January’s deep freeze has been a boon to iceboating around the country in areas that haven’t seen sailable ice for several years. Our friends in Illinois are taking advantage of their conditions.
What wind chill? Ice boaters set sail on Lake Decatur DECATUR — While Wednesday’s frigid temperatures kept many indoors, a quartet of ice boaters set out to take advantage of what the frozen Lake Decatur had to offer.
They had a good time, according to expert boater Pete Johns, but the snow sitting on top of the lake made the conditions less than ideal. Continue reading.
The 4LIYC will check ice on Friday, January 5 at noon. Please meet at Captain Bill’s.
Saturday morning racing might be out due to low temperatures and light winds, however we may be able to sail Saturday afternoon. Sunday looks even better with winds forecasted at 10-15 mph and tropical 31F temperatures. As of today, NOAA is calling for a “Chance Snow then Slight Chance Wintry Mix” for Sunday.
Commodore Don Anderson set up his Renegade yesterday on Middleton Bay. The snow was just too sticky for him to get going in the light air but Jerry Simon saw a Nite sailing on Mendoter “with no trouble, enough wind and not too much snow…. The Nite likely came from a home on the north side of the lake and [I] wasn’t able to talk to skipper. The 1-2 inches of light snow didn’t have any noticeable drifting with smooth hard ice underneath.”
Next update about 4LIYC racing will be Friday, January 5 by 5 PM.
Many thanks to stern-steerer skipper Michael Kroll for posting a link to Andy Gratton’s story from this website on his Facebook page. Andy’s story about the legendary Oshkosh stern-steerer skipper, Don Ward, gets better with every reading. Michael writes, “I have read it many times, and when I see it, I can’t help but read it again because I’ve been in the back cockpit of this iceboat.”
What an impressive shot for Harken’s monthly digest showcasing Steve Orlebeke’s Class A Skeeter, HONEYBUCKET and Paul Krueger’s RAMBL’N sailing on Lake Monona, Madison, Wisconsin.
Steve Orlebeke’s Perspective Looking Ahead
“I’m looking out my door onto the engineering section in the Pewaukee Harken offices. It’s almost the end of 2017 and a logical time to look ahead toward next year.” Continue reading.
Happy New Year from the frozen tundra of Madison, WI where the temperature has climbed from -14F to -12F since the sun came up. Most of the area webcams haven’t been functional because of the cold except for Gordy’s on Geneva Lake. You can watch Geneva turn to ice by going to Gordy’s website and clicking on the webcam link on the top right of the page.
Happy New Years, iceboaters!
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to January 13 and 14. The next update will be Sunday, January 7. Check back here or call the Iceboat Hotline 608-204-9876. Lake Winnebago has more than 12″ of ice but the snow drifts are rock hard.
