by Deb Whitehorse | Feb 2, 2026 | 2025-2026, 2026 ISA, Home Page, ISA
Nick Vandervelde 564 and John Weiss 552 on Green Lake at the 2026 ISA. Photo: Will Johnston
RESULTS
Will Johnston is one of those photographers who always makes an effort to find us. He was out on Saturday during the light-air day and came away with some fine images. Sailors study these photos closely, how the boats sit, and what the rigs are doing. There’s real data in them. I’m sharing one here and linking to Will’s full gallery. (Please credit Will if you use any of his photos.) Thanks, Will. LINK TO WILL JOHNSTON GALLERY
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by Deb Whitehorse | Feb 2, 2026 | 2025-2026, Home Page
What a weekend for ice sailing! Good to see our friends from the east coast back on the ice. See more here. LINK
Stand by for 2026 ISA galleries, awards, and report.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jan 26, 2026 | 2025-2026, Home Page, Regattas, WSSA
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to February 7 and 8, 2026. The next update will be Sunday, February 1. Check back here at that time. The Northwest Ice Yacht Association regatta takes precedence.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Speaking of stern-steerers, Lake Winnebago stern-steerer sailor George Gerhardt shared the above photos a couple of weeks ago. I asked Andy to explain exactly what are we looking at:
Sorry for the delay, I was at my brother’s in Costa Rica for a week. It’s very bad iceboating there, I wouldn’t recommend trying.
Years ago when I first saw the Pirate Boat, as George calls it, I noticed the reefing points at the top of the sail. I have never seen a reef like that. All the other reef points I have seen for gaff rigs have been for taking in sail at the foot. This is the first time I have seen the Pirate Boat reefed and it is interesting. I wonder if the reef points also allow the upper portion of the sail to fly by rolling up the sail from the reef points down. That would show just the gaff area, even less sail than exposed here. I can see an advantage with the area shown in the photo – there is a lot of sail area remaining down low, which will produce a lot of force to get through rough ice and deeper snow yet not creating a lot of heeling moment to cause a capsize like Jay’s boat “Frosty’ shown below. The reefed sail isn’t a rig that will produce high speeds as it creates a lot of drag, but it will allow sailing more often due to the power.
I have plans to make the original Fritz backbone into a 38′ gaffer. I don’t need it to go fast, it will go fast enough for me, I just want to be able to sail more often.
Andy
Woops!
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jan 23, 2026 | 2025-2026, DN, Home Page, Regattas
Earlier this week, NPR’s All Things Considered aired a short segment on ice sailing. I was invited to talk about the sport, how it works, why it is so fast, and some of the history.
While there is currently no sailing on the Four Lakes, the season itself is very much alive. The DN class is set to hold the DN North American Championship on Lake Wawasee in Indiana, with racing expected to begin Sunday, January 25. Follow along here: LINK
There’s even a webcam.
There are also early signs of other sites developing. Word on the street is that Green Lake has recently iced over and is worth watching as conditions evolve.
As I write this, it is –15°F, which is too cold to iceboat anyways, but not unusual for January, and not a reason to count the season out.
You can listen to the segment here:
LINK
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jan 16, 2026 | 2025-2026, Home Page
There will be no Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club racing the weekend of January 17-18.
We’re seeing a familiar pattern set up again: light snow that keeps accumulating, followed eventually by rain and warmer temperatures that reset the lake. Right now, we’re at the beginning of that cycle with enough fresh snow on the ice to keep us off of it.
If the pattern holds, we’ll get our Zamboni back. It’s already been working overtime this year.
This weekend is officially a shop weekend. Get into the shop, tune the boats, and be ready when the ice comes back.
Iceboaters remain, as always, hopelessly optimistic.
Speaking of shops…
A crew out of Damien Luyet’s shop has been busy building six mini skeeters, boats that are equally happy on ice or converted for land sailing.
The only unresolved issue is branding. The group is currently split between Midwest Dirt Dudes and Midwest Dirt Devils.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jan 15, 2026 | 2025-2026, Home Page
Link to video
The Iceboat Foundation has launched a YouTube channel to document their fleet of historic iceboats and the stories behind them.
The channel will feature short films, archival material, and on-the-ice footage, starting with MARY B, their flagship.
Be sure to subscribe to follow future releases.
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