2020 Northwest Ice Yacht Racing Association Information
March 13-15,2020
Lake Waconia, Minnesota
“Millennium Factor”
Bill Mattison & HONEYBUCKET, an oil painting on canvas by Harry Whitehorse
“Millenium Factor”
For our final installment of Bill Mattison Week, we go back to the 1992 Harken catalog where another National Sailing Hall of Famer, Peter Harken, talks about Bill, Paul Krueger, winning the Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant, and building MILLENIUM FACTOR QUATRO in the Willy St. Boat Shop.
In normal times, the 4LIYC would have thrown a party for tonight’s National Sailing Hall of Fame induction ceremony. There will be much to celebrate when we can gather off-ice again including Bill’s induction and Greg Whitehorse’s 4LIYC Honor Roll induction. In the meantime, follow Bill’s example and get busy in the shop making dust and preparing equipment for the upcoming season.
Previous: Bill’s Circus Life
“The Icing On The Lake”
“Fast Forward Since Birth”
“The Hard-Water Gang” with Bill Mattison at the 2001 ISA
Shooting the Breeze with Bill Mattison
Bill Mattison Inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame
Iceboaters Fingerprints
Bill’s Life Is A Circus
Bill demonstrates his working steam calliope at the closing party for the Willy Street Boat Shop in 2008. Don Sanford in the background.
Today’s Bill Mattison Week installment takes a quick jibe from ice sailing over to Bill’s other passion, circus modeling. Barb Sanford’s 2017 article for Wisconsin Academy publication “traces his obsession for detail and passion for the circus”. And yes, Bill did run away with the circus as a kid. Read the article here.
Previous: “The Icing On The Lake”
“Fast Forward Since Birth”
“The Hard-Water Gang” with Bill Mattison at the 2001 ISA
Shooting the Breeze with Bill Mattison
Bill Mattison Inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame
Iceboaters Fingerprints 
Southern WI Iceboat Swap Meet Nov 7 @ Delavan YC
Photo: Gretchen Dorian Class A Skeeters on Lake Winnebago
Bob Rast reports on the 4LIYC Facebook page that another iceboat swap meet has been organized at the Delavan Yacht Club.
Southern Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2020
Time: 10 AM – 3 PM
Location: Delavan Yacht Club
1501 Cedar Point Drive
Delavan, WI
Map
UPDATE: 12 September: Via Susie Pegel:
There won’t be a raffle.
North Shore Drive (Delavan Lake) under reconstruction starting Sept. 17,
including closing of bridge over the Outlet.
So to get to the Delavan Lake Yacht Club:
Go west on Hwy 50 into the city of Delavan to intersection with Borg Road
(Walgreens and Wendy’s on corner)
Go south on Borg Road to intersection with North Shore Drive
Go east on North Shore Drive until Cedar Point Drive and then down hill to
Delavan Lake Yacht Club
If you see Rustic Pub and Delavan Lake Store you have gone too far
“The Icing On The Lake”: More Wisdom From the Shop
“The second you think you’ve got it all figured out, somebody’s going to knock the socks right off you,” Mattison says.
“The Icing On The Lake”
Welcome to Day 4 of Bill Mattison Week at iceboat.org. Today’s feature article written by the late David Medaris ran in Madison’s local paper Isthmus in 1988 when Bill had just finished HONEYBUCKET VIII. Bill explained how he built Skeeter iceboats “to the average” and talked about his roots in Madison. Click here to read.
Previous:“Fast Forward Since Birth”
“The Hard-Water Gang” with Bill Mattison at the 2001 ISA
Shooting the Breeze with Bill Mattison
Bill Mattison Inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame
Iceboaters Fingerprints
Mendota Today Live Webcam
Mendota Today Live View
Lake Mendota has 2 new live webcams situated between the Edgewater and the UW Union. The cameras are pointed west and north. Many thanks to those responsible for these high-quality views. These cameras will get plenty of looks from the ice sailing community for Mendota ice checks and iceboat watching. There’s even a Youtube channel for their “greatest hits”.
Tip of the Helmet: Grant Frautschi
DN Tech Talk: Shimming Runners
When ice sailors, whether they own a Nite, DN, Skeeter, Renegade, Stern Steer, etc. get together, a compulsory topic of conversation is runners – how to sharpen and align them. Polish DNer Tomek Zakrzewski’s video breaks down DN shimming.
“Fast Forward Since Birth”: In the Shop with Bill Mattison
“At age 9 he built a model circus. Since then, Bill Mattison’s creative energy has never flagged.”
SAIL: Fast Foward Since Birth
Get your masks on because Day 3 of Bill Mattison week takes us into the dusty lair of the Willy Street Boat Shop in this 1992 SAIL article by Knowles L. Pittman. You’ll learn more about Class A Skeeter development and Bill’s role in the 1986 America’s Cup. Click here to read.
Previous:“The Hard-Water Gang” with Bill Mattison at the 2001 ISA
Shooting the Breeze with Bill Mattison
Bill Mattison Inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame
Iceboaters Fingerprints
Bill and Peter Harken repair HONEYBUCKET VIII at the Willy St. Boat Shop.
“The Hard-Water Gang” with Bill Mattison at the 2001 ISA
“Seven or eight guys show up to help with the process [gluing up a mast]. But they disappear real quick when it comes to sanding.”
Previous:
Shooting the Breeze with Bill Mattison
Bill Mattison Inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame
Iceboaters Fingerprints
Welcome to Day 2 of Bill Mattison Week at iceboat.org where we revisit the 2001 International Skeeter Association Regatta on Geneva Lake. Josh Adams’ article in SAIL featured interviews and quotes from a who’s who of iceboating at that time. Peter Harken and Buddy Melges were there and though he wasn’t at the regatta, Dan Clapp and his revolutionary Skeeter ATTITUDE were there in spirit. A full page was devoted to Bill’s Skeeter building history and philosophy. Click here to read the article.
Photo by Craig Wilson
“Shooting the Breeze” with Bill Mattison
“How far would I go to sail a regatta? Siberia, if they have ice.”
Previous: Bill Mattison Inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame
Iceboaters Fingerprints
It’s Bill Mattison Week at iceboat.org. In honor of Bill’s September 12 induction into the National Sailing Hall of Fame, here is the first of a series of articles that will be posted every day this week. “Shooting The Breeze” was written by Barbara Sanford and was published in Madison Magazine in 1980. Click here to read.
Big Tip of the Helmet to Don Sanford for sharing these articles and being the driving force behind Bill’s NSHOF nomination.
Ephemera Friday: The Capital of Vacationland
Another reminder that iceboating has been around Madison for a long time (since the 1860s to be more precise). Here’s a detail from a map published in 1950 by the Madison Chamber of Commerce titled “Visit Madison Wisconsin the Capital of Vacationland”. Note that the Skeeter doesn’t have a springboard! See the full map on the Wisconsin State Historical Society website.
One More Model: ACE OF SPADE
Previous: Super Models
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2020: Mike Butler corrects the record:“Just a couple of corrections. The boats name is really the Ace of Spade. Not sure why that was. It was not built for my dad. Connie Korsmo built it for my great uncle Ray Butler who worked with Connie at Madison Kipp. This would have been around 1935. Ray gave it to my dad after the war.
He built the new hull, that Mike has now, in the 50’s after he boom jibed the boat and damaged the hull.
The attached photos are of the original hull. I still have the blueprint of that boat. Jack Ripp took the photos.
Jack took a lot of photos over the years and I got together with Jack and dad shortly before he died. Spent an afternoon going over lots of Jack’s pictures. Hopefully someone still has them.”
Peter Fauerbach noted that Connie Korsma was the chief engineer at Madison Kipp Corporation. “The Kipp” as it’s often called here produces machined die castings and has been in operation since 1898.
Here’s another beautiful iceboat model from Mike Butler up in Oshkosh, WI of his dad Dave’s C Class Stern-Steerer ACE OF SPADES. When Jerry Simon asked the late Jack Ripp about the boat’s lineage, Jack told him Connie Korsmo, who worked at Madison Kipp, built 2 Hudson River style C Class Stern-Steerers, one for himself and the other for Dave’s uncle, Ray Butler, Sometime later, Dave added a new cockpit backbone, likely for comfort. Dave Butler was a life long 4LIYC member who served as a officer and was inducted into the 4LIYC Honor roll in 2012.
And the ACE OF SPADES? Just look for the bright orange/red stern-steerer at any regatta. She’s currently owned by Mike Peters.
ACE OF SPADES, Mike Peter’s C Class Stern Steerer at the 2019 Northwest on Lake Pepin. Photo: Pat Heppert
SIBC Iceboat Swap Meet Update
Via Jane Pegel of the Skeeter Ice Boat Club in Williams Bay, WI:
Attention Iceboaters:
Due to the COVID pandemic, the annual iceboat swap meet that is customarily held in Williams Bay, WI in early November is CANCELLED for 2020.
Anyone wanting to Buy or Sell an iceboat may get on a list that will be emailed in early October to over 400 iceboaters. Email info to sailing19@charter.net
Another option is to get listed in the Buy and Sell section of iceboat.org. Email to debwhitehorse@iceboat.org
Regards
Skeeter Ice Boat Club
“Iceboaters Fingerprints”
Previous: Bill Mattison Inducted Into National Sailing Hall of Fame
Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Class of 2020 – Bill Mattison
4LIYC’s Bill Mattison National Sailing Hall of Fame induction was formally announced on June 23, 2020. He and 7 others will be inducted in a virtual ceremony September 12, 2020. You can be a part of it all by registering for the virtual induction ceremony here.
New England DNer and America’s Cup aficionado James “T” Thieler puts the AC’s ties to iceboating in perspective with his article, “Iceboaters Fingerprints”.
Iceboater Fingerprints…..
If you are ever in Osterville MA there is something to be seen….…Two of these were Bill Mattison and Jeff Kent. Bill had worked on the Heart Of America campaign in 1987 and had been building and racing soft water and hard water boats in Madison, Wisconsin for decades prior to that.
Privates of 1890 Idaho
Museum of North Idaho photo
A soldier who missed sailing his iceboat back east must have been stationed at Fort Sherman, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho back in 1890. Wonder if Lake CDA freezes like that now? Via the Museum of North Idaho:
HAPPY NATIONAL RIDE THE WIND DAY! Sailing Lake CDA isn’t just for the summer. In this photo (circa 1890) Fort Sherman soldiers are ice boating and skating on Lake Coeur d’Alene! That is Tubbs Hill in background. George Donovan, 4th Inft. band from Fort Sherman may have been a member of the skating party.
“Let’s Go Let’s Go” with Aniela Graczyk Ice Optimist Sailor
Aniela Graczyk is a champion Ice Optimist sailor from Poland who competes in the annual Junior World Ice Sailing regatta held in Europe. Watch and listen as she explains in an entertaining 2 minutes why she is passionate about ice sailing. Consider introducing your kids to ice sailing this winter. The Ice Optimist is the perfect boat for junior sailors. Learn more about youth ice sailing here. Questions about Ice Optimists or ice sailing for kids? Please email to us!
Michal Skawinski/Kornik P339, Laura Taggu C4, and Aniela Graczyk P375 push off to race at the 2020 Junior World Championship in Sweden.
Aniela Graczyk listens as her father, Robert, coaches her on the upcoming race at the 2020 Junior World Championship.
Sculptural Stern Steerer
Previous: Super Models
Here’s another scaled down stern-steerer ice yacht- more on the artistic sculptural side.
I did this piece called “Rounding the Mark” in the ‘90’s. It was originally for outside the South Side Ice Yacht Club in Oshkosh, WI but it eventually came home to my farm. It is all painted steel although the rust is starting to have its way. The plank measures 32”, the backbone is 48” and the mast is 60”. The tiller works as do the runners.
Jim Zitzelsberger
Super Models
Bill Mattison’s HONEYBUCKET Class A Skeeter created by Kyle Metzloff
Previous: Model B
As our summer starts winding down, it’s time to start thinking more about the upcoming season. To help get you in the mood, take a look at some more iceboat models including a special one from the modern era, Bill Mattison’s HONEYBUCKET Class A Skeeter which was created by 4LIYC DNer and noted modeler Kyle Metzloff. Stern-steerer/Nite class sailor Mike Peters shares his collection along with some photos of other models he received from a friend.
A Spring Day on Lake Mendota
Spring iceboat sailing can be magnificent. Wet shoes are easier to ignore when the sun is shining and it’s so warm, the gloves remain in the gear bag. Here’s another video from the Bill and Mauretta Mattison collection filmed sometime in the 1960s. Cast of characters include Skeeter sailors Bill Mattison HONEYBUCKET VI, Dave Rosten PIRATE, Charlie Johnson M99, Paul Krueger M165 (must have been a brand new boat because there’s no RAMBLN name applied yet), and one of the Bluel’s in SHADOW II.
You’ll note that several DNs showed up to play and a few raced without helmets. Apparently the club’s view on mandatory helmet usage must have evolved since the 1960s because they are now required in order to race. Some of the DN sailors enjoying that day include Bob Brockel JAY BEE, Harry Fields HARI KARI, and Jack Lowe HI JACK. Jack’s dog, Skipper, makes an appearance. (I remember that Skipper had a propensity to take care of business on the canvas boat covers.)
So take 14 minutes and go back in time with this unedited video from a perfect day on Lake Mendota.
Model B
Johnson Boatworks B Class Stern steerer model c 1930
Previous: Minneapolis Play Week
Last week, Jim Gluek shared some family history about his grandfather who raced a Johnson Boatworks-built B Class Stern-Steerer in Minneapolis. Jim has found the perfect place to display the trophy, right next to the model of the stern-steerer that likely dates from around the 1920s.
Jim’s grandfather’s model is a good excuse to take another look at the world of iceboat models which have become highly prized collector pieces. Below are photos of William Bernard and son Carl’s models. (The Bernard Boathouse on Lake Mendota is where iceboat racing began in Madison.) The Wisconsin State Historical Society has a Bernard model iceboat in its collection that Bill Mattison has restored twice. Let us know if you have a model iceboat!
Minneapolis Play Week
Jim Gluek (Skeeter, DN, and Nite class) came across some family history in the form of this vintage trophy won by his grandfather back in 1927 on Lake Min
netonka. Jim’s grandfather raced a Johnson Boatworks-built B Class Stern Steerer. Jim also mentioned that when conditions are right on Minnetonka, Harry Allen rigs up his vintage B Class Johnson stern-steerer and takes it through the paces. (What iceboater wouldn’t want a shirt with that beautifully designed graphic?)
The Johnson Boatworks was founded by John O. Johnson in 1896 on White Bear Lake in Minnesota. In addition to building iceboats, Johnson was instrumental in scow and other soft water designs. (Johnson Boatworks is now known as White Bear Boatworks. )
More History: “Old ice boats: not for faint of heart”
Johnson Stern-Steerers have been featured over the years here on iceboat.org. This picture dates from 2013 when Fond du Lac iceboaters Dave and Jeff Lallier gave their then 84 year-old mother a ride in a Johnson B. Note the “banana” spar.
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