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
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2017-18 Winter Forecast: There Will Be Iceboating Somewhere
For almost 20 years, we’ve been linking to winter weather predictions at the start of each season. Will it snow, will it be cold, will there be ice? The only thing we can predict with 100% accuracy is that there will be ice sailing somewhere in the vicinity of these previous DN regatta locations marked on this map. There will be a frozen body of water waiting for your sharp runners somewhere in the world!
Ice Optimist 2018 North American Championship
NOTICE OF RACE
Download Notice of Race
2018 North American Ice Optimist Championship
Date: Friday, January 5: Practice Day
Saturday, January 6 – Sunday, January 7: Racing Days
Location: The regatta will be held at the site of the 2018 DN Western Regionals. (Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, or Iowa.)
This will be a fun oriented event with no prior racing experience required. Due to kids graduating out of the Optimist Class, there are many Optimists available and a short of kids to sail them. If you know kids that have an interest, please contact Ron Rosten and we’ll set them up with a boat.
Awards shall be given to the yachts placing first through fifth.
Entry fee is $20.00 per yacht.
Contact Ron Rosten at ron.rosten@gmail.com for more information. Also see Ice Optimists of North America Facebook page for regatta updates.
Meade Gougeon’s Essential “Evolution of Modern Sailboat Design”
“Others quickly picked up the bow-steering design, and a few large bow-steerers were built…A Class B boat (250 square feet of sail) was built by Starke Meyer of Milwaukee and he ran away from everything else on the lakes”. Photo from the Carl Bernard Scrapbook Collection.
While researching last week’s Throw Back Thursday Gar Wood regatta post, I discovered a book that wasn’t on my radar or in my library, Meade Gougeon’s “Evolution of Modern Sailboat Design” written with co-author Ty Knoy. The stern-steerer iceboat on the cover hinted this was not a typical book about soft water sailboats with an obligatory paragraph about iceboats. Meade masterfully combined the story of iceboat design, mechanics, and history as he explained why some boats are faster than others. If you collect books about iceboating, this is an essential volume and available on Amazon.
Meade’s Bigger Picture Thinking:
- “Many of the refinements in sails and rigging that have been developed since World War I originated on iceboats.”
- “The first bow-steerer of any importance was built in 1931 by the Joy brothers, sailmakers in Milwaukee.” …”the Joy brothers and Walter Beauvais (of Williams Bay, WI) who came up with the machine (BEAU SKEETER) that retired the big boats forever…It went on the ice in Lake Geneva in 1933 and was an instant success.”
- Iceboaters were quick to take up the idea’s of Dr. Manfred Curry, a German sailor who came up with the idea of planing full length battens to curve into an airfoil. (An idea banned in most soft-water racing classes at the time of the book’s publication.) Iceboaters in the 1930s were using revolutionary ideas like rotating masts, wing masts, and full length battens while soft-water classes were outlawing advancements. The few softwater classes that allowed rotating masts (in 1976) were Midwestern scows, from the same part of the world where a good many iceboaters are also scow sailors in the summer.
- The aviator, Charles Lindbergh, (who spent a semester here the university in Madison and motored around Lake Mendota on an ice sled) “is said to have had a hand in the design of a very advanced rig” that was put on the Class A stern-steerer, DEUCE II, which was owned by Lindbergh’s cousin, Joseph Lodge of Detroit.
“On DEUCE II, with the help of Lindbergh, Lodge installed a rotating wing mast, believed to be the first ever used…DEUCE II was a hard luck boat, plagued by rigging failures, as Lodge challenged for the Stuart Cup and the Hearst International trophies in the 1930s.” Photo from the Carl Bernard Scrapbook Collection.
“Most of the troubles [from DEUCE II] were ironed out in DEUCE III, a remodeled version of DEUCE II, and in 1938, Lodge won both trophies to become champion of the world for Class A.” Photo from the Carl Bernard Scrapbook Collection.
Looking Back: The Gar Wood Regatta
Skeeter Iceboat Club’s Jane Pegel is reviewing her scrapbooks in an effort to help fill in some history for the DN North American Championships. She’s sharing notes from other regattas and I’ve picked out the 1968 Gar Wood for today’s Throw Back Thursday.
Garfield Wood grew up in the Midwest, was an inventor invented the hydraulic lift, owned the company that was to become Chris Craft for a time, and raced and built wooden motor boats that broke speed records. This guy’s accomplishments were amazing (read them here and here). Gar Wood was interested in speed so it’s was only natural that he sponsored a prestigious iceboat regatta in Detroit, the Gar Wood. The Gar Wood hasn’t been sailed for in many years.
There are no photos from this regatta in my files but I have included the program from the 1958 Gar Wood, a 1968 newspaper clipping from the Wisconsin State Journal with Jane pushing Susie in her DN on a light air day, and two pages from Lynn Mattison Raley’s book she made for her dad, Bill Mattison that focus on 1968, which is the year he won the Skeeter class at the Gar Wood.
Feb 24-25. 1968. Gar Wood regatta on Anchor Bay. 65 boats total in Classes E, Renegade, Arrow and DN
The Scripps Trophy for the DN class was won by Jane Pegel, with Stan Woodruff second and Roy Holden third. DN juniors were led by Dan Kuemmerlein (Pewaukee), Mike Harvey second, Tim Woodhouse third. Bill Mattison had won the ISA the previous week and a win at the Gar Wood earned him the Triple Crown (The Northwest was not sailed.) Elmer Millenbach won the York Trophy for Renegades. Mike Hendrie won in the Arrows.
Source: Jane Pegel
Note: Click on each image to see the full size.
Swap Meets: From Minnesota to Massachusettes
Make plans to attend an iceboat swap meet in your area this season. Swap meets are the place to begin your season. If you are new to the sport, swap meets are the best way to acquaint yourself with ice sailors and buy boats and equipment. See you there!
MICHIGAN: Western Michigan Iceboat Swap Meet, November 3-4, 2017 at the Muskegon Yacht Club, 3198 Edgewater St, Muskegon, MI. More information.
MINNESOTA: Ice Boat Swap Meet on November 4, 2017, from 10 AM – 12 PM at Sailcrafters 7450 Oxford St., Saint Louis Park, Minnesota 55426. More information.
NEW ENGLAND: New England Ice Yachting Association Swap Meet, October 28 9 AM, Knights of Columbus Hall, 17 Willow St, Westborough, MA. More information.
NEW YORK: Lake Ronkonkoma Ice Boat Yacht Club, December 9th, from 1 PM – 4 PM at Weeks Yacht Yard, 10 Riverview Ct, Patchogue, NY. More information.
WISCONSIN: Skeeter Iceboat Club Swap Meet on November 5, 2017 from 9 AM – 12 PM at Lucke’s Cantina
220 N. Elkhorn Rd. (WI Hwy 67), Williams Bay, WI. More information.
Western Michigan Iceboat Swap Meet Nov 3-4
Western Michigan Iceboat Swap Meet
November 3 @ 6PM – November 4 @ 9:00 am
This year the Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club (search Facebook: Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club) will be combining with the Grand Traverse and West Michigan Ice Yacht Clubs in sponsoring and putting on the annual 2017-18 ice sailing season’s opener Swap Meet in Muskegon, MI.
Click here to read more
If you are coming in from out of town we have made special arrangements with the Baymont Inn and Suites, (231) 798-0220, here in Muskegon on Friday evening for rooms with two (2) queen sized beds for $67.99 pus tax. When checking in tell them you are in town for the Western Michigan Iceboat Swap Meet.
This year’s event will be held at the Muskegon Yacht Club (MYC) located on the southwest end of Muskegon Lake. What has in the past been known and referred to as the Gull Lake Swap Meet held at the Gull Lake Country Club on Gull Lake is this year renaming itself as the “Western Michigan Iceboat Swap Meet”.
This year the event will begin on Friday evening, November 3rd with socializing and a presentation from Ron Sherry on his experiences during the 2017 Miami,FL to Havana, Cuba sailboat race last March. Ron was the helmsman aboard the smallest boat in the race, “Chico 2”, a 1D35 out of Detroit. The following is a quote from their navigator:
“Nearly every winning boat sailed a similar course to Dragon, staying close to the Florida reefs for relief from the swift-moving current of the Gulf Stream for as long as possible. Despite sailing one of the lightest and smallest boats in the race, the Michigan crew aboard 35-foot Chico 2 finished fourth over the line and first in PHRF B Class thanks to strong crew work and near-flawless navigation. “This is my first race to Havana, but I’ve run literally two months worth of navigational simulations of the race at home on the computer,” said Tom Anderson, Chico’s navigator. “The real deal was quite a bit wetter, but thanks to the preparation, it was always familiar, and the answer was to avoid the deep water and push the boat hard along the reef.” (excerpted from Sailing Anarchy). This presentation should be interesting to anyone interested in sailing!
This presentation will be open to those “ice sailors” present on Friday evening, as well as any MYC “soft water sailors” who might be present at the club that evening. Everyone is welcome! For anyone planning on attending, we expect to start Ron’s presentation sometime around 7:00 pm in the “Spinnaker Room”. MYC’s kitchen will be open to any “ice sailors” on Friday evening in order to order from the open menu. Any alcohol, however, will need to be purchased via a MYC member, several of which are active members of the WMIYC.
There will be a luncheon buffet available at noon on Saturday included in the Swap Meet fee of $15.00 for which you will receive a “SINGLE” lunch ticket. For current WMIYC members, and any one else attending the meet who desires to become a new member of the WMIYC, in addition to lunch you will also receive a one (1) year membership to the WMIYC. Also included in the $15.00 fee you will receive one (1) “DOUBLE” ticket that you will use in bidding in the “Silent Auction” for some pretty nice gifts that will be available. Additional tickets for the “Silent Auction” will be available for purchase @ $1.00 ea. or six (6) for $5.00. You’ll likely want to either buy as many as you want, or more than you can afford, when you see what is being auctioned off! We will also be holding and selling tickets for a “50/50 Raffle” with the proceeds going to cover Swap Meet expenses. During, or after, lunch we have suggested to Ron that he be prepared to present a brief technical presentation on DN rig tuning and blade sharpening basics. Please put this on your calendar and plan to attend. If you are not an iceboater please ensure you take a look at the iceboats and related hardware that will be displayed/traded/sold on Saturday! It is a great way to extend your sailing season here in West Michigan! It is also typically a great opportunity to get into the sport with an older boat at a good price! Check us out!
Details Start: November 3 @ 6:00 pm End: November 4 @ 9:00 am Website: http://www.wmiyc.org , www.gulllakeiyc.org, www.gliyc.org
Organizers Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club Grand Traverse Ice Yacht Club West Michigan Ice Yacht Club
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4LIYC Membership Card: Paul Krueger on Lake Monona in Rambl’n XII, his A Class Skeeter
Get one of these membership cards when you pay your dues (only $20!) for the 2017-2018 season. The Notice of Dues postcard was mailed on Monday, October 2, 2017. If you aren’t on our mailing list and want to join, see our membership page. Anyone can be a member!
The Lowly Iceboat
The first minute of this newsreel contains vintage eastern Skeeter footage with some innovative camera shots. The absence of springboards dates it to the late 1940s and early 50s. The narrator declared that iceboating’s “time of glory and past is forgotten.” Seems like that’s been declared for years but yet here we still are.
I came across this video on the Minnesota iceboating website where it was posted by John Bushey.
Here’s to Henry
Henry Bossett of North Sails retired yesterday after a successful career as a sail maker. He won a few iceboat regattas along the way too. Like the 3 times at DN World Championship (1977, 1981, 1983) and 4 times at the DN North Americans (1982, 1983, 1990, 1993). I’m sure there a some soft water titles as well including an Tornado Olympics trail with fellow DNer Jeff Kent. (Unfortunately it was the boycott year of 1980.)
I’ll never forget the first time Skeeter skipper Tom Hyslop talked about getting a “new Henry” which was the way that Skeeter and Renegade sailors referred to any sail from Henry Bossett.
In the above video, that’s Henry sailing the DN in the famous Chapstick commercial. The sail became a wall fixture at the loft. Cheers to a long career and good luck as you move into this new phase in your life. We all hope to see you out on the ice with your camera, Henry!
From Henry Bossett’s Facebook page. “Last carbon Skeeter main and other carbon ice sails I’ve designed and sewn.”
Throw Back Thursday: PK & Dave
This photo of Paul Krueger and Dave Rosten was published in the Wisconsin State Journal on December 30, 1956 when these two were still in school at East High in Madison. Paul Krueger has been sailing Class A Skeeters longer than anybody and has defined this club. Please keep him in your thoughts as he continues in his recovery from a health issue.
Online Ship’s Store
National Iceboat Authority Web Page
4LIYC Governing Documents
Click for 4LIYC Meeting Dates
- January 2 THURSDAY Honor Roll Nominations
- January 15 Deadline for By-Law or Racing Rules Amendment Submission
- January 29
- February 12 Business Meeting
- February 26
- March 12 Last Meeting of the Season
Location: In person at the Elks Lodge 711 Jenifer St, Madison, WI 53703
Time: 6:30 PM
YOU ARE SKIPPER NUMBER
TO ROUND THE MARK SINCE NOVEMBER 1999.
