’s mastermind
The first photo is a behind-the-scenes look at a photo shoot on the ice. Wisconsin State Journal photographer Edward Stein is lying on his side, dressed in a business suit and dress shoes—no winter gear.. He’s aiming at Bill Mattison, relaxed on the runner plank of his Skeeter, with another guy peering up at the sail from behind the boom. Next to it in the scrapbook is the finished product—the photo Stein snapped that day, which ran in the Wisconsin State Journal.
Then there’s a second photo that caught my eye—a classically cool image featuring Elmer Millenbach and his wife, Cora Lee, standing beside their Ford Thunderbird (possibly a 1964?) with Elmer’s Renegade on top of the car. Elmer, the Detroit innovator who designed the Renegade, was known for transporting his hull on top of cars instead of using a trailer. The Thunderbird is stylish match for the sleek lines of the Renegade.
Stay tuned as I dig deeper into this box of history.
Elmer and Cora Lee Millenbach have Fun Fun Fun cruising with style.
Many of us who have attended the DN Western Challenge in Minnesota have seen the beautiful Yankee iceboat that always turns heads. It belongs to Regan Schwaen, who makes the drive from North Dakota each year. Regan gives rides, welcomes questions, and is clearly someone who takes pride in keeping the boat in top condition.
