UPCOMING:
It’s Building Season!
4LIYC Meeting : November 2025
4LIYC Shipstore: Order custom iceboat shirts, hats, and gear. More information.
BURGEE: Order your 4LIYC Burgee
Pay Your Dues Online
Regatta Watch: 2024 Renegade Championship Postponed
Renegade Regatta Race Committee Chair Don Anderson has reported that Lake Puckaway is unsuitable for sailing due to numerous holes. As a result, the 2024 Renegade Championship has been postponed. The next update will be posted on Sunday evening, December 8, 2024.
4LIYC Meeting Update! Zoom for Dec 4
ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION!
4LIYC Members: This week’s meeting will be held on Zoom only, giving everyone a bit more time in the shop to prep for the season. Club members are gearing up for the first sails of the season—at the DN Western Challenge in Minnesota and a possible Renegade and Nite regatta on Lake Puckaway. The Zoom format also gives us the chance to hear ice reports from out-of-town members. Check your email from Tuesday morning for the Zoom link!
What to know:
4LIYC Meeting
Wednesday, December 4
6:30 PM
Zoom Only
Regatta Watch: 2024 Nite Nationals Tentatively Called On
Via International Nite Class Commodore Maureen Bohleber:
The 2024 Nite Nationals are tentatively called on for December 7-8. Come a day early and enjoy some pick up races to get those spider webs out of the way.
Lake Puckaway, WI is looking good. Located west of Green Lake it has produced early ice before with regatta performance ice. Presently it has at least 2 inches of solid ice near shore and looks like a 10. We will give you an additional update on Wednesday 12/4. There is a good possibility we may share the course with the Renegades.
Regatta Watch: 2024 Renegade Championship Tentatively Called ON
The 2024 International Renegade Association Championship is tentatively called on for Saturday, December 7, and Sunday, December 8, 2024.
The potential location is Lake Puckaway near Princeton, WI. While final confirmation will be posted by Thursday, December 5, at noon, our scouts expect to have an update by Wednesday, December 4.
Stay tuned for updates as we finalize the plans. Dust off your gear, prepare your Renegades, and get ready for a weekend of sailing
Minnesota First!
Who claims the title of the first iceboat sailed in North America this season? That’s hard to say, but Minnesota definitely takes the win for the first ice! Reports of ice are popping up all over the state, lighting up Facebook feeds. While the honor of being first is unclear, we do have a report from Pat Heppert, who got his mini-Skeeter on the ice today:
“A fantastic day to sail today. A little bit cold. My repaired bulkhead is good. All my mods for single Allen wrench assembly are good. I love iceboating!”
The season is officially underway—are your runner sharp?
Flying with Bald Eagles after Turkey Day
Via Minnesota C Skeeter skipper Pat Heppert
“Blade Nite” in Minnesota
The largest Nite iceboat club in Minnesota, the Bald Eagle Ice Yacht Club, gathered last night for the annual “Blade Night” runner sharpening party and kick-off to the season. Not only is this the largest iceboat club in Minnesota, it is also arguably the best dressed, with plenty of custom club attire worn and available for purchase. Commodore John Stasieluk was gracious enough to host in his 2-story barn filled with iceboats and workshop machinery. While the upstairs social area was kept toasty warm with heaters and sailor’s hot air, the downstairs was maintained at a perfect runner sharpening chill for serious business.
Among the comradery of lifelong friendships and numerous conversations, every once in a while you would hear someone shout out the battle cry of the BEIYC, “Nite Nats!” While some of the fleet is laser focused on aspiring to dominate the top echelon of Nite fleet for certain lifelong glory, 100% of the fleet is focused on creating a fun atmosphere that is welcoming and inviting to all who want to participate in sailing. A great kick-off to the season, here we come, “Nite Nats!”
Russian River Renegade Mast

“Half the wood goes on the floor.” – Doug
4LIYC Renegader Doug Kolner has been hard at work in his Monona, WI workshop this fall, building a Renegade mast from reclaimed timber sourced from California’s Russian River. With temperatures dipping to 18F this morning around the 4LIYC area, this project is right on schedule. Doug has been in the shop “making dust,” as the late Bill Mattison used to say. Doug discovered an unusual supplier in California that salvages trees, originally logged many years ago, which settled at the bottom of the Russian River. This unique redwood will now find new life on the ice.
Regatta Watch: 2024 International Skeeter Association Possibilities

Photo: Will Johnston
ISA HOME PAGE
2024 ISA NOTICE OF RACE
Via ISA Secretary/Treasurer Steve Schalk:
JD has reconvened the 2024 ISA Race Committee. The normal process will restart, with the Sunday prior to the regatta used to review ice reports and make a call on with a likely location.
The Committee will be taking advantage of the DN Western Challenge taking place on the weekend of December 7th, to get very complete information on ice thickness, area, quality and launch access.
The most likely first date for the regatta is December 13th, 14th and 15th 2024. The location will likely be in the general vicinity of Alexandria Minnesota. Once the first meeting is held an update will be posted.
Steve Schalk
Secretary/Treasurer
International Skeeter Association
Happy Thanksgiving

Thankful for Ice Sailing
Time to ReShuffle: 2025 Senior Shuffle Notice of Race
Previous: Senior Shuffle Announcement from last season
The DN Senior Shuffle Regatta is ready for Round 2! We’re picking up where we left off last year, so if you already paid, you’re good to go – no extra shuffling required. Just make sure to send in your most recent proof of liability insurance. Please send to debwhitehorse@iceboat.org.
WHAT TO KNOW
2025 DN Senior Shuffle
NOTICE OF RACE
SAILING INSTRUCTIONS
Dates: January 6 – 8, 2025 (the 3 days after the 2025 Western Region Championship)
Location: TBA, same location at 2025 Western Region Championship
Eligibility:
• Open to Seniors (50-59), Masters (60-69) and Grand Masters (70+) who will race under Shuffle Rules with one start.
• Open to “aspiring” Seniors (49 or younger) who will also race under Shuffle Rules possibly with a separate start.
Entries: Click here to see list of entries.
Want to join the fun? Click here to register.