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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by Deb Whitehorse | Aug 13, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page
Stern-Steerers line up on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin at the 2025 Northwest regatta. Photo by Rob Resnick.
The fall swap meet was started many years ago by Jane and Bob Pegel of the Skeeter Iceboat Club in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. For decades, anyone looking to get into iceboating or to buy or sell gear was told to “call Bob and Jane.” The swap became an annual tradition at Sailing Specialists in Williams Bay, timed for a Packers bye week .In recent years, the event has rotated between the Skeeter Iceboat Club in the Lake Geneva area, the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club in Madison, and the Green Lake Ice Yacht Club in Green Lake, Wisconsin. This year, it returns to its original home turf in the Lake Geneva area, hosted at the Lake Geneva Yacht Club. Expect plenty of gear, camaraderie, a cookout on the lawn, and even a Bloody Mary bar.The Other Swap — Midwest Hardwater Sailors
The second Fall Swap Meet, organized by Fred Stritt and the Midwest Hardwater Sailors, will be held at the Delavan Yacht Club. Along with food, bar service, and football, this year’s gathering will also feature a Dragon Force remote control sailing event after the swap.2025 Swap Meet Dates and Details- Lake Geneva Swap Meet — Sunday, October 19, 10 AM
Lake Geneva Yacht Club
1250 S Lake Shore Dr,
Fontana-On-Geneva Lake, WI - New England – Saturday, October 25, 2025
Thompson Motor Speedway
Thompson, Connecticut
More information - Minnesota: Saturday, November 1, 2025, 9 am – 12 pm.
Sailcrafters
7450 Oxford Street
St. Louis Park, MN
Tim Carlson at Sailcrafters ((952) 540-7474) is hosting his annual Iceboat Swap meet on Nov 1, 2025. We hope you join us. You can expect to see all types of iceboats and all types of used gear. If you are new to iceboating, this is the perfect place to meet local sailors and check out used equipment. If you are looking for new gear, Tim caters to the local iceboat community and can provide new sails, stays, line and everything in-between. - Delavan Swap Meet — Saturday, November 8
Delavan Lake Yacht Club
1501 Cedar Point Dr, Delavan, WI 53115
More Swap Meets Coming Up
Dates for these events are still to come, but here is what is usually on the fall calendar:
- Canadian Swap Meet
- Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club Swap — Michigan
- New England Ice Yacht Club Swap — Usually in Connecticut
Whether you are new to the sport or a seasoned sailor, the swaps are the perfect chance to find parts, boats, and gear and to reconnect with the iceboating community before the season begins.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Aug 11, 2025 | 2025-2026, Home Page
Via John Hayashi:
Proceeds benefit St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Princeton, WI. Bid on a day for four in Princeton, WI learning and trying both ice sailing and kick sledding. Includes instruction and time on the ice for each activity. Bidding ends on August 17. Bid here.
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