by Deb Whitehorse | Jul 10, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, ISA
 You can go from this… |  ..to this in a few simple steps. |
UPDATE: July 17,2018: The boat has found a home on Lake Como. Thanks to all who helped with this rescue.
Skeeter Iceboat Club sailor Steve Schalk recently came across the proverbial barn find near Delavan, Wisconsin that dates back to the beginning of the Skeeter class.This 1930s iceboat was home built and patterned after Walter Beauvaix’s early open-back Skeeter design. Just the hull and plank remain and It’s always been stored in a dry barn waiting for either the woodpile or for someone to restore her. If you’d like to save the boat from the burn pile and take on a restoration project, contact i546@charter.net to arrange pick-up. Andy Gratton has offered to donate a sail for the boat.
To learn more about the history of Beau Skeeters, read “A New First“, about the Goes family’s original Beau Skeeter PIKE, and “Wish You Were Here: Skeeter Iceboat Club History“.
Early Beau Skeeter PIKE, on the left with the P sail.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jul 4, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, ISA
John Dennis sails his Class A Skeeter. Photo: Gretchen Dorian
Have a great July 4th. Only 150 days until ice making!
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jul 3, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page
While this craft isn’t exactly our definition of an iceboat, it’s July and it’s content for this website. On June 19, three French sailors began an expedition in a catamaran fitted with skis with the goal of crossing the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole by sail and without motor. This is their third attempt since 2011. Their journey will cover 1,1750 miles (3,000 kilometers) between Alaska and the island of Spitsberger in Norway. Here’s their latest blog post:
July 1, 2018: Today, we traveled 1 mile! But we, on foot, a good dozen … Between recognition, hoists, and a few big bags to lug (unloaded from the boat to lighten, pass, then reload) to successfully pass blocks from 2 to 8 meters. But we are satisfied with our day. We are passing the critical part, the big coastal chaos, and it is encouraging to say that we can pass in such corners !! It’s magic, a chaos of ice, with a dim light between mist and sun. Then we have a good team, it works well. Tonight, by the ice ax, we cut into the blocks to create a passage for tomorrow, 100m from here, and then the major ridge will be crossed. We do an ant work, but we move north, where we hope to find water and increase our daily progress.
Follow their journey “La Voie du Pole” here.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jun 30, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, WSSA
Iceboating weather can be extreme, but usually on the cold side. The MARY B group met on Friday, June 30 (on a day that the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning) to set up the historic stern-steerer. Their goals were to practice efficiently setting up the boat, to put up the newly cleaned sails, and to assess the boat. Despite the heat, a big group pitched in to make easy work of it. The new sails and the bright chrome made for an impressive sight.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jun 20, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, ISA
Minnesota ice sailor, Pat Heppert, has put his virtual drafting pencil to paper and produced AutoCAD plans for his C Skeeter build, DRIFTER. Download them here.
It seems like many people have asked me for plans for my current iceboat, which has been kind of partially drawn up for a few years. So I have finally taken the time to fully detail out the entire boat. The goal of this is NOT to profess any sort of iceboating wisdom, just simply to try to get more people interested in building and continue enthusiasm in the sport. It ended up being 29 pages on 11 x 17 paper. The plans and building guide are now posted in a public folder on Google Drive per the link below. You should be able to download the files with the link below; if you have trouble let me know. The plans are in PDF format as well as AutoCAD format. The AutoCAD format can be viewed and printed with a free viewer program downloadable from Autodesk.
Pat Heppert
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by Deb Whitehorse | Jun 14, 2018 | 2017-2018, Home Page, WSSA
Lake Winnebago stern-steerer sailors Andy Gratton and Mike Kroll might still be on the search for ice so that they can add to their 1000 mile season. Ice is rare this time of year but they did drop in to visit with an iceboater from Lake City, MN.
“Mike Kroll and I were in Rochester and stopped to see Bruce Eggenberger, a long-time stern steerer sailor at Lake City. He had this photo from his uncle who used to ice boat there.
The story is that most of these boats were all stored in the same barn. Some irate wives of the iceboaters burned the barn one night. Silly them, they didn’t realize the boats were keeping their husbands out of the bars. I bet it was Bob’s wife because he didn’t name the boat after her”.
Back of photo
In a related story, a few years ago, Harry Allen sent a link to this Lake Minnetonka Magazine article written about the iceboating scene on Pepin and Minnetonka in the 1890s. The story details a race between the Pepin and Minnetonka stern-steerers with the winning skipper of the race being a 17 year old girl, Nancy Bassett.
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