by Deb Whitehorse | Aug 22, 2018 | 2018-2019, Home Page
One of our most esteemed members, Renegade champion and Honor Roll member, Jack Ripp, was celebrated recently with a big bash thrown for his 90th birthday. Jack still attends our bi-weekly club meetings during the season and has a wealth of knowledge about Renegade sailing and iceboating history. Several 4LIYC members attended the party and enjoyed catching up with Jack and eating a JACK FROST birthday cake. Happy birthday, Jack!
JACK RIPP CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES
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by Deb Whitehorse | Aug 20, 2018 | 2018-2019, Home Page, WSSA
Stern-steerer news in this morning’s inbox from an undisclosed source – somewhere around Suamico, WI.
Sawyer Mafia “Erik & Ritch” working on runners for the ‘Gander @ the 311 skunk works… Good iceboaters as the dog days of summer are here.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Aug 7, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, Ice Optimist
Illustration From Mechanix Illustrated, undated, c.1940s
These Mechanix Illustrated plans for a front-seater junior ice yacht never caught on but you can still “make your youngster the envy of every kid on the pond” with a modern Ice Optimist iceboat. The illustration reminds me of the 2008 video of the Stern-Steerer Kid, embedded below the plans.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Aug 7, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page
(Not Mike Plant but needed a Minnetonka photo with famous iceboaters.) Lake Minnetonka iceboat sailors & Olympians Bill & Harry Allen in 2014.
Hoofers Sailing Club is bringing the feature documentary, Coyote: The Mike Plant Story to the Wisconsin Union Theater on August 18th. Mike Plant was born in Minneapolis and began his sailing career on Lake Minnetonka.
An audience favorite at countless film festivals, Hoofer Sailing Club is proud to bring Plant’s story to Madison and celebrate an iconic Midwestern sailor. All proceeds of this event benefit the Hoofer Marina Project.
Date Saturday, August 18th, Doors Open: 6:30 PM, Screening: 7:00 PM
Location Wisconsin Union Theater,. Shannon Hall, Memorial Union
Buy tickets here.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Aug 2, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page
The 4LIYC and Mendota Yacht Club have been actively promoting wooden boats in Madison since the late 1800s.
Another summer milestone is here, meaning we are nearer to December’s hope for ice.
Glacier Lakes Chapter
The Madison Area Antique & Classic Boat Cruise
August 3rd and August 4th 2018
Stop over to the Edgewater Hotel tomorrow (Friday, August 3) around the noon hour for a look at some of these wooden beauties. Our Commodore Don Anderson will be there with a couple of his classics. Instead of a static boat show on Saturday, the group will cruise around Lakes Waubesa and Monona. 4LIYC Renegader Andy McCormick is one of the program directors for the Glacier Lakes Chapter. More information at the link above.
The photo above from 1914 is posted on the Wisconsin State Historical Society website.
“Elevated view of the Wisconsin State Capitol building, showing steel work of North Wing under construction. Crowds of people are gathered on the lawn for the Fall Festival. More people are gathered on the roof of the Capitol building just below the dome. Two boats are on display in the foreground near a sign that reads: “Mendota Yacht Club ‘Boost Madison Lakes.'” The iceboat on the right is the Princess II and the sailboat on the left is the Neireid. The Neireid was owned by Henry Fauerbach (an uncle of our own Peter Fauerbach) and Lew Porter.”
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jul 26, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page
Here’s some content for the doldrums of ice sailing, technology that never caught on. As I’ve stated before, iceboating appeals to dreamers. Some of their ideas became standard equipment but most didn’t.
In the 1930s and 40s, yachting author J. Julius Fanta must have taken a fancy to the idea of a four-runner iceboat and wrote at least two articles about them. In a thoroughly detailed article in Yachting Magazine about a four-runner Skeeter developed on Geneva Lake, he predicted “the four-runner iceboat is the coming thing in ice yachting and not a fly-by-night experiment.” Four-runner iceboats never became popular because they were not an improvement upon a standard three-runner iceboat. Download the Yachting Magazine article in pdf.
In a 1940 Popular Science article, he presented detailed plans for a four-runner stern steerer.
A four-runner Skeeter was photographed by Carl Bernard at the 1947 Northwest on Lake Winnebago.
Ben Lampert’s 4 Runner Skeeter at the 1947 Northwest Source: Carl Bernard Files
UPDATE: July 30, 2018: Via Skeeter Iceboat Club member, Jane Pegel:
Skeeter Ice Boat Club member Bob Ferris built and raced a 4-runner Skeeter. I believe this was in the 1950’s.
This boat had a springboard at the bow and also at the stern with a runner on the end of each springboard.
My recollection is that the runners at each end were steering runners and could be turned via cables and foot pedals.
The runner plank was located approximately half way between the two ends of the boat.
The runner plank was shorter than customary. When sailing, the bow and stern runners were on the ice
and the runner on the leeward end of the runner plank was on the ice. The runner on the windward end
of the runner plank “floated” slightly above the ice surface.
The idea of the design was to be able to turn “on a dime”. The boat could make a tight turn at the
leeward mark (occasionally spun out.) Bob won some races with the boat but basically the boat was not as fast as her
competition sailing on the “straight away”. Only the Bob Ferris design would turn on a dime. Only three of his runners were touching the ice, what ever runner that was on the windward end of the runner plank was floating above the ice. The 4 runner boats that essentially were a rectangle would not be able to turn on a dime.
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