by Deb Whitehorse | Dec 24, 2023 | 2023-2024, Home Page
Oshkosh ice sailor Rosie McDonald getting ready to tap a Fauerbach beer on Lake Monona c 1955. Note the Fauerbach Brewery in the background. Photo: Carl Bernard slide collection.
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Vassar Brewery, Iceboating’s First Iceboat Bar
Fauerbach Brewery Archives
After a day pulling sheet, there’s nothing quite like the camaraderie of fellow iceboaters reliving the day’s races over a cold dipper.
In 19th and 20th-century America, a unique correlation emerged among a specific industry – second-generation German beer brewers who had a passion for sports, all things fast, and ice sailing.
Besides the Vassar Brewery in New York (which had English roots), Pabst* in Milwaukee, and Madison’s favorite Fauerbach Brewery, Henry Bossett told me about another famous brewer who loved ice sailing: New York brewer George Ruppert. Furthermore, Jacob, George’s brother, owned the New York Yankees and famously signed Babe Ruth in 1919. In addition to being Vice President of the Yankees and president of the Ruppert Brewery, George was an active officer of New Jersey’s North Shrewsbury Iceboat and Yacht Club. In 1938, he organized a meeting at the brewery where 170 ice sailors attended and formed the Eastern Ice Yachting Association.
The newspapers of the time are full of stories about George and his fast, stern-steerer, PIRATE. In 1938, he jumped on the Skeeter bandwagon, one of the first in the East to acquire a front-steering iceboat from the Midwest, THE DARE. (See Skeeter Summit for Skeeter history.)
I couldn’t find any photos of PIRATE or THE DARE, but Brian Reid’s invaluable “White Wings and Black Ice” has pictures of another of Ruppert’s stern-steerers, DASH. In place of a picture of PIRATE, we’ll use a photo of Rosie McDonald getting ready for a cold dipper of Fauerbach beer on Lake Monona with the brewery in the background to represent the connection between breweries and ice sailing.
Learn More:
Jacob Ruppert’s Brewery
A Tour of the Ruppert Brewery in 1939
Jacob Ruppert Wikipedia Page
North Shrewsbury Iceboat & Yacht Club
*Soon to come, a post about the Pabst family and ice sailing.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Dec 21, 2023 | Home Page, ISA, Regattas
Nite sailor Marek Valasek 444 finds some air and lift a runner at the 2023 ISA on Lake Kegonsa.
ISA Home Page
Click here to read 2024 International Skeeter Association Regatta Notice of Race.
The ISAA Regatta will be held on January 12, 13, & 14, 2024 and may be postponed until ice conditions are suitable.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Dec 21, 2023 | Home Page, NIYA, Regattas, WSSA
B Skeeter: Fritz Buttons
Northwest Home Page
Click here to read the 2024 Northwest Ice Yachting Association Notice of Race.
The regatta is scheduled to be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, January 19, 20 & 21, 2024 but may be postponed until ice conditions are suitable.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Dec 21, 2023 | 2023-2024, DN, Home Page
The inspiration for the Senior Shuffle – the 2021 Grand Masters Regatta in Sweden.
Click here to read Senior Shuffle NOTICE OF RACE
Previous: Senior Shuffle Announcement
The Senior Shuffle DN Championship Regatta is January 8 – 10, 2024, the three days after the DN Western Region Championship, which is scheduled for January 6 – 7.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Dec 20, 2023 | 2023-2024, Home Page, WSSA
“John A. Roosevelt at the tiller of Kriss (not Vixen) on the Hudson, 1902” Photo & caption courtesy of White Wings and Black Ice
If you are a fan of the classic Hudson River stern-steerers, this exhibit is worth a visit. Via the Hudson River Ice Yacht Preservation Trust and Brian Reid’s White Wings and Black Ice
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum to host a display of authentic Hudson Valley Ice Yachts
December 21, 2023 through January 7, 2024
Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home
Ice yachts on display will include KRISS, built for FDR’s uncle John Aspinwall Roosevelt, CYCLONE, built for Herman Livingston Rogers, son of the Roosevelt’s Hyde Park neighbor Archibald Rogers, and 999, built for the owners of the J. G. Bodenstein Ice Tool Company in Staatsburgh, New York in the 1870s.
The display is presented by the Hudson River Ice Yacht Preservation Trust and Hudson River Ice Yacht Club. The boats can be seen — with full rigging — in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home, during regular operating hours (9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.), with free admission. The facilities are closed on Christmas and New Years Day.
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by Deb Whitehorse | Dec 20, 2023 | 2023-2024, Home Page, WSSA
The sanding crew, from left Paul McMillan, Jerry Simon, Steve Holtzman, Stefan Schmidt, Lars Barber, Don Anderson, Mike Ripp.
Just as changing a light fixture in a house frequently evolves into a room renovation, replacing a broken sheave on the mast of MARY B became a more extensive project.
In August, the Iceboat Foundation showcased two boats – the MARY B and the Class A Skeeter INSANITY – at Marshall Park during the E Scow Nationals. While both boats impressed the onlookers, the crew encountered an issue with a faulty sheave when they tried to take down the sail.
Mike Ripp, paint specialist
As they were replacing the sheave, the crew decided to take the opportunity to give the mast a fresh coat of paint. Mike Ripp, volunteered to do the entire paint job and will apply two coats of the traditional white paint, one side at a time over the course of the week.
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Besides the Vassar Brewery in New York (which had English roots), Pabst* in Milwaukee, and Madison’s favorite Fauerbach Brewery, Henry Bossett told me about another famous brewer who loved ice sailing: New York brewer George Ruppert. Furthermore, Jacob, George’s brother, owned the New York Yankees and famously signed Babe Ruth in 1919. In addition to being Vice President of the Yankees and president of the Ruppert Brewery, George was an active officer of New Jersey’s North Shrewsbury Iceboat and Yacht Club. In 1938, he organized a meeting at the brewery where 170 ice sailors attended and formed the Eastern Ice Yachting Association.
