by Deb Whitehorse | Apr 28, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page, NIYA, WSSA
Photo by Gary Whitehorse. That’s a lot of horsepower! Stern steerer iceboats start on race at the Northwest regatta which took place on February 2-4, 1973 on Pewaukee Lake in Wisconsin.
UPDATE: The photo was originally taken by Gary Whitehorse and uploaded to the 4LIYC Facebook page.
Peter McCormick (via Andy Gratton) forwarded this picture to the iceboat.org inbox this week wanting to confirm if these stern-steerers were on Pewaukee Lake and when this regatta took place. I started looking into the files and realized that I was there with my brother and dad, Dave Rosten and that my Dad won the Class A Skeeter trophy. Another 4LIYC skipper, Peter’s dad Bill McCormick, won the C Stern Steerer trophy that year as well.
If you have any information on the stern-steerers or the regatta you’d like to share, please drop a line. debwhitehorse@iceboat.org
UPDATE: 30 April:
“I was 16 years old at the time and won the DN junior trophy. Chuck Miller was racing a DN in the regatta called “Chicken Little.” He got a big kick out of racing against me in the regatta. Ever since that time I always felt that Chuck Miller was a really nice guy, someone who really loved his sailing and iceboating.”
Susie Pegel, formerly DN 905
Andy Gratton, WSSA Secretary: “Max Runge sent me this old photo. …There are some boats I don’t recognize, such as the C skeeter, the black mast, the yellow mast, B9, and what appears to be a round backbone second from the far end. V83 is the D skeeter that got turned around and ended up in Fond du Lac in the 1980s with Herb Bankstahl. He named it FIDDLESTIX, I think it came from Sternkopfs. Who is pushing ROSEMARY?”
Peter McCormick, stern steerer (TWINBEDS) and Renegade sailor: “I remember my dad [Bill McCormick] telling me how he took TWINBEDS to Pewaukee on a lumber truck for either a Northwest or WSSA regatta.”
UPDATE:
Tom Hyslop: “Not sure about the lake or the year as some of the Pewaukee boats were not built until the late 70`s.
B9 was CLANCY owned by John Olson.
V83 was a Sternkoph boat.
Yellow mast with red V is COUNTRY WOMAN owned by me.
Black mast with V is ECLIPSE owned by Ric Sternkoph and Mike Hasse.”
1973 Northwest Results
STERN STEERERS
Class A: No Race
Class B: CLANCY, John Olson
Class C: TWIN BEDS, Bill McCormick
Class D: DEE WHIZ, Bill Osenga
Skeeter Class A: Dave Rosten, PIRATE
FREE FOR ALL: No Race
DN Class: George Timmons
DN Class Junior: Susie Pegel
Renegade Class: Elmer Millenbach RENEGADE III
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Deb Whitehorse | Apr 2, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page, WSSA
Let’s watch an old sail being repaired at the Hardanger fartøyvernsenter in Western Norway for MATHILDE, a fishing boat, built in 1884. The same techniques were probably used to make and repair the sails on the stern-steerers pictured below. William Bernard kept a rental fleet of iceboats on Lake Mendota. Imagine that!
Tip of the Helmet: Ann Gratton
William Bernard’s fleet of rental stern steerer iceboats on Lake Mendota c.1895
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Deb Whitehorse | Mar 24, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page, WSSA
Stern-Steerer enthusiast Andy Gratton shares one of his favorite magazine covers from 1952 and the plans to build the boat. Andy even made a boat modeled after these plans many years ago for his son. 
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Deb Whitehorse | Mar 13, 2020 | Home Page, Regattas, WSSA
The WSSA board has decided to cancel the regatta for the remainder of this winter due in part to the need for strict health precautions caused by the coronavirus, There is a slight chance that the regatta could be held in late December 2020. Check here for further updates at that time.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Deb Whitehorse | Mar 11, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page, NIYA, Regattas, WSSA
ACE OF SPADES & LITTLE WIND line up to race.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: 12 MARCH 2020 8 AM CT:
Via Northwest Secretary/Treasurer Steve Schalk:
Due to the travel concerns with coronavirus, the fact that locations we are traveling from and to are involved with active cases, that our group has many people who are at the highest risk, and therefore to avoid losing a good portion of our active sailors, we are going to cancel the Northwest for season.
The 2020 Northwestern Ice Yachting Championship Regatta is on for Lake Waconia Minnesota starting Friday March 13th, 2020.
Class A, B, C, and D Stern steerers, Class A, B, and C skeeters, Renegades and DNs will be racing.
The ISA is postponed for a week.
Boecraft boats that for sure will be there are I 564 and I 234. There will be two C skeeters as well so we will sail with them in a separate start from the A skeeters. Lake Waconia is just west of Lake Minnetonka. The trip is 5 hours and 28 minutes according to Google.
Steve Schalk
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Deb Whitehorse | Mar 9, 2020 | 2019-2020, Home Page, Regattas, WSSA
Andy Gratton & George Gerhardt with WISCONSIN on Lake Winnebago Friday, March 6, 2020. Notice the big and impassable ice pile. Tales to tell on this ride! Photo by Mike Kroll
The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to March 21 and 22 but may well be cancelled for the season. The Northwest Regatta is scheduled for March 13 to 15 and will take precedence. The next WSSA update will be Sunday, March 15. Check back here at that time. Snow is melting quickly as well as ramps. If the NIYA regatta is called off for this coming weekend, it is because the bigger trailers will not have access to the ice, therefore the WSSA regatta will be unable to occur.
Andy Gratton
WSSA Secretary/Treasurer
Like this:
Like Loading...
