Sorry, you are 88 years too late for the Skeeter raffle. Likely DUTCHMEN, Carl Bernard’s first Skeeter built in 1935. (Photo, c. 1955: Color slide from the Carl Bernard collection.)
An interesting rabbit hole opened while researching another iceboat. Skeeters first came into the 4LIYC in 1935, much earlier than I had assumed. A 1935 newspaper clipping mentions that a “Class E German type iceboat” had been raffled off by the Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club. Carl Bernard had a few photos of an early Skeeter without a springboard set up on the pier at the Bernard Boat House on Lake Mendota. I also remember seeing the German iceboat plans in the Bernard scrapbooks at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
A January 1935 Wisconsin State Journal article reported that nine new Skeeters would be competing with the club, six of which were built by Carl Bernard. A visit to the State Historical archives to look at the German front-seater plans is needed to fill in the rest of the 4LIYC and Skeeter development history.
The lucky winner of the Skeeter was Jerry Hirsig, an owner of one of Madison’s famous department stores, Wolf Kubly and Hirsig. Hirsig wasn’t an ice boater and purchased the ticket to help the club raise funds. He said he was saving it for his grandson, but there’s no further mention of the boat or grandson in the newspaper archives.
Carl Bernard and the 4LIYC’s focus remained on Stern-Steerers until after WW2 and the Korean War when the Skeeter class became dominant.
Page from 1937 East High School yearbook in Madison, Wisconsin.
Many Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club members graduated from Madison’s East High School, including Bill Mattison, Jack Ripp, Dave Rosten, Bob Brockel, and more. Don Sanford came across this page from the 1937 East High School yearbook that again proves ice sailing has been a constant in this city’s history. 1937 would have been too early for the sailors mentioned, and when I have time, I’ll take a look at the archives to see who might have been members of the East High School Ice Yacht Club.
This photo is another “rabbit hole” find, and hey, it happens to be Throw Back Thursday. I came across this marvelous photo of 4LIYC club members enjoying some spring weather (no gloves!) while searching for something else. It originally appeared in the ISA News and Views in either the late 1950s or early 1960s. The gang is relaxing in PIRATE, my father, Dave Rosten’s, Class A Skeeter.
In 1999, Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club member Greg Whitehorse sat down with ice sailing champion Jack Ripp (1928-2019) and discussed Jack’s involvement in ice sailing. The interview originally ran in the club newsletter, Blade Runner. We are fortunate that Greg saved the cassette tape. Jack’s son, Mike, converted it to an electronic format and I added photos and some classic 1960s 8mm film from Bob Clemens.
PRINCESS II postcard with her namesake added, actress Margaret Sylvia. Postcard from the William & Carl Bernard Collection.
The internet tells me that the ancient Greeks get credit for the tradition of boat-naming, a custom that iceboat builders continued. Growing up iceboating, all Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club classes carried names, even DNs. (In present times, the Estonians seem to be the only DN fleet that consistently attaches a name to a boat.)
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Madison’s Fuller opera house hosted the latest touring plays and operas of the day. One actress made such an impression on Emil Fauerbach that he named his grand William Bernard-built ice yachts after her. All three of Fauerbach’s PRINCESS boats owe their name after Margaret Sylvia, who starred in the comic opera Princess Chic.
We don’t know if Ms. Sylvia ever knew the local fame bestowed upon her or that her namesake won several prestigious regatta titles, including the Hearst. Who knows, maybe one of the reasons William Randolph Hearst, who was well known for his admiration of actresses, donated the Hearst trophy was because Ms. Sylvia told him that a Madisonian had named his iceboat in her honor.
“The PRINCESS is named for Margaret Sylvia who stars in the Princess Chic and has played at the Fuller opera house. This is the second Madison ice yacht to be named in honor of an actress, the first one being the MAY BRETTON, owned by the Spooner Brothers.” Wisconsin State Journal, October 30, 1903
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Madison’s Fuller opera house hosted the latest touring plays and operas of the day. One actress made such an impression on Emil Fauerbach that he named his grand William Bernard-built ice yachts after her. All three of Fauerbach’s PRINCESS boats owe their name after Margaret Sylvia, who starred in the comic opera Princess Chic.
