2020 Northwest Ice Yacht Racing Association Information
March 13-15,2020
Lake Waconia, Minnesota
Spaight St. Syndicate: C-Section
The patient and the target.
Previously at the Spaight St Syndicate
Winter is definitely coming! Daniel Hearn’s C Skeeter has emerged from the basement incubator.
C-Section
The delivery was scheduled for 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 30. The natural way was not going to be possible, and after nine months, my beloved was ready for this to be over. So I let my household duties slip a bit—what’s a clogged bathroom sink when we’ve got sinks on other floors? And so a couple of kitchen cabinet doors fell off—makes it easier to put stuff in and take stuff out? Little sympathy, here! Can you blame a man in my condition?
I’ve been crying myself asleep nightly ever since she told me she wouldn’t be right at my side. I know she loves me, but she said there are just some things she’s not equipped to handle. I’ve come to understand that the miracle of birth is not just about bringing a new life into this world. It’s also an incomprehensible feat of physics. That… is going to get from here to there, how? Many a visitor, starring at the large mass late in my gestation period, offered their unsolicited input, “dude, that ain’t happen’n.” I appreciated their offer of help.
Now I don’t have the smartest friends, but they weren’t completely wrong. This was not going to be your normal delivery. Only way this girl was coming out was a surgical extraction through a window under the back porch that’s never been opened in the 29 years we’ve lived in the house.
Admittedly, I’m a wuss, so I told the doc to use any scientific crutch available. Accordingly, she instructed the operating team to remove the bubble. “No need to stress the incision any more than necessary.” I nodded my head in agreement, my mind racing with marginally rational thoughts. What if she’s b(road)reach? What if the sheet is wrapped around the steering wheel? What if they drop her? What if she’s an Ohio State fan? I requested the epidural, even though I was having a C-section.
Next thing I know, my little bundle of joy is resting peacefully in her 25 foot aluminum bassinet with tandem torsion axles and electric brakes. Crazy the gear they have for the little tikes these days!
Time to learn to sew, because now my little girl is going to need a blankie.
Western Challenge: Postponed
Via iceboating.net:
The 2019 Western Challenge is Postponed.
We will try again on December 13-15, 2019, at a location to be determined.
Think Ice!
Happy Thanksgiving from the 4LIYC
Enjoy our annual Thanksgiving graphic.
Now That’s a Birthday Card!
Jim created this custom birthday card for Renegader Jerry Simon.
Renegade sailor, Jerry Simon, thought he was going to our Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club fall party last night but instead was surprised to find himself as the guest of honor at his birthday party that Jim and Patty Nordhaus arranged. Jim spoke for us all in a special tribute to Jerry and recalled that Jerry was the first one to welcome him when Jim attended his first 4LIYC meeting. It should also be noted that Jim and Patty carried on the tradition of serving a ham. It may seem like a small thing, but it was begun by Jim Payton and continued by Peter Lundt. It’s a gesture that reminds us of the long history of our club and our members. Thank you to the Nordhaus family and to all club members who attended. It was the perfect kick off to the upcoming season.
Via the 4LIYC Facebook page from Jim Nordhaus:
We had our annual picnic at the boat shop tonight. It also was a tribute to our long standing member Jerry Simon. It’s his birthday tomorrow 11-27-19. His ongoing never ending contributions were celebrated tonite and Jim gave a short list of some of them: ice checker, treasurer, four wheeler tender, marks manufacturer, race manager, regatta winner, boat builder, on and on! Jerry has not only helped to perpetuate the sport but he has been an excellent example of sportsmanship. It is our pleasure to know you Jerry and have a wonderful birthday tomorrow.
Your friends at the FLYC!
Welcome to the Machine: New Class A Skeeter Sailor Joins the Fleet
Leon LeBeau, long time DN and Renegade sailor from the Detroit, Michigan area, has joined the ranks of the bubble boat sailors. Leon chased the storm and made a quick trip to New Jersey this week to pick up his new Dan Clapp-built Class A Skeeter, which was formerly owned by Rick Stavola. Leon is looking forward to joining his DN friends who have also made the switch to Skeeters and the rest of the fleet. See you at the ISA and NIYA, Leon!
FRITZ & The “B”
Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club stern-steerers FRITZ A5 and MARY B A4 on Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin c.1955.
A couple more photos from the Mary B Foundation of OT Havey’s vintage photographs. Madison, Wisonsin’s OT Havey was the original owner of the historic MARY B stern-steerer. Above is an iconic shot for Madisonians – two of the most famous stern-steerers of the 4LIYC near the Edgewater Hotel on Lake Mendota sometime in the 1950s. It appears the crew of the FRITZ is pushing off back to the landing after joining club members who sailed over to the Edgewater for a late lunch and camaraderie. We still do this today!
The crew of the stern-steerer FRITZ pushes off towards home.
WSSA 2020 Newsletter
Jay Davis and LITTLE WIND brighten a dull day.
Some reading for you this morning, via the Wisconsin Stern Steerers Association Secretary Andy Gratton:
Wisconsin Stern Steerers Association Newsletter.
Saturday Skeeter Set Up
Sail guru Jim Gluek visited the Whitehorse/Krueger Skeeter shop today to look at the recent modifications on PK’s Class A Skeeter boom and spar. Recall that when they last set up the boat in June, it was one of the the hottest days of the year.
Tribute to Trophy Chair Jori Lenon
Jori Lenon, 4LIYC Trophy Chair Emeritus
4LIYC DNer Jori Lenon has announced her retirement as our club’s trophy chair, a position she’s faithfully executed for 12 years, making her the longest serving trophy chair in the club’s history. Jori stepped up when previous trophy chair, the late Bill Korsgard, was unable to continue in the role. Besides keeping the trophies organized, Jori has often taken the lead in setting up our banquets. Jori, the 4LIYC can not thank you enough for all your efforts over these 12 years, but we’ll try anyway – thank you, Jori!
So that means the club in need of the next trophy chair. Please consider taking on this role. Jori will help make the transition an easy one. We’ll be discussing this at our next meeting on November 20, 2019 at Breakwater.
Weighing In
While they wait for warmer weather more suitable for painting, Ken Whitehorse and Paul Krueger have been busy gathering data on Ken’s Class A Skeeter runner plank. Ken’s plank weighs in at 179 lbs.
Picture of the Day: Coming At You!
From the OT Havey Collection courtesy of his granddaughter, Julie Hobbins
The Mary B Foundation has acquired scans of some of OT Havey’s vintage photographs from OT’s granddaughter, Julie Hobbins. Madison, Wisonsin’s OT Havey was the original owner of the historic MARY B stern-steerer. Havey captioned this powerful image, “a boat unknown, big hike, head on.” This could be Lake Mendota. We’ll post more from the collection in the coming days. Thanks to Julie Hobbins and Peter Fauerbach of the Mary B Foundation for passing these along.
Wisco CHEESE SLICER
Via the 4LIYC Facebook page, a couple of updates from the Nordhaus Boatwerks. Jim writes:
OCTOBER 30, 2019:
Well, “Cheese Slicer” finally saw the “light of day” after almost five years of renovation. The plank was the only part that rolled in on the rocky shore of Green Bay. This was after someone left there boat out too long in the spring. It came from Seymour, Wisconsin compliments of “Adamski”.
The hull was Geoff Sobering and Dean Lima’s which had been stored in Dean’s barn. Runners were extra parts laying around and the rig is my Renegade “C” rig. Now for paint.
“Where’s the ICE!!NOVEMBER 10, 2019
Great time listening to the Badger game and painting parts for the “Cheese Slicer”. The color is “MAC and Cheese” and it is really—-yellow.
I will work on painting the hull tomorrow. I clear coated the bottom for protection and did the plank and spring board.
Join Us!
Join the 4LIYC
Thank you for joining or considering it. Your membership helps to support our ATV and safety equipment and this website.
There was a decent turn out for the first 4LIYC meeting of the season at our newest place, Breakwater, considering the challenging weather that night. The highlight of the evening for me was when Commodore Don Anderson spoke about our club members who have passed on -Steve Arnold, Jack Ripp, and Peter Lundt.
These membership cards honoring Jack Ripp have been ordered and Treasurer Jerry Simon will either hand them to you at the next meeting or mail them to you. Ice is here! Wingra may be worth a look in the coming days. As always with any ice, be safe out there and remember that ice is never safe!
Review ice safety procedures here.
The Race Is On
Winter is here in the Four Lakes area; we seem to have skipped November and gone right into December. Ken Whitehorse is working hard prepping his Class A Skeeter plank for red paint. Paul Krueger and Ken will be ready for ice – which might come early this year. It was 8F here this morning and with more single digit temps in the forecast – it’s making ice somewhere!
Spaight St. Syndicate: What’s In a Name
Uplifting art
Previously at the Spaight St. Syndicate
Daniel Hearn is inspired to name his C Skeeter by, well, read on…..
What’s In a Name
“What, are you thirteen,” she said rolling her eyes? I had to take a quick mental inventory. Let’s see—I still think there’s nothing funnier than a fart in church. I have many names for my male member, and each includes an adjective found on the Thesaurus page for huge. I burp out loud when I think no one else is around. I sometimes forget to put the toilet seat back down. I think Hershey’s is good chocolate. Even though I know I’m not supposed to, I often cut all the food on my plate at one time, because it’s so much more efficient. “Yeah, pretty much,” I replied. “So, what you’re saying is that C-Man is not an appropriate name for a C-Skeeter driven by a man my age who has four children—three of them daughters?” She just walked away, so I took that as an affirmative. Maybe I can still cancel the decal order.
Probably needs to be more sophisticated to win the approval of my Mrs. I hadn’t recalled asking for her approval, but nonetheless, it became clear that she thought she had a vote. I had carved up the districts within our household trying to prevent that, but clearly my gerrymandering was ineffective.
Maybe something from literature? The classics? Or how about mythology? Those Greeks were so sophisticated they convinced people to see pornography as art. I think the sculptors were just as juvenile as me. Their wives were certainly rolling their eyes when the Mr. was out back in the shed chiseling the fine form of a woman with a righteous amount of junk in the trunk.
There must be a cool-sounding “C” name in mythology, with deep meaning, that would be a fitting reflection of my masterpiece. (Well, it may not be a masterpiece, but it’s the best this paint-by-numbers kind of guy can do). That’s it—Callipygian! I think it’s perfect. And I’ll score points with the Mrs. when I tell her that I named the boat after her. But this time, I’m not disclosing the name until the fat bottomed girl hits the ice.
Now that you’ve Googled my name, let me know what you think. Will I be sleeping on the couch again, or will she be flattered by her juvenile husband of 32 years?
Official team gear available here: Righteous Junk
Bob Reeves: Sail On
A remembrance of a good man who brought many into the sport and a request from Mike Acebo of the Long Island, NY ice sailing community:
One of the most important members of the Long Island, NY iceboating community has sailed on. Bob Reeves, Orient NY, past Commodore of the Orient Ice Yacht Club has left us. His presence at every Long Island ice boating event, and beyond, served to coalesce our community and add to the membership of every club he was involved with. He was an avid Stern Steerer historian, builder and sailor with the history of several generations of iceboaters in his family. Through his plumbing supply business in Greenport he sold Skimmer 45’s to numerous locals to initiate them into the sport on local Hallock Bay, tiny Swan Pond and Lake Ronkonkoma. Many of these Skimmer sailors moved on to DN’s, C Skeeters, Stern Steers and the earliest 9 boat fleet of J14’s, an Orient club boat building project spearheaded by Bob. He was safety conscious, shared good ice reports and often spent his iceboating days helping others set-up, adjust rigging and advising novices how to improve their sailing while his J14 #20 stood by waiting. He travelled to ice and taught us there was always ice somewhere. Bob has moved on in the search of perfect ice. We will remember Bob in our own search for that perfect ice and great day with fellow iceboaters.
If anyone would like to share their stories of Bob please send them my way for our Club history archives.
Thank you,
Mike Acebo
macebo@mac.com
LRIBYC Newsletter editor
Iceboat Swap Meet Mega Weekend- Nov 2-3
Looking to attend an iceboat swap meet? We’ve got you covered across iceboating country, from east to west. If you are new to the sport or a seasoned veteran, swap meets are the perfect place to kick the tires, shop for parts, and meet ice sailors. Have a boat or parts to sell? Take them to your local swap meet.
EAST:
New England Ice Yacht Club
Saturday November 2, 2019
10 AM with lunch at noon
Hudson-Concord Elks Hall
99 Park Street, Hudson, MA 01749
More information.
CENTRAL:
West Michigan Swap Meet at the Muskegon Yacht Club
Saturday, November 2, 2019
9 AM – 1 PM
3198 Edgewater St, Muskegon, MI 49441
WEST
Skeeter Iceboat Club Swap Meet
Sunday, November 3, 2019
9 AM to Noon
Lucke’s Cantina
220 N. Elkhorn Rd. (WI Hwy 67), Williams Bay, WI.
More information
FAR WEST
Minnesota Ice Sailors Swap Meet
Saturday, November 2, 2019
9 AM – Noon
Sailcrafters
7450 Oxford St., St. Louis Park, MN 55426
More information
Montana FIRST!
Via John Cassidy and the Montana Icebuds Facebook page, looks like we have first runners on the ice in North America and quite possibly the world. This DN sailed on Ray Creek on Friday, November 1, 2019. Ray Creek is part of the famous Canyon Ferry watershed.
Can You See Me Now?
Jeff Russell and Jerry Simon.
Something good can often come out of something bad. Recall at the end of last season, the 4LIYC racing marks went missing. Mark Master Jerry Simon made a set of new and improved marks. These new marks are much bigger than the old set and should be easier to pick out on the course.
Jerry writes:
Jeff Russell and I spent the morning fabricating some new ice boat marks. The evolution is evident with the oldest in the back and newest in front. Bigger and brighter is better I hope.
That Time When A Car Raced Iceboats On Lake Monona
A Warren-Detroit automobile and Carl Bernard’s YELLOW KID stern-steerer. YELLOW KID was one of the 10 stern-steerers on the racing program for that day.
Th
e Four Lakes area received another 5″ of snow yesterday making October 2019 the snowiest on record at 8.1 inches. I researched the previous years with snowy Octobers with the hope of finding a correlation between October snow and early ice sailing. There wasn’t enough data, but during the search, I stumbled across this 1916 newspaper article about a race between a “6 cylinder Warren Detroit auto” owned by Walter Haspell and 10 Madison stern-steerers on Lake Monona. The article notes that Mr. Haspell, an avid ice sailor himself, had previously “pitted his automobile…against the ice yachts but the found the course too slippery”. No word whether the race was run or who won. Click on the newspaper clipping to enlarge it.
Of course you can’t have a post about automobiles vs. iceboats without this classic film from Lake St. Clair, posted below.
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