UPCOMING:
It’s Building Season!
Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet: Oct 19, 2025 @ Lake Geneva Yacht Club More information
Midwest Hardwater Sailors Swap Meet: November 8, 2025 @ Delavan Yacht Club More Information
4LIYC Meeting : November 2025
4LIYC Shipstore: Order custom iceboat shirts, hats, and gear. More information.
BURGEE: Order your 4LIYC Burgee
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Regatta Watch: ISA Postponed
Regatta Watch: Northwest Canceled for 2018
“The chief difficulty in iceboating is the utter dependence upon the fickleness of the weather dispenser” Wisconsin State Journal 1918
Via NIYA Chair Tim McCormick:
The NIYA Regatta is cancelled for the 2018 season. Gladstone, MI continues to have a hard crust of snow. Shawano Lake has workable landings but the ice is too rough. Houghton Lake and Higgins Lake have holes. All other sites do not have sufficient landings. With the following weekend being the Easter Holiday, the NIYA Race Committee agreed we should cancel for the season.
The above quote in italics comes from this newspaper article published 100 years ago in 1918, a year when the Northwest was also canceled. In fact, it wasn’t sailed again until 1922. See you on the ice at next year’s Northwest!
“The Way of the Pole”
After 3 unsuccessful attempts to cross the Arctic Ocean, 3 French sailors are preparing to try again. They’ve spent 4 years building a hybrid catamaran that appears to be able to move across the pack ice. They’ve been testing the boat in Sweden over the last few days. Follow their Facebook page or website here
Regatta Watch: ISA Called On for March 23-25
The International Skeeter Association Championship has been tentatively called ON for March 23-25, 2018. Potential sites include Little Bay de Noc in Gladstone, Michigan and Houghton Lake in Michigan. Final confirmation will be made by noon Wednesday, March 21.
Regatta Watch: NIYA Tentatively Called ON for March 23-25
Via NIYA Chair Tim McCormick:
The Northwest Regatta is tentatively called ON for March 23-25. The primary site is Gladstone, MI with Houghton Lake, MI as a secondary site. With all the warm weather this past weekend, we’re getting close! Final determination will be Wednesday, March 21st at Noon CDT.
Sail Brooklyn
While we wait for one last shot at a regatta, enjoy these 1912 photos with a stern-steerer on some sort of chassis.
Tip of the Helmet: Ann Gratton
Regatta Watch: Renegade Championship Postponed
Regatta Watch: Broken Record Edition
Both the ISA and Northwest Regattas have been postponed. Next update for the ISA regatta will be Sunday, March 18.
Via NIYA Chair Tim McCormick:
The NIYA Regatta is postponed until March 23-25. Gladstone, MI is the most promising site but they still have 2” of hard crust snow and the wind forecast for this weekend is light. Ice thickness is more than 18” and trucks are driving on and off the ice without a problem. We need a moderate melt for that site to become good enough for a regatta and the forecast for the next week indicates that should happen. Next update is Sunday, March 18 at 8pm CST.
“Ice boating in Door County could use a return to the glory years”
Green Bay Press Gazette
Jon Gast, For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 9:44 a.m. CT March 13, 2018
The Lama Wamah Ice Squadron’s bus has stood as the face of ice boating in Door County for many years.
When the wind was up and ice was smooth, you’d see the bus along the shore of the bay or one of the county’s inland lakes, having dispensed its load of intrepid ice yachtsmen led by Bjorn Johanson. Continue reading.
2018 Nite Nationals Video
Many thanks to George Gerhardt for sharing his videos from the 2018 Nite Nationals.