Welcome to iceboat.org

The Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club is one of the most active iceboat clubs in North America. We’ve been building and racing iceboats for over 100 years in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

Ice Is Never 100% Safe.

Our ice reports are strictly for iceboat racers. Recreational iceboaters, kite boarders, cross country skiers, and ice fishermen should not rely on our ice reports. We have safety equipment. Do you?

Buy or Sell Your Iceboat

One of the best pages in North America to buy or sell iceboats and their parts. There’s also a complete list of vendors who will supply iceboats, sails, and their components.

Common Questions:

How can I get started? How fast can they go? How much do they cost? Is it safe?

Regatta Watch

Information about the ISA, NIYA, WSSA, Nite, and DN regattas.

Iceboat Classes

Learn about Skeeters, DNs, Stern Steerers, Renegades, Nites, and Ice Optimists.

The Rules.

The purpose of iceboat racing rules is to prevent collisions.

Ice Yacht Clubs

The best way to learn about iceboating and make life long friendships is to join a local club.

Why We Sail.

“If all our ice were glass, slightly wet, and all our air reasonably steady with lifters just where needed, sailing would be perfect. Sometimes we do find this, and it is worth waiting years to have. Meanwhile we must accept the more ordinary ice conditions, ordinary weather and wind, and gracefully accept snow, sometimes for weeks. Our ideal comes from time to time, the Great Maker gives only so much of the very best.” Charles H. Johnson.

Iceboating for Kids

Ice Optimists were created specifically as a youth trainer, designed to be easily built using commonly available materials, and to keep costs to a minimum.

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

4LIYC Ice Check for Friday, January 7, 2022

Lake Monona from the south shore on Wednesday, January 6, 2022.

4LIYC Commodore Daniel Hearn and Doug Kolner scouted Lake Monona today for the DN Western Region Championship. Though they didn’t find regatta quality ice and the regatta was postponed, Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club sailing for Saturday and Sunday is a distinct possibility.

Daniel reported, “Plenty of ice thickness onshore with 2-3″ of black ice in the middle with an open hole dead center in the middle of the lake. There may be enough space on the east end for club sailing. There was very little snow. The hole could firm up by the weekend.”

Please meet at the Tonyawatha Landing at noon on Friday, January 6, 2022, for a Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club ice check. We will post our decision about club racing by 5 PM on Friday.

The State of Monona

Lake Monona, January 4, 2022

Four Lakes ice sailors have been busy sharing pictures, talking, and thinking Lake Monona ice which has come in with a beautiful freeze. This morning, there are a few goose holes, but most of the lake is glass. It needs a few days to build thickness and then the club can check conditions. Ice cam checkers will want to to keep their browser on Mendota Today for a live look at Lake Mendota.

Bobcat On Ice

A short video via Andy Gratton. Minnesota ice sailor Kurt Martinson’s pandemic project was to convert a Bolger Bobcat (an adaptation of the Beetle Cat.)

Via Kurt Martinson: Hoping for enough wind to power thru some snow cover tomorrow. It’s a Bolger Bobcat I converted. 12’x 6’ plus the bowsprit. A pandemic project. Still working on getting the sail plan balanced. Think ice.

Regatta Watch: WSSA Postponed

MICHIGANDER

WSSA Home Page

Via Wisconsin Stern Steerers Association Secretary Andy Gratton:

The Wisconsin Stern Steering Association regatta has been postponed to January 15 and 16. The next update will be Sunday, January 9. Check back here at that time. The Northwest Ice Yacht Association regatta takes precedence.

Some places on Winnebago have 4 to 6 inches with 1/2″ of snow. Sailing has occurred there.

Andy Gratton

WSSA Secretary/Treasurer

4LIYC Meeting News: Join Us or Zoom Us, You Choose

Join Us or Zoom Us, You Choose

We’re kicking off our hybrid meeting format next week Wednesday, January 5. With the cold weather coming, maybe we’ll even have local ice sailing tales to share!

WHAT TO KNOW:
Date: Wednesday, January 5, 2022
IN-PERSON MEETING
Food will be delivered at 6 PM
Meeting begins at 6:30 PM
At Daniel Hearn’s Office–S/B Strategic Marketing, 1352 E. Wilson St
Tex Tubb’s Menu

For those who’d like to meet in-person and enjoy a good meal together, we’ll be ordering takeout from a different restaurant each meeting. Tex Tubbs Taco Palace will be our first provider. Here’s a link to their menu. Tex Tubb’s Menu

Once you know what you want, submit your order using the form below. Please place your order no later than 3:00 p.m. day of meeting. Food will deliver at 6:00 p.m. Bring cash to pay Deb for food and delivery driver tip. Word has it that club members are bringing beer, otherwise BYOB.

ZOOM MEETING
4LIYC members will receive the Zoom link via email as usual. Not getting the emails? Please contact Deb.

For those who are out of town or feel more comfortable plugging in electronically, we’ll look forward to seeing your smiling face on the big screen in the conference room.

Regatta Watch: 2022 ISA & Renegade Championship Postponed Until Jan 14-16

Skeeter skippers Ken Whitehorse, Paul Krueger, and Tom Hyslop (along with the Stern-Steerer ROSEMARY) on Lake Michigan at Menominee in March 2021. Photo: gretchendorian.com

INTERNATIONAL SKEETER ASSOCIATION
2022 ISA Notice of Race

ISA Home Page

Via International Skeeter Association (ISA) Race Chair, John Dennis: “The 2022 ISA Championship has been postponed until January 14, 15, 16, 2022. The next update is Sunday, January 9, 2022. The Northwest Regatta takes precedence.”
The ISA Championship races are held for A, B, C Class Skeeters, Nites and Renegades should Renegades choose to hold their national championship regatta in conjunction with the ISA Championship Regatta.

INTERNATIONAL RENEGADE ICE YACHT RACING ASSOCIATION
Renegade Home Page
Via IRIYRA Secretary Ron Rosten: “The Renegade Championship has been postponed until January 14, 15, 16, 2022. The next update is Sunday, January 9, 2022.”

Christmas Eve Reflections


Erin Bury took advantage of glass ice in this unusual video perspective. On Christmas eve, she and Alex Peterson sailed DNs on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. Watch closely!

Iceboating in the Olympics

John Buckstaff Archives
Ice sailing as an Olympic event has been a hot topic in the DN class for years. (See
Runner Tracks, September 2017 for that story.) Iceboat sail maker and historian, Henry Bossett, has come across an extraordinary 1933 Oshkosh, WI newspaper article about John Buckstaff receiving an invitation from the German Yachting Union to compete at the 1936 Olympics. I can find no mention in further news reports as to what transpired. For now, here’s the article that ran in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. Click on the newspaper column image to enlarge it.
Tip of the Helmet: Henry!

In The News: “Cool Running” from Lakeland Boating Magazine

Lakeland Boating Magaine
BY HEATHER STEINBERGER

Got a need for speed this winter? Just hoist the sails.
In my career as a boating journalist, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a few serious adventurers who actively seek hard water when the temperatures go down and the wind pipes up. Winter weather has most Great Lakes residents curled up in their cozy homes, dreaming of warm summer afternoons, yet these folks are hurtling toward any inland lake that offers smooth, stable, snow-free ice.

They are iceboaters, and their sport isn’t for the faint of heart. Continue reading.

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Regatta Dates 2025

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Click for 4LIYC Meeting Dates

2024-2025

  • 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

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Lake Access Permits

A year-round permit required for designated launch sites in the City of Madison and Dane County Parks. Locations include:

    • Lake Mendota Warner Park Mendota County Park
    • Lake Monona Tonyawatha Tr. Olin Park
    • Lake Waubesa Goodland Park

Purchase Lake Access Permit Online.

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